# Medieval Trade Good Ideas?



## Bruce McKnight (Dec 11, 2014)

Looking for brainstorming inspiration and my brain is a little tired.

I have a generic medieval European world. Looking for things that could be trade goods. Ores, gems, wheat, fish, etc. Also thinking about manufactured goods like shoes and armor or even materials like wool or cloth.

Any other ideas for me?


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## spectre (Dec 11, 2014)

Well, in medieval Europe trade was often focused on the orient connection with the Silk Road. Herbs, teas, silk, manuscripts, sugar especially, all of this was big during medieval high end trade.


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## CupofJoe (Dec 12, 2014)

Spices! They were traded all around the place, east-west, north-south. There are Elizabethan recipes that require Nutmeg, that at the time only grew on one [or a few] islands near Java... 
Peppercorns were similarly restricted and traded if I remember correctly... 
Coffee too was being traded from Africa and the Middle east thanks to contact with various cultures based there.
And my personal favourite... Frankincense... Wars, Crusades, Plagues, Rebellions, Natural Disasters and a host of other things has not stop this from being traded in to Europe for at least two thousand years, and probably closer to four or five thousand years... 
It smells really nice too!


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## KC Trae Becker (Dec 12, 2014)

- well made weapons
- imported wines and cheeses
- fancy types of wood or wooden chests
- live stock


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## WooHooMan (Dec 12, 2014)

I used timber and, to a lesser extent, stone and metal.  The setting of this story is an island so building materials are hard to come by.  That's for imports.  The major export is produce.
So, identify what your country has and what they want.


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## Tom (Dec 12, 2014)

Cloth. It was an extremely expensive commodity in Medieval times, and cloth merchants were among the richest and most influential members of the emerging middle class. Fabric dyes were also not only tradeable, but also in high demand. Remember, the Middle Ages were a time when clothing went a long way to indicating a person's power and social status. As a result, lots of money was spent on it.


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## K.S. Crooks (Dec 12, 2014)

Trade of skills- You can have people that travel to different places to teach swordsmanship or be swords-for-hire, blacksmithing, singing, story-telling, etc. The trade of medicine and medical knowledge. There could a slave trade in some places, which could help create conflict with other groups of people that don't do this. Hope this sparks a few ideas.


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## wordwalker (Dec 12, 2014)

Don't forget furs. The right fur is somewhere between fine fabric and gems in value per weight-- sometimes more. And trapping them is a challenge all its own.


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## Saigonnus (Dec 12, 2014)

The trade of spirits/ alcoholic beverages was also fairly common as well. France traded with the known world for their wine, cognac, brandy and champagne for centuries. 

I agree with what was discussed above. Decide what the country has available and what they need. Those usually dictate what is traded for. As for food; while necessary, much of it isn't that profitable, especially given how easily perishable fruits and vegetables tend to be, especially in warmer climates. Drying fruit might be a way to conserve it for longer, make it worth more and able to be transported for longer distances.

The easiest things to trade are tubers, roots, grains and dried meats of all types. Often times, though livestock was taken to market live and slaughtered by the recipients. The trade of livestock was big business. It was also a good target for bandits, who'd try to steal the livestock during their trip to market. 

Along that same lines is the trade of other sorts of animals, beasts of burden, exotic birds and other rare animals could fetch a pretty penny to the right buyers. Nobles tend to buy things that others don't have simply for sake of showing off. Could be a good trade for islanders, where lots of brightly colored birds might migrate to.


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## spectre (Dec 13, 2014)

@CupofJoe coffee import became really large during the colonial era.


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## Saigonnus (Dec 15, 2014)

avm31982 said:


> @CupofJoe coffee import became really large during the colonial era.



Just because that is how it happened on Earth, doesn't mean it couldn't happen under different circumstances on a different fantasy world. Anything is possible when it comes to fantasy, that is point of the whole thing. I like the idea of coffee sipping sultans in an egyptianesque setting.


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## JadedSidhe (Dec 16, 2014)

Don't forget salt. If I remember correctly, it was often kept in a locked salt box.


