Herring Trade, Quality Controls and Diplomacy in Cologne in the Fifteenth Century*

Abstract

Abstract The importance of herring to Cologne’s medieval economy is well-known and the need to control the quality of this long-distance and perishable product has also been widely recognized. The interregional quality norms that Cologne negotiated with Low Countries fishing towns in 1481 have been neglected, however. This article offers the first reconstruction of the diplomatic process that led to the edict and an analysis of the motives that impelled the diverse stakeholders to reach an agreement. The article demonstrates that in addition to herring’s commercial significance, its quality control was a major issue and was used as an instrument of influence by Cologne and other powers in the politically decentralized Holy Roman Empire. Comprehensive analysis of Cologne’s abundant sources shows how exchanges of letters and complaints gradually fed into formal negotiations, culminating in the publication of a crucial edict that established an interregional quality control system and took account of the interests of the different stakeholders in the herring trade. The article suggests that this push for regulation was also an element of Cologne’s economic strategy since it helped justify the taxes the city levied on goods in transit at the expense of competing actors in the Rhine region. In short, the example of quality controls on herring shows how food trade studies can shed light on power relations in the Empire during the late Middle Ages.