A link with the external world: The stockfish trade in 14th-15th century Iceland Sayaka MATSUMOTO (Doctorate course in European History, Kyoto University/ MA in Medieval Icelandic Studies, University of Iceland) sayaka917@gmail.com Introduction Iceland was settled mainly by Norwegian Vikings in the period c.870-c.930. Towards the end of this period, settlers established the law and the assembly system all over the island. Stockfish (especially dried cod) has been main preserved food in Iceland for centuries from the very beginning of its history. In the 14th century stockfish became the main export commodity from Iceland, replacing vaðmál (woollen homespun). At first the stockfish trade was carried exclusively by Norwegian merchants from Bergen, where became a sort of ‘staple’ for the North Atlantic communities under the supervision of the Norwegian monarchy. The situation was, however, forced to change in the 15th century when English men intervened in sailing to Iceland. English sailors competed with Norwegian, later German (mostly Hanseatic) counterparts over Icelandic stockfish, involving their monarchies. This situation has coloured the 14th-15th centuries in Icelandic history with a sort of ‘international’ air. - Foreign trade and the ‘decline’ in the 13th century ‘Internationality’ of Iceland itself is polemic in its history and strongly connected with the discussion on foreign trade. The historiography of the Icelandic foreign trade has tended to focus on its economic dependence on Norwegian kingship. From the 19th century most Icelandic scholars maintained that the 11th-12th century was the golden age in their history, when many Icelanders sailed abroad by their own ocean-going ships and widely communicated with foreigners just as their ancestors of great Vikings. But from the late 12th century, they maintained, sailing and trade by Icelanders gradually declined, and Norwegian merchants took the place of them. Being a protector of merchants, the monarch in Norway strengthened his influence on Icelandic trade and finally made Icelanders swear an oath of allegiance and tribute to himself in the years 1262-64. In that view – it has actually been long standing general view for the submission – the royal trade monopoly was considered as the main cause of Iceland’s decline as a ‘nation’1. 1 The most influential work was Bogi Th. Melsteð (1912-14). The view that connects the prosperity of sailing and trade with the golden age of the 11th-12th century was followed by quite many Icelandic A link with the external world: The stockfish trade in 14th-15th century Iceland Around 1990 criticism against this long-held historical view began to appear. The former discussion had thought Icelandic fur-coats (vararfeldir) as main exports and the fall of its price in foreign market around 1200 as the cause of the decline of Icelandic economy in the 13th century. But the evidences of the popularity of Icelandic fur-coats are quite obscure in historical sources. In fact, main exports from Iceland before c.1300 were not fur-coats, but vaðmál, woollen homespun, if we examine sources carefully2. Cheaper and warmer Icelandic vaðmál were popular at least until c.1340, mainly in Norway as cloths against cold for fishermen or poor people in town, as well as for monks3. Thus the fall in the price of fur-coats did not really concern with the decline in Icelandic economy. After all, the assumption of royal monopoly in the 13th century was a mere reflection of Danish royal policy in the 19th century, which was applied by contemporary Icelandic nationalists. Difficulty to reach a conclusion about issues before 1200 is a tendency in Icelandic history overall because of the lack of contemporary sources, but still we can estimate from later sources that quite many Norwegian ships had visited Iceland and offered an active communication throughout the period 1100-1400. - Self-sufficient or dependent? Iceland has indeed undoubtedly been a poor country in material source for centuries, but it is still not obvious that inhabitants in Medieval Iceland lacked the necessities of existence. As for grain, considerable grain-growing only occurred in the fertile areas like southern and western parts, where it decreased gradually and disappeared completely in the 15th or early 16th century4. Then animal husbandry has always been most important farming in Iceland. Sheep, cattle, horses, pigs, goats and fowls like geese or hens have been useful for food, cloths, transportation and communication 5 . works, including Jón Jóhannesson (1956) or Björn Þorsteinsson (1966), as well as English ones like Gelsinger (1981). 