trade, medieval

In the Middle Ages, a large amount of international trade was carried on in Europe, despite the many barriers presented by bad communications, robbers and pirates, political boundaries, currency problems, tolls, and customs. Trade routes between Europe and India and China were blocked by the Muslim lands of the Middle East, so a round trip from Venice to India might take three years. There was also no postal system, although Italian merchants ran a courier service.

Goods Pack horses could not carry heavy loads, so most land trade was in high-value lightweight goods such as silk, spices, perfumes, or jewels. Ships, however, could carry large cargoes, and they brought to England tar, timber, furs, and rope from the Baltic, cloth and lace from Flanders, and wine and glass from the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, English merchants exported wool, fish, metal, and honey. Many of these goods were sold at fairs, of which the largest and most important were those in Champagne in northeast France. The Crusades stimulated trade, as the crusaders discovered many new goods that they had never seen before, including lemons, apricots, sugar, and cotton.

Merchants The Old English word for trade – ‘cheaping’ – is preserved in the modern word ‘cheap’, and in placenames such as Cheapside and Eastcheap in London, and Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire. Some traders became very wealthy; Dick Whittington, for example, was a cloth merchant who became lord mayor of London in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Wealthiest of all were the Italian merchant-bankers, operating from the great trading cities of the Mediterranean, such as Venice and Genoa. Also important was the Hanseatic League – an association of north German towns that established a monopoly over trade with the Baltic region. The League had originally come together for protection against pirates, and to foster safer navigation by building lighthouses and employing pilots. The most prominent English trading organization was the Merchant Adventurers, who traded all over Europe by the 15th century. Trade stimulated the Age of Exploration – Christopher Columbus, who sailed in 1492, and Vasco da Gama, who sailed in 1497, were both trying to find an alternative trade route to India.