Seas of Plenty: Maritime Trade into England and Wales, 1400-1540

It has been said that ‘It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive….’

This is a book about sea journeys made by brave souls – Italians, Germans, Dutch, and English – who battled storms, pirates and xenophobia to stock our homes and feed this island’s appetite for exotics and whatever we could not grow or make ourselves as we fought our way through civil war, invasion paranoia and economic disaster, as if nature’s own storms at sea are not challenge enough.

The welcome we extended was oft...