Copernicus’s residence in Frombork (see yesterday’s blog) was in a tower which formed part of the medieval town walls. Nearby was the medieval cathedral which, like the walls, was built of brick. This invites a comparison with Hull which, during the life of Copernicus 1473-1543, also retained its medieval town walls built of brick as was the earliest part of Holy Trinity Church, still then a chapel of ease to All Saints church, Hessle. The geophysical similarity was that both the north Polish coast and the Humber coastal lowlands provided ready access to fine estuarine silt clays suitable for brick and tile making.
From some parts of Frombork’s town Walls there would have been views to the sea, today called the Gulf of Gdansk at the southern end of the Baltic Sea. Given this Copernicus may well have seen ships sailing to and from Hull as by 1500 Hull’s trade with the Baltic ports (often also Hanseatic ports) was increasing and continued to do so well into the 18th century. A readable study of the ships, sailors, cargos and ports of this time was made by Wendy Childs The Trade and Shipping of Hull, 1300-1500 (East Yorkshire Local History Soc., 1990).
Other E.Y.L.H.S. booklets dealing with the trade of Hull are;
Davis, R. The Trade and Shipping of Hull, 1500-1700 (E.Y.L.H.S., 1964).
Jackson, G. The Trade and Shipping of 18th century Hull (E.Y.L.H.S., 1975).
Bellamy, J.M. The Trade and Shipping of 19th century Hull (E.Y.L.H.S., 1979).
All will now be out of print but the Society may well hold some reserve copies for sale.
The nearby port of Danzig (now Gdansk) conducted much trade with Hull, as did Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad in Russia) and Elbing (see Ralph Davis’ booklet above).