2 About this issue, see Helgi Þorláksson (1988), especially pp.43-45. There are only three sources that mention the popurality of Icelnadic fur-coats abroad and all of them are quite indirect: the agreement with St. Ólafr (supposed to be done in the first half of the 11th c.) or Haraldar saga gráfeldar in Heimskringla (written c.1230) and Adam von Bremen (c.1070). 3 A thorough and conscientious study about vaðmál and trade in Medieval Iceland is Helgi Þorláksson (1991). This work is essential to economic history of Iceland, though foreign scholars have sometimes ignored possibly because of the difficulty in language. 4 Just as their motherland, West-Scandinavia, grain (mainly barley) may have been grown up in all parts of Iceland at first, until when the deterioration of the climate started in first half of the 11th century. 5 For Icelandic material culture most importance is generally attached to animal husbandry according to written sources, but recent archaeological researches, especially zooarchaeology, have been revealing the more importance of fishery in the management of some farms. For example, see about West fjords region: Ragnar Edvardsson (2005); Krivogorskaya, Perdikaris & McGovern (2005). 2 A link with the external world: The stockfish trade in 14th-15th century Iceland Furthermore, Icelanders enjoyed extremely rich marine products like fish, whales, sharks, seals, seabirds, shellfish, seaweeds and driftwood. From a strictly material point of view, it seems as if it would have been possible for Icelanders to survive without any trade with the external world mostly thanks to benefits from the sea – Medieval Iceland might have been ‘a self-sufficient country’, as it is occasionally declared. However, if they hoped to live ‘a civilized life’ in Medieval Europe with materials like colourful cloths, splendid weapons or ornaments, plenty beer or wine in feasts and bells or candles in church, then the foreign trade was definitely necessary. Furthermore, the Medieval Icelandic elite was culturally forced to be generous in feasts and gift-giving so as to gain in social reputation or honour. After all, foreign trade turned out to be necessary, at least for people in the upper classes. In this paper I try to show the importance of the stockfish trade from the viewpoint of Medieval Icelanders’ mentality, as well as of material culture. Ch.1: The Norwegian age (1262 - c.1400) – The Bergen staple - The submission to kingship Firstly, we should see the situation before the stockfish trade. Especially, how did the monarchs in Norway get involved in the Icelandic trade or how did the Icelanders’ submission influence on the situation of their ocean-going trade? The period preceding the submission was called Sturlungaöld or the age of Sturlungs (c.1220-1262), which was the era of power struggles. The concentration of power and wealth yielded a small number of extreme powerful chieftain families until c.1200, who struggled each other over the dominion. Norwegian merchants who visited Iceland for trade were also involved in the struggle there6. Making use of such events as a springboard, the king in Norway, Hákon IV Hákonarson (r.1217-1263), intervened in peace-making process in Iceland for the sake of defence of his subjects7. Before long, the king demanded Icelanders to submit to himself, in return for his help with bringing peace among feuding chieftains. All Icelanders accepted the contract of submission (Gamlasáttmáli) in the years 1262-64. The contract includes a clause about sailing between Iceland and Norway: 6 The most serious dispute began in the year 1215. Norwegian merchants and Oddaverjar, a strong chieftain family in south area, quarrelled over the price-setting for trade goods and consequently three Icelanders and one Norwegian merchant were killed in Iceland. Annales regii (Ann., pp.124-5); Íslendingasaga, chs.35, 38 (Sturl., pp.1-269-70, 277-78). 7 About the king’s policy and the parts that Norwegian merchants played for it, see Helgi Þorláksson (1968). 3 A link with the external world: The stockfish trade in 14th-15th century Iceland ‘Six ships should sail from Norway to Iceland during each of next two summers; from that time forth their number shall be decided according to what the king and the best farmers in Iceland think to be the best for the country’8. This rule that the king should ensure the sailing of six ships annually has usually been interpreted as indication of Iceland’s dependence on Norwegian king, as it shows that Iceland demanded to secure ‘the minimum’ number of ships to provide them necessary goods. As we discussed above, however, Icelanders may have not lacked in necessities even in the 13th century. Quite recently we have the opposite opinion that the number of ‘six ships’ might be ‘the maximum’ for Icelanders to afford in the island as there was a possibility that too many ships from Norway