fishing-msg - 12/1/18

Medieval fishing. Fish ponds. fish hooks, fishing equipment.

NOTE: See also the files: fish-msg, seafood-msg, stockfish-msg, feasts-fish-msg,  eels-msg, sauces-msg, pickled-foods-msg, fish-pies-msg, salmon-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

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Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 13:04:46 GMT
From: "Kirsten Garner  at  Archaeology" <KGARNER at hsy1.ssc.ed.ac.uk>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Fishponds

A while back someone posted here asking about medieval fishponds.  I 
recently came across a couple of interesting sources and thought I 
would post them here in case she is still interested. :)

Aston, M (ed) 1988, Medieval Fish, Fisheries and Fishponds in 
England. BAR (British Archaeological Reports) British Series 182, vol 
1 and 2. Oxford. 

Currie, CK, 1990, 'Fishponds as Garden Features c. 1550-1750' in 
Garden History, 18 no. 1, p 22-46

Julian

Subject: Re: ANST - Archaeological Fishhooks
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 05:45:08 MST
From: KTMC <ktmc at icok.net>
To: ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG

Marc Carlson wrote:
> I'm sorry to bother everyone with this, but I've been asked to
> document metal fish hooks in the Middle Ages.  At this time, I can
> not.  Anyone have a source?
>
> Marc/Diarmaid

Marc/Diarmaid posted concerning metal fish hooks in the Middle Ages. I
have a book at home I'll get and make available. It's a translation of a
15th century treatise on angling. You may be intersted, Diarmaid, in
knowing that they were made from (I don't have the book with me,) a
shoe-maker's needle (or something closely named) and worked with an
anvil and forge. I was thinking of doing a Kingdom A&S entry on some
period flies and I was thinking of contacting YOU to see how I could get
some of the needles. I'll get the book and get back with you.

Valstarr

Date: Sat, 6 May 2000 00:38:11 -0400
From: Bill Kenton <bkenton at one.net>
To: sca-arts at listproc.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: New A&S webpage

	A new webpage has emerged.  A medieval angling page has surfaced.  The
idea of a medieval angling (fishing) has been floating around between 2
Laurels, Priscilla and Creador, 1 apprentice-Breac, and myself.  Well,
after a few months of playing around with it I've come to the conclusion
that I can take it no farther without opening it up to the populace for
their opinions, suggestions, etc. It can be found at

http://w3.one.net/~bkenton/fishing

Once the initial suggesyions are gone through and added as seen fit, it may
be moved over to the midrealm server. I haven't decided that yet.  But I'd
like this to be an interkingdom site, and would appreciate links to it from
wherever.  I'm hoping this lists gets to many kingdom A&S people to save me
from tracking down emails to each and every MOAS.

	I am seeking one thing, though, that I'd like to add that perhaps you can
help me with.  I'd like to collect a bunch of period fish recipes and have
a recipe section on the page.

YIS,
Liam O'Shea
Barony of Fenix

Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 19:05:41 +0200
From: Thomas Gloning <gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE>
Subject: SC - Squary scad enquiry

The OED has two quotations for the expression in question; the latter
suggests that it was a kind of flat fish:

"squary (...) Square-shaped; squarish.

1602 Carew Cornwall 35 Some gutted and kept in pickle, as the lesser
Whitings, Pollocks, Eeles, and Squarie Scads.

Ibid. 320 Of flat [fish there are] Brets, Turbets, Dories, Squary Scad,
Seale, Tunny, and many others. (...)"

Perhaps these books could be useful for further enquiry:
- -- Hoffmann, R.C.: Fishers' craft and lettered art. Tracts on fishing
from the end of the Middle Ages. Toronto (Univ. of Toronto Press) 1997.
- -- Westwood, Th./ Satchell, Th.: Bibliotheca piscatoria. A catalogue of
books on angling, the fisheries and fish-culture (...). London 1883.

