Medieval Europe Trade Routes

Medieval Europe/Mediterranean Trade Routes

Hanseatic

League

Wool

The Silver

Denarius

Wool was waterproof, warm, soft and wasn’t itchy. This made wool made a desirable material for clothing. Since there was a high demand for this given the benefits, the wool trade was an immense boost to the English economy in the 13th to 15th century.

An association founded by German towns and merchant communities. The league became one of the most prominent trading organizations in the North during the 13th and 15th century. German towns were ruled by merchant families whom all had mutual interests resulting in little dispute within the league. Many goods and natural resources including: flax, charcoal, grain, timber, honey, and iron were exchanged at an immense rate across the west thanks to the Hanseatic League.

The Silver Denarius was a dominantly used silver coin throughout Western Europe up until the 13th century in both domestic and international exchanges. This created a standardized currency and allowed for easy transactions over great distances. As a result of this, trading flourished during this time period in Western Europe.

Flanders

Flemish Tapestry

Flemish towns specialized in making garments and tapestries. They were the leaders of cloth production in Europe these were sold to merchants who then spread them. Merchants would bring their boats from the coast to inlands towns in Flanders. Boats could Flemish clothes to towns that were very far away.

Guilds

They were large gatherings of merchants or craftsmen. They helped members when in times of need. They had rules to keep the quality and pricing constant. They trained apprentices to become journeymen and work under their master to learn skills useful to the later on. Once they were a master they would own a shop and repeat the cycle. This allowed many trade skills to pass down from generations.

Feudalism

Trading network under Roman empire replaced by manors. Many items were grown in fact every item needed was either grown, raised, or constructed on the manors. The lord of the manor controlled everything that happened on the estate. This system is known as feudalism. Since these estates were self-sustaining, trade was scarce.

Venice

Venice became well known for its trade centers and textile production due to its advantageous position relative to other Italian cities. This resulted in the citizens gaining access to eastern goods such as spices, wine, and salt. Venetians were able to establish links across the sea which let even more exotic goods to flow into the country.

Marco Polo

Marco Polo was born in Venice, his works of writing invigorated Europeans to trade with surrounding countries by describing them as beautiful paradises filled with riches and their goods being staples of beauty. His book wasn’t completely accurate but was enough to dramatically increase the trade of Asian goods.

Christianity

Crusades

They were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims. After reclaiming the holy land Jerusalem they created crusader states. The Crusader states ruled the region until it was taken back by the Muslims. Then the Crusaders took Constantinople from the Byzantines and then the muslims took it. These Crusades showed the europeans the goods from Asia. The europeans got a taste of Asian goods and wanted more leading to more trade routes.

At first Christians kept to themselves and had negative attitudes, but over time they started to be more open to traders and dropped suspicions. Christian pride also influenced the Crusades. Not only that the problems with Christianity, which consists of Nepotism, corruption, and too much power given to the pope this influenced trade heavily. Corruption of Christianity also gave more money to popes, allowing them to gain more land and force money out of serfs. This system blocked even more trade out of europe.

The Great Schism

The split between Christianity which became the orthodox and catholic branches. The Catholic believed that the pope had total control of the church while the Orthodox believed that the emperor had complete jurisdiction of the church. Hatred from each side to each other discouraged trade from Constantinople to Rome. Peasants from The Byzantine Empire and from Central Europe performed raids on each others churches and looted each others’ villages. Many foreigners and traders were cautious with what areas they traded in as they could be just as easily looted as anyone.

Slave Trade

Black Death

Fairs

They consisted of buyers and sellers who assembled at a regular or designated season to trade. When the widely scattered population was brought together by the Church for a feast or celebration they usually also held a fair there. These fairs offered a variety of services and goods from exotic spices to metal weapons.

In the near the 1330s the bubonic plague had an outbreak in China which spread quickly west because of trade. This resulted in the death of many serfs which caused labor shortages and made people demand higher wages. Since people were no longer bound to an estate, trade became more abundant.

Slave markets were very prominent in Western Europe and continued throughout all of the Middle Ages since there were numerous established trade routes. During the 9th century, Venice was able to prosper due to their sea trade with the Muslims. This market so profitable that cities often sold their own citizens into slavery.

Byzantine

Empire

Constantinople

It was the capital of the Byzantine empire and center of local and regional trade. Its location on the peninsula between the black sea and Aegean sea brought trade and improved the economy. You could reach it by land and sea. It was also easy to defend and served as a barrier against the muslims because it was surrounded by water and had chains to stop boats from entering.

Rome

Rome was considered the holy city in the west. It was the seat of the catholic church. It was also a great place for religious practices because it had shrines to the apostles, bodies of saints and many holy relics. It also was at the center of the mediterranean sea. This attracted many visitors and traders. Rome had very valuable commodities that were high in demand like oil, cereal, and marble.

The Byzantine Empire during Islam’s early period was relied on for most of the desired goods they had luxurious silks, spices, and incenses. They were the first in the west to find out how to produce silk. Silk was prized by the Byzantine Empire and most of the silk outside of the middle east was very costly. Western Europeans imported silk from the Byzantine Empire and also from Asia. The Byzantine Empire developed greatly by selling silk to Western Europeans. Because silk had an enormous impact on Europe, it is now deeply embedded in European culture.

Astrolabe

They had many uses. You could use them to tell the time of day and general location. They were simple, cheap, and handheld devices that made sea travel much easier. This helped people navigate more efficiently and safely increasing trade exponentially.

Greece

Athens port of Piraeus became one of the most important trading centers and was a renowned location where you could find a large variety of goods. Having a good spot on a peninsula gave it many advantages so it quickly became a prominent trade spot. It was able to retain its greatness from its past in ancient greece all the way up to the middle ages and collected traders from all around the Mediterranean.

Galleys

A kind of ship that were built primarily for trade. It was propelled by oars so that it could sail in the harsher wind conditions in the Mediterranean. As time went on it was built more towards the purpose of fighting with the addition of weapons. Despite this, numerous galleys were still used for the transportation of commerce throughout the middle ages.