Textiles and the Medieval Economy: Production, Trade, and Consumption of Textiles, 8th–16th Centuries (Ancient Textiles)

Archaeologists and textile historians bring together 16 papers to investigate the production, trade and consumption of textiles in Scandinavia and across parts of northern and Mediterranean Europe throughout the medieval period. Archaeological evidence is used to demonstrate the existence or otherwise of international trade and to examine the physical characteristics of textiles and their distribution in order to understand who was producing, using and trading them and what they were being used for. Historical evidence, mainly textual, is employed to link textile names to places, numbers and prices and thus provide an appreciation of changing economics, patterns of distribution and the organization of trade. Different types and qualities of cloths are discussed and the social implications of their production and import/export considered against a developing background of urbanism and increasing commercial wealth.Table of Contents1. Introduction. Conference: ‘Textiles and Economy in the Middle Ages’,Copenhagen, 19–21 April, 2012Carsten Jahnke2. Textile Production, Organisation and Theoretical Perspectives on Tradein the Scandinavian Viking AgeEva Andersson Strand3. Weaving Wealth: Cloth and Trade in Viking Age and Medieval IcelandMichèle Hayeur Smith4. Technology and Textile Production from the Viking Age and the Middle Ages: Norwegian CasesIngvild Øye5. Brides, Donors, Traders: Imports into Anglo-Saxon EnglandGale R. Owen-Crocker6. Silk Trade to Scandinavia in the Viking AgeMarianne Vedeler7. Luxury for Everyone? Embroideries on Leather Shoes and the Consumptionof Silk Yarn in 11th–13th Century Northern EuropeGitte Hansen8. The Flax and Linen of Medieval NovgorodHeidi M. Sherman9. The Dual Crises of the Late-Medieval Florentine Cloth Industry, c. 1320–c. 1420John Munro†10. The Trade with Fustian from Germany to Denmark in the Late Middle AgesKilian Baur11. Cloth Production and Cloth Trade in Hanseatic Towns with Regionaland Non-Regional Products Reflected in Normative and other SourcesRudolf Holbach12. Cloth in the Large Cities of Medieval Poland: Production and TradeJerzy Maik13. Hanseatic Textile Production in 15th Century Long Distance TradeAngela Ling Huang14. Noble Customers of Cloth at the Frankfurt Fairs Around the Year 1500Thomas Ertl and Michael Rothmann15. The Missing Link: The Distribution Revolution of the 15th CenturyStuart Jenks