Medieval Whales and Whaling

Nathalie Cohen

Introduction

Few writers have attempted to qualify the nature and extent of whale exploitation inEngland during the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods. This is intriguing: while this was acountry surrounded by seas presumably thronging with cetacean life, and with neighbouringmaritime cultures apparently actively engaging in the practice of whaling, there iscomparatively little archaeological evidence to demonstrate whale exploitation in England.The very scarcity of whale bone artefacts retrieved through excavation has meant that thereis little understanding of how and why such resources were used.

The study of whale exploitation in England can be seen to be, of necessity, aninterdisciplinary investigation. The rarity of the surviving artefactual evidence, coupled withthe insecure provenance of some of the material, means an examination of thedocumentary record is essential. In writing this article, this has comprised the inspection of‘factual’ records, such as Calendar Rolls and Exchequer Accounts, to try and gauge the‘presence’ of whales (i.e. the dates and methods of their procurement), and the examinationof literary and pictorial sources, such as poems and manuscript art, to try and elucidate theircultural ‘appearance’. In addition to this not unexpected coupling of archaeology and history,this paper will also discuss environmental and geological data, with regard to thephenomenon of the Medieval Warm Period. It is suggested here that this climatic event wasa key factor affecting the location and availability of cetaceans. Finally, it should also benoted that due to the drastic fall in numbers of whales over the past three centuries(because of the commercial whaling of the industrial and modern eras), evidence regardingthe behaviour and activities of whales in British waters (both historically and today) is stillvery much in the process of compilation.

Documentary and Pictorial Evidence

The first English documentary reference to the practice of whaling comes from the late 9thcentury tale of North Atlantic whaling recounted at the court of King Alfred by the travellerOhthere. However, the concept of the whale as a threatening and malicious aquatic creatureis demonstrated from an earlier date in literary sources, such as Adomnan’s Life of StColumba and the 9th century Voyage of St Brendan the Navigator. In these sources, thewhale is portrayed as a terrifying sea monster, and in the latter tale it also has the ratheralarming habit of disguising itself as an island.

This identification of the monstrous whale can be seen as deriving from Judeo-Christiantradition; the well-known story of Jonah and the Whale, the Leviathan of the Book of Job,and the description of the whale within the Physiologus texts, which date to the 2nd-4thcenturies AD. The whale is used as a literary device representing the temptation of man, as isclearly embodied in the late Anglo-Saxon poem, The Whale

St Brendan and the WhaleImage from Wikimedia Commons

Echoes of this deeply rooted primal fear of the aquatic environment and the creatureswithin it are also to be found in the Beowulf saga; the hero overcomes the raging seas, andvictoriously battles Grendel’s mother, who lurks in an underwater lair described by SeamusHeaney as one of three ‘archetypal sites of fear’. However, it seems likely that physicaldescriptions of whales must have been based at least in part on direct observation, bothfrom on board ship and from the coast. Again with reference to Beowulf, the sea is identifiedas hronráde (the whale-road), and after his death Beowulf’s burial mound is raised onhrones næsse, the whale’s headland. Finally, Ælfric’s Colloquy, dating to c. 987-1002, alsoindicates interaction with whales:

Master: Would you like to catch a whale?‘Fisherman’: Not me!Master: Why?‘Fisherman’: Because it is a risky business catching a whale. It’s safer for me to go on theriver with my boat, than to go hunting whales with many boats.Master: Why so?‘Fisherman’: Because I prefer to catch a fish that I can kill, rather than a fish that can sink orkill not only me but also my companions with a single blow.Master: Nevertheless many catch whales and escape danger, and make great profit by it.‘Fisherman’: You are right, but I dare not because of my timid spirit!

The documentary evidence for the Anglo-Saxon period would seem to suggest that whilelarge cetaceans had been observed and were a part of the symbolic consciousness of thepopulace, they were not actually hunted due to the inherent dangers associated with suchan enterprise. This is in direct contrast to the contemporary situation within theScandinavian world, including those islands settled by the Norse (the Faroes, Iceland,Greenland) and parts of northern Britain, where both documentary and archaeologicalevidence indicates considerable activity. Similarly, Flemish and Norman documentaryevidence indicates that whaling was taking place in the North Sea and the English Channelfrom the 9th century onwards, while in the Bay of Biscay, Basque whalers were operatingfrom as early as the 11th century. In the light of the conquest of AD 1066, Norman activity isparticularly significant with regard to Anglo-Saxon attitudes to whaling; evidence for boththe organisation of labour and the interest of the ruler is in direct contrast to England, wherethere are no references to whaling in early medieval legislature. Thus, it seems possible thatEnglish requirements for whale products were supplied via continental sources and fromstranded creatures washed up in coastal and estuarine areas.

