Book contents
- The Catch
- Studies in Environment and History
- The Catch
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Additional material
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations Used in Notes and Bibliography
- Introduction
- 1 “Natural” Aquatic Ecosystems around Late Holocene Europe
- 2 Protein, Penance, and Prestige
- 3 Take and Eat
- 4 Master Artisans and Local Markets
- 5 Aquatic Systems under Stress, c. 1000–1350
- 6 Cultural Responses to Scarcities of Fish
- 7 Going beyond Natural Local Ecosystems, I
- 8 Going beyond Natural Local Ecosystems, II
- 9 Last Casts
- Appendix A Glossary of European Fishes Named in This Book
- References
- Index
Introduction
Considering Fisheries: Medieval Europe and Its Legacies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2023
- The Catch
- Studies in Environment and History
- The Catch
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Additional material
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations Used in Notes and Bibliography
- Introduction
- 1 “Natural” Aquatic Ecosystems around Late Holocene Europe
- 2 Protein, Penance, and Prestige
- 3 Take and Eat
- 4 Master Artisans and Local Markets
- 5 Aquatic Systems under Stress, c. 1000–1350
- 6 Cultural Responses to Scarcities of Fish
- 7 Going beyond Natural Local Ecosystems, I
- 8 Going beyond Natural Local Ecosystems, II
- 9 Last Casts
- Appendix A Glossary of European Fishes Named in This Book
- References
- Index
Summary
Brief case studies of the Atlantic sturgeon, sustained medieval fisheries on Lake Constance, and development of intense commercial fishing for Atlantic cod identify themes and issues for an environmental history of medieval European fisheries, history as if nature matters. An interactive metabolic model for the interplay of autonomous cultural (i.e. socially learned) and natural forces provides an analytical framework for handling diverse local and regional experiences and impacts of medieval Europeans with aquatic ecosystems. Traditional historical methods fit together with interdisciplinary evidence from archaeology, archaeozoology, historical climatology, and aquatic ecology in a search for understandable consilience. Some developments during roughly 500–1500 CE may foreshadow present-day global fisheries crises.
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- The CatchAn Environmental History of Medieval European Fisheries, pp. 1 - 30Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023