At the market, people could buy vegetables, live animals, pots, pans, and knives. Any peasant could take his goods to sell them at the market, but he would have to pay a tax to stand in the square with his goods displayed on the ground. Richer tradesmen set up stalls.
There were two types of market: those that handled locally produced goods and those that handled goods from further afield. The former would provide things such as food, cloth, leather, coal, salt and fish. The later provided food, wool, wine, cloth and luxuries.
There were tailors, drapers, dyers, saddlers, furriers, chandlers, tanners, armourers, sword makers, parchment makers, basket-weavers, goldsmiths, silversmiths and, by far the biggest industry sector, all manner of food sellers.
These included everyday goods, such as food, clothing, and household items. They also included the specialized goods that different towns began producing, such as woolen cloth, glass, and silk. Most towns had a market, where food and local goods were bought and sold.
What was the most commonly traded item in the Middle Ages?
Wool was the most heavily traded item, and many countries relied heavily on the trade of wool for income. Spices, wheat, corn and even slaves were all traded regularly between countries.
As well as the bakers, butchers and fishmongers you would find in any medieval town, there were also many grocers, spicers, salters and saucemakers in York, thanks to the number of visitors it attracted. The city's regional importance is also reflected in the many taverners and inn-keepers.
Markets were also organised just outside many castles and monasteries. Typically held once or twice a week, larger towns might have a daily market which moved around different parts of the city depending on the day or have markets for specific goods like meat, fish, or bread.
A number of studies have pointed to the prevalence of the periodic market in medieval towns and rural areas due to the localised nature of the economy. The marketplace was the commonly accepted location for trade, social interaction, transfer of information and gossip.
Medieval marketplaces are often located on river estuaries or other sites that were easily approachable places both for local peasants and foreign traders.
Blacksmiths were central to medieval times, often setting up shop in a place of importance in the center of the village. They would make not just weapons but nails, furniture, locks, horseshoes, and armor. The blacksmith became essential to any town, and their techniques improved accordingly.
Egyptian merchants (actually, they were more like traders) carried products such as gold, papyrus made into writing paper or twisted into rope, linen cloth, and jewelry to other countries.
Land was the bedrock of the economy, and the key source of wealth and power. To be rich in medieval Britain mostly did not mean having money in the bank — it meant owning or controlling land. The richest people in the middle ages were royals and aristocrats — the people who inherited the land.
There were various measures of money in medieval England. A pound sterling was worth 20 shillings, and a shilling was worth 12 pence, so one pound was worth equivalent to 240 pence. The letter d was used to denote pence in reference to the Roman word for coin, denarius.
A 'mark' was worth two-thirds of a pound, or 13s 4d. This was never a physical amount of money represented by a coin, but was a common amount used for accounting purposes.
No list of the best places to visit in the U.K. would be complete without Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, which is one of the oldest market towns in England, dating back to 675. As its name suggests, Abingdon sits on the famous River Thames, and it boasts over 200 historic listed buildings.
Medieval towns were unhealthy places. Public health was not high on the agenda of most town councils. Towns did not have sewage systems or supplies of fresh water, and probably smelled quite awful as garbage and human waste were thrown into the streets.
It wasn't just merchants who had goods for sale; by the fourteenth century peasants were growing crops to sell and they sold them in the nearby market towns. Although grain was the chief crop and had to be sold and transported in bulk, they also produced poultry, eggs, fruit, vegetables, honey and wax.
Tanners transformed animal skins or hides into leather. The tanner stood between hunters and butchers (the suppliers of skins) and leatherworkers who made commercial products from the tanned hides.
Common surnames such as Smith, Wright, Fletcher, Knight, Cook, Squire, Taylor and Turner are all based around medieval trades or occupations. Some surnames derive from personal traits or looks, such as Armstrong, Swift, Red and Short.
From around the 8th until the 15th centuries, Venetian traders ran a virtual monopoly on trading with the Middle East and Asia. Materials including silk, herbs, spices and drugs travelled from South Asia over the Indian Ocean to the Middle East, where merchants transported them overland to Europe.
Most valuable of all was the trade in exotic silks and spices. Arab and Indian merchants brought cumin and ginger, pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon and aromatics such a myrrh and frankincense to Egypt via the Red Sea.
What product was the most valued trade good in the 1400's?
By the 1400s, though, Europe's population was growing, along with its demand for trade goods. The most valued items were spices, used to preserve food, add flavor to meat, and make medicines and perfumes.