Thomas

Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 11:23:53 -0400
From: Gaylin <iasmin at home.com>
Subject: SC - Garum and Piscinae

So this book I've picked up because of my addiction. To books,
that is. Found it on remainder and just *had* to buy it. You
know how you get that feeling sometimes? The one that says
"I know this is absolutely necessary, but I don't know why"?
That's why I bought it. Here's the book:

    Higginbotham, James. (1997). Piscinae: Artificial Fishponds
    in Roman Italy. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North
    Carolina Press. ISBN: 0-8078-2329-5 [Ed. Note: I got this
    on remainder from Edward R. Hamilton Booksellers for about
    14$US. You might be able to find it cheaper elsewhere.]

As I was reading along this morning, I discovered something that
people here might find interesting about garum production,
including some references that I don't believe anyone has
mentioned before. This is going to be a long one, so stay with
me and accept my forgiveness for the cross-posting.

In the introduction, while discussing the modern scholarship
done on ancient piscinae (fishponds) Higginbottom writes:

    "Since Jacono [Ed.: Luigi Jacono's study on Naples seaside ruins
    of piscinae], the study of Roman pisciculture has progressed
    along several paths. The ancient fishing industry, involving the
    manufacture and trade of processed fish products such as garum,
    has received the lion's share of attention (5). These studies
    have focused on tanks and complexes in Spain, southern France,
    and North Africa. Though garum production certainly took place
    in Italy, the bulk of this trade emanated from the western
    provinces (6)". [page 2]

Here are the footnotes associated with the text, in which I've
separated out each reference to make it easier to read. I think
many of you will find these interesting:

    (5) M. Ponsich and M. Tarradell, _Garum et industries antiques
    de salaison dans la MÈditerranÈe occidentale_ (Pariis 1965);

    O. Da Veiga Ferreira, "Algunas consideracoes sobre as fabricas
    de conservas de peixed antiquidade encontradas em Portugal, "
    _Archivo de Beja_ 23-24 (1966-67) 123-34;

    R. Sanquer and P. Galliou, "Garum, sel et salaisons en Armorique
    gallo-romaine," _Gallia_ 30 (1972) 199-223;

    R.I. Curtis, _Garum and Salsamenta: Production and Commerce in
    Materia Medica_ (Leiden 1991);

    J. C. Edmondson, _Two Industries in Roman Lusitania: Mining and
    Garum Production, BAR International Series, 362 (Oxford 1987);

    M. Ponsich, _Asceite de oliva y salazones de pescado: Factores
    geo-econÛmicos de BÈtica y Tingitania_ (Madrid 1988).

    (6) For evidence of Italian production, see R. I. Curtis, "A.
    Umbricius Scaurus of Pompeii, " in _Studia Pompeiana et
    Classica in Honor of Wilhelmina F. Jashemski 1_ (New Rochelle,
    N.Y. 1988) 19-49, and _Garum and Salsameta_ (ibid.) 85-96.
    Fish sauce production is hypothesized at Cosa on the basis of rather
    tenuous evidence; see A. M. McCann, J. Bourgeois, E. K. Gazda, J. P.
    Oleson, and E. L. Will, _The Roman Port and Fishery of Cosa_
    (Princeton 1987) 340-41.

In his chapter on "Fishponds as Emblems of Social Status", the author
also writes:

    There was, however, great profit in the production of preserved
    fish and processed fish products. According to the literary record,
    several sites in Italy were known for the production of garum,
    liquamen, allec, muria, and other processed fish products. (6)

And again the footnote:

    (6) _RE_ 8 (1912) 841-49, s.v. Garum (R. Zahn):

    P. Grimal and T. Monod, "Sur le vÈritable nature du 'garum,'"
    _REA_ 54 (1952) 27-38;

    C. Jardin "Garum et sauces de poisson de l'antiguitÈ,"  _RStlig 27
    (1961) 70-96;

    T. H. Corcoran, "Roman Fish Sauces," _CJ_ 58 (1963) 204-10;

    R.I. Curtis, "In Defense of Garum," CJ 78 (1983) 232-40;

    R.I. Curtis, "Salted Fish Products in Ancient Medicine," _Journal
    of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences_ 39 (1984) 430-35;

    R.I. Curtis, _Garum and Salsamenta: Production and Commerce in
    Materia Medica_ (Leiden 1991).

The abbreviations of note: RStLig is "Rivista di studi liguri"; CJ is
"Classical Journal"; and RE is A. Pauly and G. Wissowa's "Real-
Encyclop‰die de klassishen Altertumswissenschaft".

