Book Description

Excerpt from A Complete History: County of York In his Itinerary, about the year 1538, he notices Hull as follows: "The towne was in the tyme of Edward the 3. but a meane fischar toune, and longid as a membre to Hasille village, a 2. or 3. mile of upper on Humber. The first great encreasing of the towne was by passing for fisch into Iseland, from whens they bad the hole trade of stoke fisch into England, and partly other fisch. In Richard the 2. dayes the town waxid very rich, and Michael de la Pole, mar-chaunt of Hulle, and prentyce, as sum say, to one Rotenhering, of the same toun, cam into so high favor for wit, actyvite, and riches, that he was made Counte of Southfolk, wherapon he got of King Richard the 2. many grauntes and privileges to the tonne; and yu his tyme the toune was wonderfully augmentid yu building, and was enclosid with diches, and the waul begon, and yu continuance endid, and made al of brike, as most part of the houses of the toun at that tyme was." And again he says, "The toune of Kingeston had first by graunt eustodeni, then bailives, then maire and bailives, and in King Henry the 6. tyme a maire, a shirive, and the toun to be shire ground by it self. One told me, that their first great corporation was grauntid to Kingeston a 180 yere syns." Camden is equally incorrect in the account which he gives of the origin of the town. Instead of consulting "the sacred archives of the kingdom," he has been satisfied to follow the popular tradition, that it rose to a state of affluence in the reign of Richard II. partly in consequence of the privileges granted to it through the intercession of Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, and partly through its trade in stockfish. The historian Speed, who probably had opportunities of consulting more authentic sources of information, gives the following account of its origin: "Places for trade and venting forth their commodities are many, yet none of such convenience as Kingston-upon-Hull, which, notwithstanding, cannot fetch her beginning from any great antiquity (being before time called Wyke). King Edward I. built this town, making a haven, and granting many privileges to the burgesses, so that it is risen to great state, both for stately buildings and strong blockhouses, for ships well furnished, and for store of merchants, and is now become the most famous town of that country, whose greatest riches is ascribed to the gainful trade they have by Iceland fish, dried and hardened, commonly called stockfish." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.