Trade in the Middle Ages. Features and forms of medieval trade Why the growth of cities led to the expansion of trade

Let us remember what hindered the development of trade in the early Middle Ages.
Whatever fell from the cart was lost. The roads were bad and goods often fell out of the carts. Now they were considered the property of the feudal lord - the owner of the land.


Each feudal lord took a tax for travel on his land. There are robbers in the forests. It was safe to spend the night in inns - and they belonged to the feudal lord.

Trade is the process of exchanging goods, services, valuables and money.

Reasons for the development of trade

1 Development agriculture and development of handicraft production;

2 Growth of cities.

Trade in the Middle Ages was profitable, but very difficult and dangerous. The spaces between the settlements were occupied by huge, impenetrable forests, infested with predators and robbers. There were very few good roads.
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REMEMBER
What hindered trade in the Middle Ages?

Trade took place not only in the market square. In cities where large seasonal fairs were held, these fairs could also take place outside the city walls - in a meadow or (in northern cities in winter) on the ice of a frozen river or lake.

In a big city there could be several retail space. Some of them were “specialized” places for trading a certain product and bore appropriate names (Fish, Iron, Grain, etc.).


There was also trade on the craft streets. The artisan's house was both his workshop and the shop where goods were sold.

Trade was strictly time regulated. In the shops on the square and on the streets it was possible to trade from dawn to dusk on all days except holidays and Sundays. The beginning and end of the fair were also marked, and visiting merchants were not allowed to remain trading after the official closing of the fair.

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Tolls had to be paid for travel through the possessions of feudal lords, for the use of bridges and crossings. To protect themselves from robbers and help each other, merchants united in trade unions - guilds. At meetings, guild members elected leaders, hired guards, and helped each other from the common treasury. Guild members formed partnerships among themselves to carry out one or more operations.

Expansion of trade relations

The city was a center of trade exchange not only with the surrounding area, but also with other cities, individual lands, and other countries. Subsistence farming continued in Europe. But a commodity economy gradually developed, in which products were produced for sale on the market and exchanged, including through money.

What is most important for vibrant trading? Good and safe roads. Therefore, from the 13th century. in Europe they are starting to build new roads and repair old ones.

Working with the map.

Profitable trade routes reached the East. What could merchants bring from there? Luxury items, silk, spices, precious stones. Important trade routes went along the North and Baltic seas to Rus'. From here salt, fur, wool, timber, wax, honey and much more were brought to Europe.

In the 14th century, merchants from more than 70 German cities united in the Hansa (“union”, “partnership”) to protect their property and oust their rivals. The Hansa had branches in other countries.


Fairs and banks


A fair was an established place where a variety of goods could be purchased, from food to all kinds of handicrafts. At fairs they exchanged not only goods, but also money. Since the buyers were from different countries They paid with different coins, so you could always meet money changers here who were engaged in exchanging money. A money changer was a person who exchanged money. Of course, they did this for their own benefit, so they accumulated certain amounts that they could lend at interest to merchants. The money changers who let money grow were called moneylenders, gradually turning them into bankers, into rich people who gave large sums of money for trade expeditions, in debt to the king and feudal lords.

A usurer is a person who lets money grow at interest.
A banker is the owner of large sums of money, a rich person.

The natural economy is being replaced by a new commodity-money economy. This is a farm in which products were produced for sale on the market.
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https://youtu.be/wGsOE6_Roek

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Questions
Prove that trade destroyed the subsistence nature of the economy and contributed to the development of market relations.
Study the map. Which countries had trade relations?
Why did people begin to need trade and exchange of goods?
The peasant came to the city for the first time. Write a story on his behalf about what you saw. Use the information obtained from the film and pictures to do this.
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Dasha, wonderful! 5.5++!.

In the discussion of my post about one way or another, I had to touch on a wide range of issues. In addition, it turned out that these questions go beyond the scope of private dialogue and may be of interest to other readers. Therefore, I decided to answer separately. And take a closer look at the role played by the Scandinavian Peninsula in early medieval European history. In this context, the ancient “Scandinavians” are usually credited with creating enormous trade routes in Eastern Europe along which their expansion allegedly took place.

But before we start the conversation, we need to agree on terms. In works on the early medieval history of Rus', both scientific and popular, such terms as Swedes, Danes, Norse. One of my readers expressed bewilderment about this: “Why not? It’s clear that we mean the ancestors of these peoples!” Therefore, we should probably start with the “Swedes”, “Danes” and “Norwegians”, who did not exist in the early Middle Ages.