My apologies for the bandwidth, again, but I'm certain at least someone
will find some use in these references considering the debate that
regularly occurs about acceptable substitutes for garum and liquamen
in the recipes we research. If you need copies of this information from
the book itself, let me know and we'll work something out.

Jasmine
Iasmin "Yes, I'm Addicted" de Cordoba, iasmin at home.com
AOL AIM: IasminDeCordoba

PS: Typos are most likely my own, especially on the non-English
articles. Also, apologies to those of you who get a little garbage in the
message from the accents and umlauts.

Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 18:45:30 -0500
From: rmhowe <MMagnusM at bellsouth.net>
To: "- Gregory Blount - A&S. Food, Music, Brewing, and Dance SCA Pages (SCA) 
 Greg Lindahl" <lindahl at pbm.com>
Subject: Webpages

http://w3.one.net/~bkenton/fishing
Medieval Angling Page

Magnus

Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 10:37:56 -0500
From: "Philippa Alderton" <phlip at morganco.net>
Subject: SC - Fw: [Mid] Fishing page moved

Since catching fish is an important part of cooking them, I thought some of
you on Cook's List might be interested ;-)

Phlip

>NEW HOME FOR THE PERIOD FISHING PAGE IS:
>www.farreaches.org/fishing

Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 08:25:26 -0000
From: "Melanie Wilson" <MelanieWilson at bigfoot.com>
To: <sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: Re: medieval angling site--?

Not the site you want but a ref that might interest

"Angling in British Art" by W S Sparrow,

Mel

Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 05:49:10 -0800
From: "Lorene Dinsmore" <dinsmore at ivic.net>
To: <sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: RE: medieval angling site--?

I just happened to find it....
The URL is http://www.farreaches.org/fishing

Islyle

-----Original Message-----
I recently received a missive from a gentle who  has a medieval angling
site. I thought I'd bookmarked the page but apparently I screwed up and
didn't. I'm putting the site in my next update on the Resource URL list--but
first I need the URL! Does anyone know who put this site up? Thanks in
advance for any help you can give me in this matter.

Isabelle de Foix
patricia.hefner at worldnet.att.net

Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 16:49:06 -0500
From: "Liam O'Shea" <loshea at cinci.rr.com>
To: <sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: Re: medieval angling site--?

Isabelle,
    hehehe Hate it when that happens.  However, the site belongs to me.  The
URL is www.farreaches.org/fishing   If you need to know anything else, feel
free to contact me.

Liam O'Shea
Barony of Fenix

> I recently received a missive from a gentle who  has a medieval angling
> site. I thought I'd bookmarked the page but apparently I screwed up and
> didn't. 
>
> Isabelle de Foix
> patricia.hefner at worldnet.att.net

From: Heather Rose Jones <hrjones at socrates.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: period fly fishing
Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 17:48:54 -0700
Organization: University of California, Berkeley

Ghelena661 wrote:
>      On the subject of period fly fishing, I would like to get my hands on 
> that TI issue.
> 
>      I would like to do a little fishing at Pennsic, since I camp right on the
> lake i can fish from my pavilion if I wanted to.
> 
>      I am a lacemaker, so I suspect I can tie a fly ok.  I know where to get
> fishhooks that are period.
> 
>      If any one has done any period fishing, please sound out!

I haven't actually done any period fishing, but I can give you a few
leads on the research end.  There are a number of surviving treatises on
fishing from the medieval period and earlier. Several from the 15th and
16th century are published in "The Fishers' Craft & Lettered Art: Tracts
on Fishing from the End of the Middle Ages" (ed. Richard C. Hoffmann,
University of Toronto Press, 1997).  I've also seen a book entitled
something like "Fishing in the Ancient World", which I believe is more
of a work about fishing history rather than sources (in translation),
although I wouldn't be at all surprised if you could find some practical
fishing information in Pliny.

