History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 1 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

Number of vessels engaged, and their form.

The stories as to the number of vessels under the orders of the Conqueror on this memorable expedition are very conflicting. Some writers have asserted that the total number amounted to no less than three thousand, of which six or seven hundred were of a superior order, the remainder consisting chiefly of boats temporarily built, and of the most fragile description. Others place the whole fleet at not more than eight hundred vessels of every sort, and this number is likely to be the nearest to the truth. There are now no means of ascertaining their size; but their form may be conjectured from the representations of these vessels on the famous roll of tapestry still preserved at Bayeux, from which the following has been copied.[508]

It is related that when William meditated his descent upon England, he ordered for that purpose “large ships” to be constructed at his seaports, collecting, wherever they could be found, smaller vessels or boats to accompany them. But even the largest must have been of little value, as the whole fleet were by his orders burned and destroyed as soon as he landed with his army, so as to cut off all retreat and to save the expense of their maintenance.[509]

Those of our readers who have visited the north of Scotland, during the herring-fishery season, will readily notice the resemblance to the traditional form of the war vessels of the Saxons in the eleventh century exhibited by the larger boats owned by the present Wick or Lerwick fishermen. But as we have more than once had occasion to observe, though we are greatly indebted to antiquaries for their researches, the few drawings of ancient vessels preserved are scarcely objects of instruction. Even the vessels on the Bayeux tapestry give us little that is definite, and we can hardly infer from them more than that we see in them an ideal but imperfect representation of the boats which were hastily constructed for William the Norman; while we may at the same time feel sure that the Saxon and Danish ships in ordinary use must have been stronger and better adapted to encounter stormy weather and rough seas than the vessels of a similar size and class in the Mediterranean. All details respecting them must, however, be conjectural; and a drawing of one class, even if accurate, may give as faint an impression of ships of another class, as the collier of to-day would afford of a modern Indiaman or Ocean-Steamer.

Nor, indeed, is it likely that the Conqueror’s fleet included many ships of a superior class or size, as we know that the great bulk, if not the whole of them, were built or collected, and fitted between the first of January and the latter end of August. Norman writers of the period state that their merchant vessels or transports were in length about three times their breadth, sometimes propelled by oars, but generally by sails: their galleys appear to have been of two sorts, the larger, occasionally called galleons, carrying in some instances sixty men, well armed with iron armour, besides the rowers. The smaller galleys, which are not specially described, doubtless resembled ships’ launches in size, but of a form enabling them to be propelled at considerable speed. Besides these, the Normans would appear to have also used, for purposes of war, small light boats covered with leather resembling those already described.[510]

State of trade and commerce.

It is almost as difficult to arrive at any sound conclusion with regard to the actual state of trade and commerce in England at the time of the Conquest as it is with regard to the shipping. Agriculture, which had been in so flourishing a state under the Roman government, that large shipments of corn were frequently made to the Continent, had been much neglected during the long wars between the Britons, Saxons, and Danes; and there is no instance on record of any export of grain of any sort during the whole period of the Anglo-Saxon rule. On the other hand, in unfavourable seasons, the Britons did not grow enough for themselves, though the country must have been thinly peopled, and, consequently, but too frequently suffered severely from famine. In the account of the sales of church property and of other estates, many records of which are still extant,[511] we find that land even of the best quality seldom realized a higher price than five pounds[512] of silver for a hide of land, showing that while the people must have been widely scattered few persons were in opulent circumstances.

Exports.

Wool was however produced to a considerable extent, the rich pastures of England having furnished from the earliest ages ample food for large flocks of sheep. By the eighth law of King Edgar, the highest price which could be taken for wool was somewhat less than three-fourths of a penny for a pound; and though there is no positive information on the subject, the Flemings, who were then and for some centuries afterwards the chief manufacturers of fine woollen goods for the whole of Europe, must have bought wool largely in the markets of England, and carried it away to be spun and woven in their own country. Lead was frequently used for the roofs of churches and other buildings; and from the records in Domesday Book it is clear that, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, there were iron works in the neighbourhood of Gloucester, of a date perhaps as early as the Roman colonization.[513] Although there is no account of the exportation of any metals in the age now under consideration, it is reasonable to suppose that the demand at home and abroad for lead, tin, and iron, could never have wholly ceased, and that they must have formed a considerable part of the few exports during the Anglo-Saxon period.[514]