16 - The Fishy Tale of Willem Beukelszoon
10/28/19 • 47 min
In the latter half of the 14th century, a series of technological developments as well as ripe social and economic conditions saw the foundations being laid for the future Dutch takeover of the northern European herring industry. Up until then, the herring trade had been dominated by the Danes, Swedes and the Hanseatic towns of northern Germany and the Baltic Sea, with Dutch and other European consumers happily importing salted herring from those places. Within two hundred years this situation would be completely reversed; the fishing and exporting of salted herring would be one of the cornerstones of the Dutch economy and Dutch cured herring would come to reach dinner tables all across Europe. This remarkable reversal of fortunes was so integral to the emergence of Dutch national identity, that it required its own position within the narrative of the emerging Dutch state. From the 17th century onwards a myth was perpetuated which credited it all to a man called Willem Beukelszoon of Biervliet. He was a humble herring fisherman who, at some point in the 14th century apparently discovered the process of gibbing, which made this whole turn around possible. Although this legend has been debunked by modern historians, its perpetuation demonstrates the importance which the so-called “royal herring” enjoyed in the creation of a Dutch national identity. So in this episode of the History of the Netherlands, we are once again going to depart from the power games of the nobility, and the wranglings of urban elite and worker’s guilds, and focus on something even more slippery, the herring.
With thanks to Nynke van Gent, Randy Gout, Marko de Weerdt and Jeroen Peeters-Panman for becoming Patreon subscribers.
SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-16-the-fishy-tale-of-willem-beukelszoon
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL
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In the latter half of the 14th century, a series of technological developments as well as ripe social and economic conditions saw the foundations being laid for the future Dutch takeover of the northern European herring industry. Up until then, the herring trade had been dominated by the Danes, Swedes and the Hanseatic towns of northern Germany and the Baltic Sea, with Dutch and other European consumers happily importing salted herring from those places. Within two hundred years this situation would be completely reversed; the fishing and exporting of salted herring would be one of the cornerstones of the Dutch economy and Dutch cured herring would come to reach dinner tables all across Europe. This remarkable reversal of fortunes was so integral to the emergence of Dutch national identity, that it required its own position within the narrative of the emerging Dutch state. From the 17th century onwards a myth was perpetuated which credited it all to a man called Willem Beukelszoon of Biervliet. He was a humble herring fisherman who, at some point in the 14th century apparently discovered the process of gibbing, which made this whole turn around possible. Although this legend has been debunked by modern historians, its perpetuation demonstrates the importance which the so-called “royal herring” enjoyed in the creation of a Dutch national identity. So in this episode of the History of the Netherlands, we are once again going to depart from the power games of the nobility, and the wranglings of urban elite and worker’s guilds, and focus on something even more slippery, the herring.
With thanks to Nynke van Gent, Randy Gout, Marko de Weerdt and Jeroen Peeters-Panman for becoming Patreon subscribers.
SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-16-the-fishy-tale-of-willem-beukelszoon
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL
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Previous Episode
15 - Fuelling the Flames of Frisian Freedom
Friesland was an autonomous anomaly in Europe, free from the feudal obligations that had so deeply entrenched themselves in society everywhere else. For years the Frisians just rocked along, doing their own thing, which generally involved something to do with cows. We have largely avoided talking about them for a few episodes, but now is the time in our journey through the History of the Netherlands to look at exactly what the Frisians were doing in the 1300s that was not cow related. Put simply, for the first forty-four years of the fourteenth century forces and factions fought and feuded in Friesland, fueling the flames of fearless Frisian freedom fighters. In 1345, Frisian farmers and fishermen on the eastern side of the Zuiderzee would meet and defeat the Count of Holland in battle at Stavoren, an event that would unite people in East-Friesland and ensure that the autonomy they enjoyed known as “Friese Vrijheid”, Frisian freedom, would continue for another 150 years.
With thanks to James Lovett, Clay Batley and Jan Kouwenberg for becoming Patreon subscribers.
SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/historyofthenetherlands/episode-15-fuelling-the-flames-of-frisian-freedom
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL
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Next Episode
17 - The Bold and the Looter's Rule
Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, kicked off a dynasty that would forever change the Low Countries. After his marriage to Margaret of Flanders in 1369, Philip would prove himself to be a formidable opponent to anyone playing the game of politics and power in western Europe. He generally did this by using diplomacy instead of the sword. Despite his adventurous and super trendy epithet suggesting otherwise, he was more willing to boldly give lavish gifts of wine and expensive ornaments, in order to charm the pants off anyone he was trying to manipulate, than to raise an army and go marching boldly forth. By showing magnanimity in victory after quelling an uprising in Ghent in the 1380s, by the end of the 14th century Philip the Bold was able to bring a modicum of stability to rebellious Flanders and begin the process of centralising power in the low countries under a single ruler: himself and his successors, the Dukes of Burgundy. Philip would create what would go down in history as the Burgundian Netherlands.
With thanks to Samuel Dalcin da Anunciação, Carol Agle, Nicholas Tishler and Jeremy Heeringa and Harry Berkowitz and his class for becoming Patreon subscribers.
SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-17-the-bold-and-the-looters-rule
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL
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