Hoffmann's text includes all sorts of specific instructions on both live
and prepared baits, as well as feather-based flies.  Here's a sample (in translation):

"as soon as the brooks become small and clear, like in May, whether it
is the first of the month or the second, then see to it to put 'stone
bait' on the feathered hook which should be tied with yellow silk and
with pinkish-colored silk around the 'heart' and with a black one mixed
around the 'heart'.  The feather should be speckled light.  But if the
water is dark, then the feathers should be that much the lighter,
together with blackish feathering.  If it is high water, then the
feathering should be blackish with light brown mixed among it, fished
high up in running water."

There are dozens of fly-tying instructions, including some for mimicking
particular species of flies.

Tangwystyl

From: Ghelena661 at aol.com
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 03:53:54 EDT
Subject: Re: period fly fishing
To: stefan at texas.net

    Fish hooks are sold by either Smoke and Fire, or James Townsend.  They 
are 3 for $5 and are made by a blacksmith.  These hooks have to be tied to 
the line.  Fish hooks have a long and venerated history, and many aspects of 
fishing (such as hooks) experienced little change until recently with the 
introduction of metals like steel and titanium, and of course, the 
introduction of the reel.

May your threads never tangle,
Roxanne Greenstreet

From: Ghelena661 at aol.com
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 05:24:24 EDT
Subject: Re: period fly fishing
To: stefan at texas.net

    I have been conversing with various fisher folk on this subject.  Master 
Brok (Atlantian Laurel for blacksmithing)  has done a lot of fly fishing in 
the past, and has gone so far as to make his own rods, smith his own hooks 
and, braid his own string as well as tie the flies.  I don't know if I am up 
to all that!  I understand from another Laurel (Master Finnr, a Viking dude) 
that the poles used in period had a still 'handle' section, a more flexible 
mid section, and a rather whippy willow end.  Like modern fly fishing, the 
rod is whipped in the air and then somehow sent the goodly distance it needs 
to go to get into the water away from the bank.  

    I think this is a little ambitious for a beginner.  I intend to tie some 
flies on my authentic hooks and then simply pole fish.  I am already 
scavenging sticks that will be useful in the cause of a good pole.  I will 
then work on flie tying.  I understand this is a bit of an art in itself.

May your threads never tangle,
Roxanne

Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 09:41:38 -0400
From: margali <margali at 99main.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Italian fish in oil spreads

Yes, there were pisciniae shown on a number of blueprints of
roman villas in a book on roman architecture I have. There was
quite a complex of them at the Villa of Tiberius on Capri. IIRC
there was also a mention of a piscina run near rome for the
markets of rome, and private piscinae in the peristyle gardens in
Rome. There is a private piscina in the Villa of the Mysteries in
Pompeii.
margali
[wel, rob promised to build our retirement home to suit, and he
didn't specifically exclude a roman villa rustica ;-)]

Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 16:37:04 +0200
From: Volker Bach <bachv at paganet.de>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Italian fish in oil spreads

"Pixel, Queen of Cats" schrieb:
> But you don't kill the fish before you send it to Florence. You put it,
> still alive, in a barrel of water with a bunch of other living fish, and
> send it on a cart.
>
> Or you have fishponds. Does anybody know whether they used fishponds in
> Italy the same way they did in England and France?

I don't know too much about the details, but as
far as I know Italian fishponds were usually stone
or brick structures, and sometimes housed seawater
fish. They were definitely known from Roman times
onwards (quite fashionable in Augustan times) and
used in medieval Italy. However, as fish was a
high-status food in Antiquity but a low-status
item in Lombard and later medieval Italy, it is
unlikely (and definitely not provable) that the
elaborate Roman tradition continued in wide use.

Got it: Massimo Montanari, 'la fame e
l'abbondanza' (German translation Beck 1993), p.
48 (chapter 8, towards the middle): fishponds
built in swamps in Lombard Italy and later.
Unfortunately, no more than that. THese were
likely freshwater and very similar to our local
ones.

Volker

From: Christina Nevin <cnevin at caci.co.uk>
To: "'SCA Cookslist'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 16:31:06 +0100
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Fish ponds WAS Italian fish in oil spreads

	Or you have fishponds. Does anybody know whether they used fishponds
	in Italy the same way they did in England and France?
	Margaret FitzWilliam

As the fishpond as used in England and France was introduced by the Romans
(pisciniae), I would say yes.
The Seafood chapter in C. Anne Wilson's "Food and Drink in Britain" has a
fascinating section which traces the evolution of these.