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## CupofJoe (Dec 16, 2014)

Saigonnus said:


> avm31982 said:
> 
> 
> > @CupofJoe coffee import became really large during the colonial era.
> ...


I may have been wrong  about coffee being traded in the Middle Ages... but I'm sure I read it  some where... 
As the earliest document evidence is apparently from the 15/16C, it must have happened earlier than that... okay - I'm stretching...


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## Tom (Dec 16, 2014)

CupofJoe said:


> I may have been wrong  about coffee being traded in the Middle Ages... but I'm sure I read it  some where...
> As the earliest document evidence is apparently from the 15/16C, it must have happened earlier than that... okay - I'm stretching...



It was banned by an English king who feared it was a "satanic drink" from the Arab world. As a result, coffee became a hot smuggling item in Renaissance England.


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## Shreddies (Dec 16, 2014)

Perfumes and dyes are commodities that might hold a high value if they're exotic or otherwise hard to acquire. Sugar is another. Chocolate, or rather cocoa beans. Glass crafts, or just glass. And pottery, depending on if it's in vogue at the time. Tobacco maybe? Opiates and drugs in general may count, even if, or _especially_ if, they have to be smuggled in or are highly restricted.

I think anything that is rare, seemingly exotic, pleasing to the eye, tasty, or just plain 'nice' will work. If it's rare, and therefore pricey, then people with money will want it so they can flaunt their money.

'These are _Peruvian_ Rain Dancing Frogs, boy. Not some common croaker.'

And depending on how fantastical your world is, they may even trade for things like Sunlight in a Bottle.


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## skip.knox (Dec 16, 2014)

Everything everyone says is correct ... because everything gets traded. I would add: don't forget magic-related stuff. Dragon teeth, oil of this that and the other. Spell books. Would wizards have their own trade network? Hm.

Anyway, let's go at this from the other end. Why do you ask? Does your story need something about some sort of trade transaction? Will the merchant travel with the goods or, more to the point, will the story travel with the goods? Pretty much whatever the story needs, there's an app for that. Oops, wrong century. There's a trade good for that.


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## Bruce McKnight (Dec 17, 2014)

skip.knox said:


> Anyway, let's go at this from the other end. Why do you ask? Does your story need something about some sort of trade transaction? Will the merchant travel with the goods or, more to the point, will the story travel with the goods?



No particular story reason, I just got pulled down the world-building rabbit hole. I want to be able to throw in that little bit of extra flavor that comes from the casual mention that rain dancing frogs are _Peruvian_. I started with resource lists from Civ games and used my imagination about as much as I could, but wanted more input.

Thanks for all the help, please let me know if you guys have more ideas!


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## AllegedObserver (Dec 21, 2014)

Kings might also lend out mercenaries in exchange for trade goods. Especially of that King's army has a particular or inventive fighting style, or uses a strange weapon extremely well. Both Sweden and Switzerland during then medieval period lent part of their army out - perhaps they were in need of certain resources.

Also, skilled artists where frequently lent out from one royal court to another - so skilled painters, sculpters, architects, tapestry makers, etc etc - all could have been lent in exchange for goods or as an "over-the-top" deal clincher in on going trade negotiations.


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## Lucas (Dec 26, 2014)

Slaves, salt, silver, gold.

Europe lacked gold and silver, which partially explained European Feudalism.


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## Terry Greer (Dec 29, 2014)

It doesn't have to be sensible or even a commercial need - if its wanted and perceived as rare by someone with money (even if that perception is wrong). 

You've only got to see fads such as the great tulip bulb fad of the 17th century for that:Tulip mania - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the 19th century there were even professional plant and animal hunters who went out to collect beetles, butterflies - anything novel that was sold to wealthy patrons. 

One of the more famous of these was Alfred Russel Wallace (who was co discoverer of Darwin's theory of natural selection. His life history is fascinating.


