Why read Medieval Merchants?

Book cover of Medieval Merchants: York, Beverley and Hull in the Later Middle Ages

Book description

This book is based on some 1400 individuals who lived in three northern English towns during the later middle ages. It analyses the many aspects of merchant society visible to the historian: achievements in politics, attitudes towards religion, the family, wider circles of friends and business acquaintances, and the nature…

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Topics

The Middle Ages

Genres

European history

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Why read it?

1 author picked Medieval Merchants as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Candace Robb

Author

Kermode focuses on the dynamics of northern urban society in the three major towns along the corridor on the lowland plain by the River Ouse—York, Beverley, and Hull. Merchants from the three towns joined partnerships and intermarried, creating dynasties, the most prominent mingling with the gentry and royal households of the region, and served in parliament as MP’s. The merchants tend to be wealthier than their craftsmen neighbors.

Chapters cover politics, the nuts, and bolts of their trade, how they accrued wealth, and how they used that wealth. Appendix B, Some Merchant Biographies, reads like the society pages, offering tantalizing…

From Candace's list on medieval York.