Lucrezia

Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 22:30:04 +0200
From: tgl at mailer.uni-marburg.de
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] online glossary: piscinae

piscina (Latin) = a fish pond, used to ensure a supply of fish for the
kitchen.

-- Higginbotham, J.: Piscinae. Artificial fishponds in Roman Italy.
Chapel Hill, NC 1997.

Th.

Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 07:48:21 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] fish consumption

There are a number of recipes but you might want to look
at these studies and/or collections of papers first--

Medieval fish, fisheries, and fishponds in England /
by Aston, Michael.
Oxford, England : B.A.R., 1988
2 v. (ix, 484 p.) ill. English
Series: BAR British series ;; 182;
Standard No: ISBN: 0860545091 (set); LCCN: 88-138066

Inland fisheries in medieval Yorkshire, 1066-1300 /
by McDonnell, J.
Publication: [York, North Yorkshire] : University of York,
 Borthwick Institute of Historical Research,  1981
42 p. ill. English
Series: Borthwick papers ;; no. 60;
Standard No: LCCN: 82-191154

The tidal Thames :
the history of a river and its fishes /
by Wheeler, Alwyne C.
London ; Boston : Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979
 x, 228 p. ill. ; English
Standard No: ISBN: 0710002009 :; LCCN: 79-40460

Fish : food from the waters /
edited by Walker, Harlan.
Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooke  (1997)
Totnes, UK : Prospect Books, 1998
335 p. ill., maps ; English
Standard No: ISBN: 0907325890

You may have seen this one already--
 De Friese palingaken /
by Zetzema, Jan.
Leeuwarden : De Tille, 1976
160 p., [1] leaf of plates : p., ill. Dutch
Series: [Utjeften] - Fryske Akademy ;; nr. 500;
 Variation: Fryske Akademy (Series) ;; nr. 500.
Standard No: ISBN: 9070010461 :; LCCN: 77-463633

These cookbooks might help:

Jansen-Sieben, R./ van der Molen-Willebrands, M.
(Hg.): Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen.
 Het eerste gedrukte nederlandstalige kookboek
 circa 1514 uitgeven te Brussel door Thomas vander
 Noot. Bezorgt en van commentaar voorzien. Amsterdam 1994.

Het eerste nederlandsche gedrukte kookboek
 (Brussel, Thomas von der Noot, c. 1510).
 Facsimile-uitgave naar het eenig bekende
 exemplaar in de Bayerische Staatsbibliothek,
 M=FCnchen. 's-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff 1925.

Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen.
 Thomas vander Noot, Brussel, omstreeks 1514.
 Fotografische herdruk gebaseerd op de uitgave
 van Martinus Nijhoff, Den Haag, 1925. Amsterdam 1994.

Cockx-Indestege, E. (Hg.): Eenen Nyeuwen Coock Boeck.
 Kookboek samengesteld door Gheeraert Vorselman
 en gedrukt te Antwerpen in 1560. Uitgegeven en
 van Commentaar voorzien door Elly Cockx-Indestege.
 Wiesbaden 1971.

Braekman, W.L.: Medische en technische
 mittelnederlandse Recepten. Een tweede bijdrage
 tot de geschiedenis von de vakliteratur in
 de Nederlanden. Gent 1975.

This should provide you with some references to work with
and the bibliographies given in the books should lead you
to more materials on the subject.

Johnna Holloway
Johnnae llyn Lewis

Ides Boone wrote: snipped
> I am working as an archaeozoologist in Belgium. I had to study sieved
> samples with faunal material from Medieval and Post-Medieval sites from
> Namur (Belgium).
> The species present in the material are: strurgeon, eel, trout,
> grayling, pike, carp, perch, catfish == still eaten now in Belgium.
> But also a lot of Cyprinids such as: bream, barbel, nose, gudgeon, chub,
> ide, dace, minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus), bitterling (Rhodeus sericaeus),
> roach, rudd.
> Also, I found  (almost in equal qunantity as the Cyprinids)a lot bones
> of the stone loach (Noemaceilus barbatulus), Stickelbacks and Miller's
> thumb (Cottus gobio).
> I am very much interested how these species were eaten: fried, in a
> soup,... Is there anyone who has some information about it or knows some
> old medieval fishrecipees?>
> Thanks a lot,
> Ides (Belgium)

Date: Tue,  5 Jul 2005 09:58:34 -0400
From: "Jeff Gedney" <gedney1 at iconn.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Big fish
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> My husband came across this and forwarded it to me--
> It is one massive fish.