A preliminary study of a number of primary and secondary documentary sources hasprovided an insight into the phenomenon of stranding during the 11th – 15th centuries.These records provide an indication of the frequency of the occurrence of strandings; theydemonstrate the assertion of rights and legal ownership of this valuable resource, and theyare notable (especially during the mid 14th century) for the large numbers of individualsinvolved in the act of removing (and presumably profiting by) the whale carcass. Presently,The Receiver of Wreck administers the Royal Prerogative on Fishes Royal (including whales,dolphins, porpoises and sturgeon). However, this role was only established in 1854, and it isnot clear whether the Receiver’s involvement with whales (as opposed to ship-wreckedproperty) dates to this period. It seems likely that royal attempts to claim wreck, includingstranded whales, was asserted from as early as the late 11th century, and could be assignedto local ecclesiastical and secular landowners. The enforcement of ownership rights musthave been very difficult to uphold, however the enormous monetary value of the whalemeant that when an incidence of stranding and illegal retrieval was revealed, attempts weremade to recoup the value.

An example of the financial worth of a stranded cetacean is provided here, to demonstratetheir value in later medieval England. In September 1334, a claimant for recompense in thematter of the loss of twelve horses and four oxen valued all of those animals at a total of £30;the financial windfall afforded by the discovery of the single stranded whale at Fryskeneyethe same year was £100.

Archaeological Evidence

Surviving artefacts of whalebone in England are comparatively rare and evidence forpossible butchery and bone working sites are even more exceptional. The artefactualevidence can be classified according to ‘product’ type: the first group comprises a smallnumber of finely worked pieces (mostly dating to the mid Anglo-Saxon period); the secondconsists of fragmentary remains, representing waste products and possible domestic items.Of the first assemblage, the best known is probably the Franks Casket, which is dated to c AD700.

Detail of the lid of the Franks CasketImage from WikiMedia Commons

The casket was found in France, and donated to the British Museum. The front panel textprovides a description of the material used in the casket’s construction ‘hronoesban’(whalebone), and the way it was acquired:

The fish beat up the sea(s) on to the mountainous cliff. The king of terror became sad whenhe swam on to the shingle.

Other 8th century examples of whalebone artefacts include the Gandersheim (or Brunswick)Casket and the Larling panel fragment, found in 1970 near a church dedicated to Æthelbertof East Anglia, whose coins also bear the Romulus and Remus motif shown on the panel.Other examples of worked material include a number of items found in Cambridgeshire: afragment of a casket mount (dating to c 1000-1150) from Hinxton; an unprovenancedgaming piece; and a plaque found near Ely. Parts of a chess set (10th-12th century) carvedfrom whale’s flipper bones were found in Witchampton, Dorset during the 1920s and fromLondon there is a whalebone (or possibly walrus ivory) book cover of 12th or 13th centurydate.

Discoveries of fragmentary material are relatively rare and, as with the documentaryevidence, a number of interesting speculations are prompted by examination of this data.While the sample of material is very small, some hypotheses could be suggested regardingthe types of sites using whale bone (high status and urban settlements), and possible centresof trade / secondary processing can be tentatively identified (Ipswich, York, Southamptonand London). Only one site shows evidence for primary butchery: the remains of twostranded 10th century whales excavated at Dengemarsh in Kent.

North Atlantic Right Whale and calfImage from Wikimedia Commons

Whale 1 was identified as a North Atlantic right whale, a species widely hunted by theBasque whalers as they are slow moving, easy to approach, float when killed and yield greatquantities of oil and baleen. The whale discovered at Bay Wharf, Greenwich is of the samespecies.

Discussion

The documentary and (limited) archaeological evidence thus suggests the exploitation ofwhales in medieval England was an opportunistic maritime activity, with initial butchery andprocessing of stranded whales taking place in coastal or estuarine environments, andrelatively small-scale secondary modification of materials taking place at high statusmercantile and ecclesiastical centres. A further problem in understanding the exploitationprocess is that the probable uses of whale products are largely archaeologically invisible.Baleen (from the upper jaws) was apparently used for military equipment and fashionableclothing during the 13th and 14th centuries. Meat removed from bones could be eaten freshor salted, and oil (rendered from blubber and bones) could be utilised in a variety of waysincluding lighting and soap making. Finally, there is the challenge of identifying the kinds ofwhales exploited as the modified nature of the carved examples, and the fragmentarynature of the remaining artefacts, makes species identification difficult.

