A fishmonger (historically

fishwife A fishwife, fish-fag or fishlass is a woman who sells fish. Some wives and daughters of fishermen were notoriously loud and foul-mouthed, as noted in the expression, ''To swear like a fishwife'' as they sold fish in the marketplace. One reaso ...

for female practitioners) is someone who sells raw

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

and

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

. Fishmongers can be

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

rs or

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

ers and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, filleting, displaying, merchandising and selling their product. In some countries modern

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

s are replacing fishmongers who operate in shops or

fish market A fish market is a marketplace for selling fish and fish products. It can be dedicated to wholesale trade between fishermen and fish merchants, or to the sale of seafood to individual consumers, or to both. Retail fish markets, a type of wet mar ...

Worshipful Company of Fishmongers

The fishmongers

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

, one of the earliest guilds, was established in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

by a Royal Charter granted by Edward I shortly after he became king in 1272. Partnership with foreigners was forbidden and the sale of fish was tightly controlled to ensure freshness and restrain profit, which was limited to one penny in the shilling. Nevertheless, the guild grew rich and, after Edward's victory over the Scots, was able to make a great show, including one thousand mounted knights. During the reign of Edward II, the political power of the fishmongers waned and English Parliament, Parliament decreed that no fishmonger could become mayor of the city. This was soon rescinded and their wealth increased further so that, during the reign of Edward III, the guild could provide £40 to the war against the French, this being a great sum at that time. The guild was then reformed by Great Charter as the ''Mystery of the Fishmongers of London''. They were given a monopoly over the crying and selling of fish and they regulated the catching of fish in the Thames which teemed with fish such as salmon at that time. The guild still continues today as one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies.

Tools

The tools used by fishmongers include: * Pliers to pull out pinbones * A fish scaler to remove scales * A filleting knife to cut away the flesh from the bones * Short strong knives for opening oysters and other shellfish * Protective gloves * A curved knife for gutting and removing roe

Fishmongers in culture

In many countries, the fishwife was proverbial for her sharp tongue and outspokenness. In Medieval France, the ones in Paris were known for their special privilege of being able to speak frankly to the King himself, when he ventured into the marketplace, and voice criticism without fear of punishment. Molly Malone is a character from a popular Irish song about a young fishwife who tragically dies at a young age. Charles Fort in his book ''Lo!'' compiles the story of the Mad Fishmonger or "St. Fishmonger", which later may or may not appear in the ''Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy'' by Robert Anton Wilson. St. Fishmonger allegedly caused crabs and periwinkles to fall from the sky. In the English translation of the Asterix series, the village fishmonger is called Unhygienix. In the film ''The Beach (film), The Beach'', the Island's chef has only fish as a source of meat, and is named Unhygienix in reference to the Asterix character. In Shakespeare's ''Hamlet,'' some contend that the word ''fishmonger'' was a euphemism for a "fleshmonger," or pimp.Shaaber MA (1971
"Polonius as Fishmonger"
''Shakespeare Quarterly'', 22 (2).

Historic fishmongers

* Marretje Arents * Dolly Peel * Dolly Pentreath, the last native speaker of Cornish language, Cornish * Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchist executed in 1927 following a controversial American trial * Muhammad Shahid Nazir

Gallery

File:Joachim Beuckelaer - Vismarkt..JPG, A 16th-century Flemish fishmonger painted by Joachim Beuckelaer. File:Frans Snyders, The Fishmonger.JPG, ''The Fishmonger''. By Frans Snyders (1579–1657). File:Adriaen van Utrecht - Fishmonger's Stall - WGA24196.jpg, ''Fishmonger's Stall'' by Adriaen van Utrecht (1599–1652). File:J L Wouters Fishmonger.jpg, ''The fishmonger'' by Jan Ludewick Wouters (1599-1663). File:Henry Herbert La Thangue - Crying Fish In Spain.jpg, ''Crying fish in Spain'' by Henry Herbert La Thangue (1859-1929). File:Gyula Derkovits, fish seller, 1930.jpg, ''Fish seller'', 1930. By Gyula Derkovits (1894-1934).

References

External links

Hamlet's Puns and Paradoxes
{{Authority control Fishmongers (people), Food services occupations Fish products sales