Not so large as one herring brought in at Caister during the
Yarmouth Herring Fair (source: History of Yarmouth by William  
Finch-Crisp  - Published 1877) extracted on web page  
http://www.ean.co.uk/Data/Bygones/History/Local/Norfolk/Great_Yarmouth/ 
Crisp/html/body_crisp1.htm

"Large fish, 17 yards long, the jaw 3.25 yards long, body 4.5 yards
thick, caught at Caister"

Capt Elias
-Renaissance Geek of the Cyber Seas

Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 22:32:39 -0700
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] SCA Fishing list?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

>> Are there any SCA oriented lists or websites on pre 1600's  
>> fishing, fishing equipment, fishing boats, and type of fish caught?
>>
>> Sharon
>> gordonse at one.net
>
> Yep. Apparently there's a group of folks into period fishing, both with a
> pole, and making various traps. 
>
> Phlip

Well, you could go here:

http://www.farreaches.org/fishing/treatyse_index.html
          A treatise on fishing with an angle

Slightly out of period:

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Erbear/walton/index.html
          Isaac Walton's treatise on Angling

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Erbear/barker1.html
          Thomas Barker on angling

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Erbear/venables1.html
          Robert Venables on angling

'Lainie

Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2006 12:05:19 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius"
	<adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] SCA Fishing list?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

On Apr 4, 2006, at 1:32 AM, Laura C. Minnick wrote:
> Slightly out of period:
>
> http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Erbear/walton/index.html
>         Isaac Walton's treatise on Angling

Just by way of perspective: this out-of-period source was published
the same year as The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelm
Digby, Knight, Opened (or however much of the 72-page-long title you
want to refer to this work by). It also has some fish recipes, as I
recall.

Recommended even for non-anglers.

Adamantius

Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:04:40 -0400
From: "Sharon Gordon" <gordonse at one.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Information gleaned from medieval cod bones
To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

From The Times
April 14, 2008
European history in cod bones
Trading across medieval Europe revealed in cod bones more than a metre in
length
Norman Hammond, Archaeology Correspondent

The catastrophic decline of North Sea cod as the result of over fishing has
had an impact on all our menus, from the poshest restaurants to the corner
chippie: the fish left are few and small, compared with those of less than a
century ago. Cod more than a metre in length are rare these days, whereas
archaeological remains show that fish several times that size were common.

A new study shows that cod were exploited in the Middle Ages from many,
often distant, fishing grounds, with an international trade in dried
stockfish. Some fish eaten in a Yorkshire village may have been some from
off the coast of Sweden, while merchants in what is now northern Germany ate
cod from Arctic Norway.

Co-operation by archaeologists and scientists from Britain, France, Belgium,
Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltic states has allowed medieval cod bones
recovered from sites as far apart as Poland and Orkney to be analysed for
their stable-isotope content. Variation in the isotopes of carbon and
nitrogen is regional, "making it possible to identify bones from cod caught
in distant waters", James Barrett and colleagues report in the Journal of
Archaeological Science. Their work suggests that this long-distance fish
trade had already begun by late Anglo-Saxon times, at the end of the  
first millennium AD.

More details at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/ 
article3738383.ece

Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:28:29 -0500
From: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] salt cod
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

<snip>

While the term "kippered" goes back to 12th century or so, what we  
think of as "kippered" fish or "kippers" apparently dates to just the  
19th century and refers to a lightly smoked fish, one where the  
smoking is mostly for flavor. This fish required the speed of the  
railroads to transport it to market before it spoiled since there  
wasn't enough smoking to add much preservation qualities.

I am currently in the middle of reading this book. It has quite a lot  
of info about fishing in the Middle Ages including the creation of the  
salted herring and the stockfish trade.

