Late-Medieval Merchants: History, Education, Mentality, and Cultural Significance

Summary

Western European towns, eventually becoming the merchants' most important support system in terms of clientele, grew remarkably in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in spite of conflicts erupting sporadically between urban forces and territorial princes. Towns became places of order, progress, freedom, and civilization. As exemplified by a number of towns, the gradual development of a complex urban society, manifested in each town by its own civic hierarchy, facilitated the immediate satisfaction of citizens' needs, eliminating the necessity of merchant (or client) travel to distant points. The urban societal units practiced manorialism (a system of landed estates), within which late-medieval merchants played a significant role. However, the history of salespeople, trades, and markets really began at the agricultural level. This article will outline and explain the development, education, mentality, and cultural importance of the late-medieval merchant class.

A Brief History of Merchants, Trades, and Markets

At first, merchants were itinerant, using roads, bridges, and streams to transport their goods. For long-distance trading, mountains (Pyrenees and Alps) posed tremendous obstacles; for instance, impeding the exchange of goods between Flanders and Italy. Roads were rarely paved, and the method of harnessing transport animals (for pulling carts and wagons) was primitive gauged by later standards; dangers lurked in each forest. When one adds to these difficulties taxes, road- and bridge tolls, the merchandise being peddled becomes expensive, whether slaves, luxury yardgoods, spices (nearly 300 kinds!), or the more utilitarian corn, wine, and salt are being conveyed.