came to Iceland, seeking after vaðmál9. Unfortunately the lack of enough sources makes it impossible to know the actual number of ships up to the middle of the 13th century, but still we can take the clause in other way than the indication of dependency; the latter part of the clause shows that Icelanders had the room for negotiation with monarchs. - The opening of stockfish trade Since c.1340 the large-scale export of stockfish from Iceland started. The causes of that are normally attributed to improved trading route and a growing demand for fish in Europe as food in fast days, as well as for fish oils (or shark oils) for lighting in towns. Hanseatic merchants, or German merchants from towns on the Baltic Sea as Lübeck, Rostock, Wismar and Stralsund, had worked for the trade of stockfish from Northern Norway since c.1100 at latest, having their base in Bergen (kontor from around 1360). They had sometimes quarrels with Norwegians from the late 12th century10, but they had not sailed themselves to the North Atlantic beyond Bergen, according to agreements with Norwegian monarchs. King Eirik Magnusson issued a decree in 1294 forbidding German merchants to bring their goods north of Bergen. Repeated similar decrees afterwards indicate that not a few German ships actually headed to the ocean breaking the rules, but officially the North Atlantic was secured as the sea of Norwegians. What brought Norwegian monarchs to make such efforts? Firstly, they needed to collect the tributes from all over the North Atlantic. Apart from Iceland, such communities spread over the ocean 8 [3. Skulu sex skip ganga af Noregi til Íslandz tvau sumur enu næstu; en þaðan í frá sem konungum ok hinum beztum bóndum landzins þykkir hentast landinu.] DI, v.1-pt.3, no.152:A, pp.620-1. cf. Boulhosa (2005), pp.124-137. 9 Helgi Þorláksson, ‘King and Commerce: The foreign trade of Iceland in medieval times and the impact of royal authority’ (forth coming). I sincerely appreciate Professor Helgi Þorláksson his favour to let me see the draft of the article. 10 Sverris saga, ch.104, pp.110-11. cf. Boulhosa (2005), p.133, note144. 4 A link with the external world: The stockfish trade in 14th-15th century Iceland as Greenland, the Faroe Islands, the Shetlands, the Orkneys, the Hebrides and the Isle of Man accepted the submission to the Norwegian crown and swear to pay tributes until 1270s (the Hebrides and the Isle of Man were ceded to the Scottish crown in the year 1266). -- Map 1: The Norwegian dominion (Norgesveldet) [Orning, Hans J. (2008)] Norwegian monarchs in the 14th century did not have any ocean-going ships themselves and had merchants or aristocrats who owned ships to collect tributes. Then ensuring the sailing to the tributary lands for Norwegian merchants was necessary for monarchs. Secondly, Norwegian monarchs received an income from a 5% tax on all imports from Iceland from the end of 13th century, called sekkjagjald11. Besides King Magnus Eriksson (king in Norway 1319-1355/63/74) started to issue licenses for all the sailings to Iceland. The sale of the licenses also became good income for the monarchs. In the 14th century, however, Norway entered into the personal union first with Sweden 11 Wærdahl (2006), p.168. 5 A link with the external world: The stockfish trade in 14th-15th century Iceland (1319) and later with Denmark (1380), then the three kingdoms united into the so-called Kalmar union (1397) as the consequence of political changes. Although Norway still had the council of the kingdom (riksrådet) that represents their own interests under the unions, the interest of following monarchs moved to the Baltic Sea and the Continent away from the North Atlantic, especially under the personal union with Denmark (1380-1814). The main residence of kings also moved from Bergen to Oslo where was closer to Copenhagen and the Continent. But still the Bergen staple was profitable for Norwegian monarchs and merchants for a while. In the course of 14th century, Hanseatic merchants did not sail to the North Atlantic themselves, at least in public, but instead they dominated fish export from Bergen to the Continent and imports to the North Atlantic. The cooperation between Norwegian monarchs and the Hansa created the ‘Bergen staple’ for the North Atlantic12, although their relationship was not always harmonic. Ch.2: The prosperity of stockfish trade – a bone of contention -- Map 2: The change of sailing routes to Iceland (After Jón Ólafur Ísberg et al. (eds.), Íslenskur söguatlas 1, 3.ed., Reykjavík, 1991, p.131) 12 A member of King’s counsel mentioned a ‘staple of stockfish’ in the letter of 1425, comparing to Calais as that of spin wool: [stapula de stokfisk sicut calisie de lana] DI, v.4, pp. 324-5. For Bergen as a staple see also DI, v.16, pp. 258-9. 