St. Huldryche.
“Wheresoever Huldryche hath his place, the people there brings in
Both capes and pykes, and mullets fat, his favour here to win.
Amid the church there sittieth one, and to the aultar nie,
That selleth fish, and so good cheep, that every man may buie;
Nor any thing he loseth here, bestowing thus his paine,
For when it hath beene offred once, ’tis brought him all againe,
That twise or thrise he selles the same, vngodlinesse such gaine
Both still bring in, and plentiously the kitchen doth maintaine,
Whence comes this same religion newe? What kind of God is this,
Same Huldryche here, that so desires and so delightes in fishe?”[XXI_28]
An ordinance of King John informs us that, in the 14th century, people eat porpoises and even seals.[XXI_29] In the days of the troubadours, they fished for dolphins and whales in the Mediterranean, and the flesh of these sea monsters was considered excellent.[XXI_30]