SC -spice and economics

[allilyn at juno.com]

There's an oldie but goodie book, 

Pirenne, Henri.  ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE. 
Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York,.

It is old, but probably still reliable, since he is considered the
seminal historian of medieval economics.  

One note for the person doing the Carolingian feast, the spice trade was
not available.  "The Western peoples who, from the end of the Merovingian
era, had left off using spices, welcomed them with growing eagerness. 
They soon recovered their place in the diet of the upper classes of
society, and the more commerce exported them noth of the Alps, the more
the demand for them increased." p. 144.

The section is on the re-establishment of trade after navigation was
re-established between the Tyrrhenian Sea, Africa, and the ports of the
Levant during the 11th C.  

However, in another portion of the book, he discusses coinage vs. barter 
The establishment of a Fair, under Royal Charter, also granted the
freedom to coin money.  Money [coins] was used in the market places,
references to prices were given in monetary terms in documents, and
everything remaining shows clearly the expected giving and recieving of
actual money.  Which, of course, is not to say it never happened--just
wasn't the norm.  On the estate, 'in kind' was used rather than coin:
day's labor, so many baskets of apples, etc.  No reference was given to
using spice as money, but it's a small book.  Maybe the Arabic resources
would have something.

Regards,
Allison,     allilyn at juno.com


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