6 A link with the external world: The stockfish trade in 14th-15th century Iceland - The English century (15th century) The Norwegian dominion for the North Atlantic was forced to face difficulties in the 15th century. With increasing demand for fish, English merchants started to sail to Iceland themselves, ignoring the Hanseatic dominion over Bergen and the royal prohibition which forbade any foreign merchants to sail to the North Atlantic. From around 1415 considerable number of English ships’ visiting was mentioned in Icelandic sources13. Thus the 15th century was called ‘The English Century (enska öldin)’ in Icelandic historiography14. Before long English men formed some fishing camps in Iceland, most famous one was in Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands) and competed over Icelandic fish with Norwegians and their guardian, Kings in Denmark (the ruler of the Kalmar union after 1397), and with the Hanseatic merchants as well. Early in the year 1415 Erik af Pommern, King of the Denmark-Norway, declared that ships sailing to Iceland must have bought special licenses from the king and gone via Bergen15. The king also asked King Henry V in England to prohibit the sailing to Iceland by his subjects, but the Lower House of the Parliament protested, maintaining that English men had already fished off Iceland for six or seven years and the prohibition would damage them too much16. Hanseatic leaders, especially Lübeck, the chief manager of Bergen kontor, acted in harmony with Danish monarchy and tried to keep the Bergen staple at least until around 1470. In spite of the repeated favourable proclamations, Norwegian sailors obviously fell behind English counterparts before the middle of 15th century. In 1449, King Christian I in Denmark reached an agreement that admitted the sailing to Iceland by English men on condition that they bought licences from the king and approved the dominion or taxation of Denmark-Norway over the north Atlantic. After that later in the 15th century it is believed that, on average, around ten trading ships and around 100 fishing boats sailed to Iceland from England annually17. But in 1467 an Icelandic governor under the Crown, Björn, was killed by English men in Iceland. Christian I imposed the blockade of Øresund for revenge, which would have become a cause of the war between Denmark-The Hansa and England 13 The earliest, definite mention about the visiting of English ships is seen in the entry of 1412 in Lögmanns annáll, which said that a ship from England came to the east of Dýrholmaey (the southernmost point of Iceland) and five English fisher men stayed in Iceland over the winter. Also an English merchant ship with a royal licence visited to Iceland in the next year (Ann., p.290). 14 The founder of this name is Björn Þorsteinsson and his book, Enska öldin í sögu Íslendinga (Reykjavík 1970) has been fundamental work for the century. 15 DI, v.16, no.77, pp.220-22; DI, v.3, no.643, pp.768-9. 16 DI, v.16, no.80, pp.227-8. cf. Gunnar Karlsson (2000), p.118. 17 Gunnar Karlsson (2000), p.118. That numbers are estimated from the customs accounts in England. 7 A link with the external world: The stockfish trade in 14th-15th century Iceland in1468-7318. At the same time the king changed his way to encourage German merchants to sail to Iceland as opponents to English men after centuries of prohibition. Then from c.1470 onwards Germans, especially merchants from Hamburg started to sail to the ocean themselves and gained control over the stockfish trade with Iceland, having gradually drifted away from the order of the Hansa. Although in 1490 English men gained the right to sail to Iceland on the condition of paying tax and buying licences every seventh year, they withdrew from Iceland towards the end of 15th century in close competition with Germans. Small fishing boats still kept sailing from England, though. A sea battle around Icelandic shore (Olaus Magnus 1555: Björn Þorsteinsson, Enska öldin í sögu Íslendinga, Reykjavík, 1970, p.192.) In this way, it can be said that the stockfish trade drastically changed the position of Iceland in the external world; it became a ‘bone of contention’ among big powers in the late Middle Ages as Denmark, England and the German Hansa. On the other side, what did the change bring IN Iceland? Ch.3: Blowing fresh air in the edge of the world At first, Icelanders were quite favourable towards the increase of foreign merchants as indicated in the letter to King Eric af Pommern written at the General assembly in 1419 accepting the king’s enthronement19, especially right after the damage of the Plague (1402-04) which kept foreign ships away and cut off the link with the external world for a while. In the same letter, however, the Icelandic elite tried to draw the line between fishery and commerce; they wanted foreign merchants to sell and buy goods in Iceland in the summer, but opposed to their staying over the winter and fishing. This point 18 Gunnar Karlsson (2000), p.121. 