The Herring Scandal at the Beginning of Lent

The “Maritime Revolution” of the late Middle Ages made it possible for large-capacity ships to go far from the shore, catching large quantities of pelagic fish that traveled in large schools in the open sea. This is particularly true of the herring “kingfish”, hareng-roi, as Jean-Claude Hocquet put it. Drawing upon a wide range of sources (government regulations, judicial and fiscal documents, narrative sources, and archaeological data), historians have gained insight into how herring was harvested, preserved, delivered to Staple markets and then transported to major cities, and how royal and municipal authorities controlled this process by assigning special people to ensure the legal regulation and taxation of the fish trade. However, the sources remain silent about the herring’s journey to a consumer living far from the sea, and who ate it and when. This kind of details of everyday life, as a rule, are not reflected in the sources, not being a subject of reflection for contemporaries. Various mishaps or casus fortuitus that interrupt the measured rhythm of everyday life can help. Claude Haton, a priest from the town of Provins, describes in his extremely informative “Memoirs” how in 1582, at the beginning of Lent, the local fishmongers were accused of selling spoiled herring. The municipal authorities carried out several expert examinations and made several judgments on this matter, asking for advice other towns in Champagne and even the Parliament of Paris. This incident, like any other case, helps to reveal many features of everyday life, economic relations, system of consumption, as well as power relations that are usually hidden in the sources

Everyday life · Fish · Herring · Narrative · Parliament · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical and Literary Analyses · Historical Economic and Social Studies