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## Lucas (Dec 29, 2014)

Middle Ages Trade & Commerce


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## arbiter117 (Dec 31, 2014)

If you're talking about commerce, ban something for some reason. It creates a black market for that item and it could turn out that the item is benign and just represents a certain cultural ideology (or misconception). The example that comes to my mind is the American Colonists boycotting and destroying tea shipments and other things that were taxed as a form of protest.

Banning something can bring out the dark side of a culture and is great for world development.


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## Lily Maeve La Fey (Jan 1, 2015)

"Exotics" this could be spices, sugar, poppy seeds, books are in high demand among the literate. Copper and other unworked metals. Shells and vegetables for dying (very expensive). Among the very rich exotic pets were also a luxury. Queen Elizabeth had cats from Persia and Egypt. I know I'm a little anachronistic, but in a medieval tech world where all of these are accessible it'd be good.

Also, good riding or working horses are pretty valuable.


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## skip.knox (Jan 2, 2015)

One other thing to consider for trade goods: magic.

If your world uses magical items, or rare or even ordinary objects, plants, body parts, etc. for concocting magic, then these too are candidates for trade goods. Some could be perishable, others durable, so some would be traded only locally while others could go quite far. 

Depending on how far you wanted to carry this, you might have merchants who specialize in the magic trade. Perhaps its volatile and risky. Maybe things require special carriages or other modes of transport. You could have quite a bit of fun with this sort of thing.


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## wordwalker (Jan 4, 2015)

On the subject of metals:

Tin. The rarer component of bronze, the metal of choice-- until the tin routes were disrupted, forcing smiths to figure out how to smelt iron and eventually how to make it better than bronze.

You could have all kinds of fun recreating the shove backward from the bronze age to the early iron age and then the drive forward to make it work. Or play with the facts there; iron is _very_ common once you know the secret, but takes a lot more work. If one nation was still getting tin, it might stay with bronze (and the range of other copper alloys) and not realize that the deprived "iron lands" were slowly building something better.

Also, when you hear about "trade in spices," here's a point: half of all the spice Europe imported from the East was one thing, pepper. Although that's spice as a luxury; salt as a preservative was vastly more important.


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## skip.knox (Jan 4, 2015)

Andanotherthing

I find the production of goods to me more interesting that the trading of goods. Some examples.

Furs. Trading just means bundling them up, sticking them on a ship (overland is too slow and expensive), and so on. But how did those furs get there in the first place? Hunting and trapping. Russia produced tons upon tons of the stuff, which implies big trapping/hunting operations. Now, throw magic into the mix. Trapping magical beasts, or using magic to trap beasts.

Salt, as mentioned by wordwalker. Huge business. But you get salt in multiple ways. Some of it's mined, and salt mines are really, really cool. In other places it comes from elaborate salt pans along the sea shore. It can also be dried from inland deposits. Again throw magic into the mix. What about mining other types of salts? How could magic be used in the mining or refining? Maybe the process is volatile.

Weaving, timber (ooh, hunting trees!), livestock (yes there were cattle drives in the Middle Ages), even agriculture, all are more interesting in the production than in the distribution. And all have the potential for interesting wrinkles if you mix in magic.


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## Zāl Dastān (Jan 4, 2015)

Shreddies said:


> Glass crafts, or just glass.



I'd like to second Shreddies' point here. Glass is a big deal, especially glass that is either clear or stained an exotic color. It takes a good deal of innovation and effort to make stained glass of any sort, and clear glass was surprisingly difficult to invent. Speaking of stained glass, products as vivid labor intensive as stained glass or mosaic are always valuable outside of their place of origin.

Hope that helps!


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## ChasingSuns (Feb 6, 2015)

There are really a lot of options available, including cloth, metals, food/spices, timber, metals, animals, knowledge... it all depends on the society. The possibilities can be endless (unless you were to take the historical route). Think of the location of this medieval society and what the society has/needs. Does it have an abundance of trees? Then perhaps they sell timber and furs. Do they live in a desert? Then water could even be a potentially significant import. Things like this can help you, not just in coming up with trade goods, but also expanding the details of your world. Hope this helped a bit!


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