A Cultural History of Shopping in the Middle Ages

Abstract

Throughout Europe, the collapse of Roman authority from the fifth century fractured existing networks of commerce and trade including shopping. The infrastructure of trade was slowly rebuilt over the centuries that followed with the growth of beach markets, emporia and seasonal fairs until, in the late Middle Ages, the permanent shop re-emerged as an established part of market spaces, both in towns and larger urban centres. Medieval society was a ‘display culture’ and by the fourteenth century there was a marked increase in the consumption of manufactures and imported goods among the lower classes as well as the elite. This volume surveys our understanding of medieval retail markets, shops and shopping from a range of perspectives - spatial, material culture, literary, archaeological and economic. A Cultural History of Shopping in the Middle Ages presents an overview of the period with themes addressing practices and processes; spaces and places; shoppers and identities; luxury and everyday; home and family; visual and literary representations; reputation, trust and credit; and governance, regulation and the state.