Flourishing of the Flemish Wool Trade (1240s)

Name: Flourishing of the Flemish Wool Trade (1240s)
Start: 1241
End: 1250

Type Event Region Europe Time 1241–1250

In the 1240s the Low Countries of Flanders, centered on cities such as Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres, became Europe's hub of wool textile production and t…

Timeline

1241–1245Ghent · FlandersTextile workshops in Ghent and Ypres imported large quantities of English wool, with guilds strictly controlling craft and labor. Demand for wool was strong in the 1240s; the ports of Bruges and Ghent bustled with loading and unloading, and Italian and German merchants came to purchase cloth, forming seasonal fairs and credit networks.
1246–1250Bruges · FlandersAs the seat of the Count of Flanders' court and a commercial center, Bruges attracted Venetian, Genoese, and Hanseatic merchants to establish bases. Wool and cloth trading intertwined with exchange, insurance, and other financial services; the city's population and building scale continued to expand, making it a junction of northern European and Mediterranean commerce.

Sources

Nicholas, David. The Later Medieval City, 1300-1500 — David Nicholas (1997)
Munro, John H. Wool, Cloth, and Gold: The Struggle for Bullion in Anglo-Burgundian Trade — John H. Munro (1973)