Fish on Friday: Feasting, Fasting, and Discovery of the New World
Fagan, Brian
ISBN: 0-465-02284-7
Basic Books, New York
2006
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. It was fish, not spices, that led to the discovery of  
North America," speculates anthropologist Fagan. From 1495 to 1525, he  
tells us, the monks at Westminster Abbey consumed almost 11,000  
kilograms of fish per year. The sheer enormity of this piscine cuisine  
offers a snapshot of the exalted place fish held in the life of  
religious communities. Fagan (The Little Ice Age) regales readers with  
a fast-paced, edge-of the-seat tale of Christianity's role in the  
development of fishing and fisheries as commercial ventures. By the  
fourth century, fish had become the center of Christian fast days and  
holy feasts. Early forms of aquaculture were developed to meet the  
demand, but eventually, as Fagan points out, Europe's rapidly growing  
Catholic population and its demand for fish on Fridays and fast days  
led, as early as the Middle Ages, to a North Atlantic fishing industry  
providing herring and cod and developing salting and smoking to  
preserve the fish for the transatlantic trip. But the onset of the  
Little Ice Age forced fishermen further south, and eventually they  
followed cod down to their winter waters off the coast of Maine.  
Fagan's rich prose creates a lively social history that will captivate  
readers of Mark Kurlansky and Jared Diamond. B&w illus.
Copyright ? Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier  
Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School&ndash;This is a thought-provoking, well-researched  
explanation for early European exploration. According to Fagan, the  
knowledge and technological innovations that made ocean voyages  
possible were gained over hundreds of years by ordinary people in  
pursuit of fish. The appetite for the food was enormous in Europe  
during the Middle Ages. Rare fish graced the tables of nobles as a  
delicacy. Stockfish replaced meat during holy days and supplemented  
the meager diet of peasants. Preserved fish fed soldiers when they  
were far from home. Political situations, monopolies, and climate  
changes forced fishermen farther from shore. Better designs for boats  
followed, as well as new methods of drying and salting the catch. The  
longer shelf life for fish allowed for even greater distances to be  
covered. The author's lively style and use of fascinating details make  
this an entertaining book that would also be useful for students doing  
research on specific aspects of medieval life. An analysis of the  
various claims of who reached the New World first is particularly  
interesting. Fish recipes, from classical Rome to 17th-century New  
England, are sprinkled throughout the narrative. A reverse  
chronological time line is provided, as well as 12 maps and 27 black- 
and-white illustrations that include reproductions of contemporary  
paintings of towns and shores and woodcuts showing smokehouses,  
waterwheels, and other inventions. Drawings of fishing boats, fish,  
and fishing tools are also featured.&ndash;Kathy Tewell, Chantilly  
Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright ? Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier  
Inc. All rights reserved.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com

Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 17:45:33 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker@att.net>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks@lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Medieval thinking

Cyprinus carpio carpio has a natural range from the Black Sea east to the Danube and Volga Rivers.  A couple other subspecies are more common in Asia proper.  By the 12th Century members of the wild forms could be found in the mouth of the Danube and there is some disagreement as to whether this represents a natural or a human assisted expansion as it is known the Romans were raising carp in ponds in south central Europe.  General spread of the common carp into western Europe including France probably occurred with the spread of monastic aquaculture beginning in the 13th Century.

While carp appears to be an introduced species in France, the question of how damaging it was to native species is open, as carp can be controlled by heavy harvesting and we don't have much information on how heavily the native species had been fished.  Most of the literature I've encountered deals with carp's invasiveness on other continents rather than in Europe.

Bear

<<< I'm not sure the effect of carp on native species in France was 
negligible.
Richard C. Hoffman writes, particularly in regard to that fish:
"Aquaculture  revolutionized local ecologies and human relations with them, forming and  controlling synthetic habitats for the sake of a non-native animal and to the  harm of some native varieties."

Richard C. Hoffman, "Carp, Cods, Connections" in Animals in Human Histories: The Mirror of Nature and Culture, edited by Mary J. Henninger-Voss,  2002

I don't know the details but Hoffman seems to feel it had a significant
effect. And in fact leaves the impression that carp was the first willfully introduced invasive species (in France; it already existed further East).

Jim Chevallier
(http://www.chezjim.com/) >>>

<the end>