The implications of the climatic and environmental changes affecting the North Atlantic areaduring the Medieval Warm Period are striking with regard to the hypotheses made aboveabout whale activity and human industry. The Medieval Warm Period (c AD 900 – 1350)followed a phase of colder weather (dated to c AD 400 – 900): the former was characterisedby low rainfall, warm summers and cold winters. Analysis of a range of data has shown thatfrom the 10th century, tree and cultivation limits spread towards higher altitudes, (inEngland for example, there was tillage at greater heights in parts of Dartmoor andNorthumberland, and evidence for numerous vineyards across south-eastern counties);dendrochronology suggests periods of drought and documentary records make reference tothe heat. This period of warmer weather, together with the retreat of Arctic ice, encouragedthe movement of populations in the North Atlantic, with Viking settlement shown to havegradually spread from a foothold in the Faroes established during the early 9th century, toIceland in around 860 and onwards to Greenland and the north-eastern coast of Americaduring the 10th and early 11th centuries. 8th century developments in Viking shiptechnology with the use of sail, as well as oars, is also important to the Norse expansion,allowing for the transhipment of more men, more cargo and the ability to traverse longerdistances at greater speed. Exploration of the North Atlantic areas, and the ability to travelto areas further north that were previously inaccessible due to ice, would have also meantincreasing contact with whales, both of those species already seen in the North Sea andEnglish Channel, and of those which are restricted to higher latitudes. The establishment ofsettlements in places like Iceland and Greenland would also have meant that processing ofwhales could take place close to the areas in which they were caught, with the modifiedproducts then shipped on via established trade routes. For example, excavation at the Vikingsettlement at Svalbard, in NE Iceland revealed an open air whalebone work shop, dating to1050-1150.

La Baleine, painting from around 1840Image from Wikimedia Commons

The phenomenon of stranding along the English coastline as attested in the documentaryrecord may also be related in part to the climatic changes of the Medieval Warm Period (andthe succeeding Little Ice Age), particularly with the regard to its apparently increasingfrequency during the 14th centuries. During the 13th century, ice began to increase,spreading southwards from the pole, and leading to the gradual abandonment of the Norsesettlements. In Europe this change from a period of warmer to colder weather (during the14th century) was notable for a marked increase in ‘extreme’ weather: including violentstorms and flood events, increased rainfall throughout the year and severe winter conditions,which affected crops leading to famine and disease. Changes in soil conditions also led to thesubsidence and collapse of numerous buildings. Together with the horrors of the BlackDeath during the middle of the century, the 14th century was a time of turmoil. It seemslikely that whale and other marine populations were likewise affected by these changes; theincrease in ice and the effects of more severe weather could have impacted on whales in a

number of ways. Changes to the direction of sea currents bearing krill could have meant thatwhales were following new and unfamiliar routes, similarly alterations in the warmth and /or depth of the seas, and particularly of coastal waters, may have affected whales’ ability tonavigate successfully and led to increasing numbers of stranding events. It is interesting tonote that there appear to be significantly fewer strandings during the 15th century,(representing a successful ‘re-mapping’ of whale migration routes?) and that the onlyrecorded instances of narwhal strandings (17th and 19th centuries) coincide with height ofLittle Ice Age, when the animal was presumably venturing further southwards than beforedue to colder conditions. During the 21st century, (which again is a Warm Period, althoughthis time global in nature and exacerbated by the greenhouse effect), it is interesting to notethe increasing presence of whales in British waters and more significantly with regard to thisarticle, increased numbers of stranding events.

The highly publicised case of the lost Thames Whale was one of a number of recordedstranding events of early 2006 of both smaller and larger cetaceans along the eastern coastof England. While the major contributory factor accounting for the increase in the number ofwhales around Britain is due to the recovery of populations previously affected bycommercial whaling, it is interesting to speculate that climate change may also be having animpact.

Conclusions

Future areas of research could include detailed studies of whalebone artefacts to try andrefine the species identification where possible. It may also useful to re-examine artefacts ofuncertain identification (for example, the London artefact which could be either walrus orwhale) to check for any missed examples. Broader research aims could incorporate furtherinvestigation of the nature of English ship technology throughout the medieval age, (andparticularly of Anglo-Saxon period) in order to better understand the apparent lack ofhunting. This could be related to an interesting comparative study of whaling during thepost-medieval period, when the development of ships with transatlantic capabilities, andadvances in cartography and navigation combined to encourage the growth of a globalmaritime industry. Further work could also be undertaken within the field of climate studies,including a detailed survey of documented stranding records (medieval, post-medieval andmodern) to identify any patterns presented. The hunt for butchery and processing sitesthrough coastal zone survey (inter-tidal and underwater investigation) may also proverewarding, particularly if combined with studies of place-names.