19 DI 4, p. 268; Boulhosa (2005), pp.134-6. 8 A link with the external world: The stockfish trade in 14th-15th century Iceland shows the difference in interests between the elite in Iceland and the Crown in Denmark who tried to forbid sailing of foreign merchants itself, regardless of their purpose. As time went by, however, the increase of foreigners caused a lot of troubles in Iceland. The contemporary sources, that are mainly annals or letters, testified their unfavourable acts as theft, kidnapping, robbery, setting fire and killings. Especially after 1420, quarrels between English men and local officials who tried to get them under control of the Crown became intensive; English men attacked and plundered rich farms as well as churches or monasteries. For example, in 1467 English men killed a governor called Björn Þorleifsson as mentioned above, who headed in the list of extreme rich families in Iceland at that time. After the killing they plundered Bessastaðir, a royal estate and main residence of the governor, set fire and robbed property including tax revenues for the Crown20. Not a few Icelandic leading men concerned with these conflicts as well; they did not always support the Crown, sometimes got along with English men, or later with Germans, depending on their own interests such as the demand for the huge inheritance of Björn the governor. The agreement in 1490 that admitted English men to sail to Iceland in public was brought in Iceland by a German governor Dietrich Pining and presented at the General assembly in the summer. That was agreed there with some revisions and called Pining’s verdict afterwards. The revisions firstly maintained that Germans and English men should keep peace in Iceland, and also they should not stay in Iceland over the winter except the case of emergency. It means that there was a demand for peace among leading men in Iceland, although the actual effect of the verdict was quite suspicious as English men and Germans held their fortifications in Iceland and kept fighting each other. Pining’s verdict also declared that ‘no cottagers should be in Iceland’. That means that poor people who could not support themselves should work at others’ farm and should not become fishermen who live at cottages around shore. The profit of stockfish trade made fishery more independent business, which used to be a side work for most farms only in the winter. English men newly established many fishing ports along the south-west coast, not in the north part which used to be the most popular port area. The fact that churches were also established around new ports tells us the emergence of some new communities for people who live around shore through the year for fishing. Pining’s verdict indicates that the Icelandic elite was not pleased with such a situation and hoped to keep people as workforce in farms, not as fishermen. Thus there would have still been a tendency in the Icelandic elite to keep the island as a farmers’ society, not as a fishing camp. 20 About killing of Björn, there transmitted some stories of revenge by his wife, Ölof, in Iceland, though no contemporary sources reserved information about events like that. Gunnar Karlsson (2000), p.122. 9 A link with the external world: The stockfish trade in 14th-15th century Iceland Finally the fact that stockfish trade brought more people and more goods in Iceland might have contributed to enhance ‘internationality’ of people living in the island floating the edge of the world. People could go abroad more easily than before, and some novelties brought by foreigners as guns, printing, schnapps (now called brennivín) and later the new religious movement made even locals aware of the changes in the external world. Conclusion Before the stockfish trade began, Iceland was mainly negotiated with Norway, their motherland. Then the submission to the king in Norway in 1260s seemed to strengthen the traditional tie between those two lands. But actually, the stockfish from Iceland pushed the island forward to the heart of conflicts among big powers such as England, Denmark and the German-Hansa in the late Middle ages. Profitable stockfish trade also brought the constant communication between Iceland and the Continent, which allowed Iceland to remain within the sphere of European culture. Thus we can say that the stockfish trade in Iceland have linked a marginal country to the external world, in mental as well as material sense. 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