When analyzing a historical source, adequate terms must be used, otherwise confusion can be created out of nowhere. Ethnonyms passed from one people to another over time, so each source must be considered based on both the context of the source and the context of time.

I'll bring you small example about how the name of the Danes “traveled” through time. Name given can be traced throughout Europe, starting from Eastern Europe, where it is associated with hydronymy (included as a basis in the names of the largest rivers - Don, Dnieper, Dniester, Danube) and to the British Isles, to the river. Don in South Yorkshire. In Vedic times, Danu/Dana is the progenitor of the Danava demons. But the demonization of representatives of more ancient cult traditions is a well-known phenomenon in the history of religion, i.e. behind the name of the demonic Danavas, the oldest bearers of the Danish name in Eastern Europe may be hiding. The theonym Danu lived to see the formation of the Celtic community, together with its representatives reached the British Isles and gave birth to many “children” ethnic groups there. Don/Danu is considered the divine ancestor of the Welsh or Welsh, as well as the Irish, who in myths were called the people of the goddess Danu or the Danes. Later, the naming of the newly created communities followed other lines, as I already wrote: every nation has two “parents”.

Assigning a name Danov behind the current Danish kingdom happened quite late and, as I can guess, was connected not so much with the migration of the people, but with the spread of the power of the king who bore the title “King of the Danes.” The Danish king, for example, first owned the territory that occupied the south of modern Sweden. This dates back to the time when Odin settled on one of the islands of modern Denmark.

It was there, to the Danish king Gylfe, that Odin's envoy, the Valkyrie Gefjon, arrived, deceived him and took a piece of land from him and dragged it into the sea, which later became the island of Zealand. Perhaps behind the images of this legend one can see the process of gradual expansion of the power of the holder of the title of Danish kings to the islands and to the Jutland peninsula.

In modern literature, this saga is often conveyed by calling King Gilfe the Swedish king (after all, this territory now belongs to Sweden). Modern Danes sometimes say: “The Swedes are good people. They are actually former Danes!” But all this is good in everyday life, but in science we must try to pedantically follow the source: do not pretend that every Dan is the ancestor of the Danes - he may turn out to be the ancestor of a completely different people. And modern Danes had not only Danes in their ancestors, but also other ethnic entities, for example, Jutes. Due to sloppy handling of source information, confusion is created that hinders the development of historical science.

This, in fact, is what happened with the Swedes and the Bertinian Annals. But before moving on to the latter, I would like to briefly introduce the problem of ethnonyms in Swedish history.

The fact is that this is not an easy task at all: to determine which people in the early Middle Ages were hiding behind which name, since many peoples bore similar names. Ethnonyms were transferred from one medium to another by analogy with the generic names of people, and this happened until the formation of national states.

Let me remind you that modern Swedes also had two ancestors: Svei and Goeth. Therefore, modern Swedes and early medieval Swedes are not identical! From what initial chronological point do they begin to consider the appearance of the names of the Svei and Goeths in Swedish history?

Regarding the Swedes, they usually start with Tacitus, who mentioned Suionum civitates, living in the Ocean itself (ipso in Oceano), which is recognized as the first mention of the Svei. 1 True, Swedish researchers stipulate that the Tacitus fragment is about Suionum very short and unclear: it is not clear what is hidden behind civitates Tacitus, it is difficult to geographically identify such a place of residence as ipso in Oceano: either it’s a lot of islands, or it’s the sea coast. 2 Russian Scandinavist V.V. Rybakov is more categorical in his assessment of the fragment about Suionum:

We owe the first mention of the peoples inhabiting the territory of present-day Sweden to the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (c. 55 - c. 120), who in the 44th chapter of his famous work “Germany” ... reports on the tribal union of the Swions - the inhabitants of Sveyaland. 3

According to the interpretation of V.V. Rybakov, who translates civitates as communities, the type of socio-political organization of the Swions is a union of tribes. This interpretation is questionable: it seems that Tacitus’s society of Swions was more different high level sociopolitical complexity. Various civitates svions are not only united by a common supralocal name and general activities for the defense of their territory or for the joint conduct of military operations, sea or land: “... in the middle of the Ocean itself, communities of Swions live, in addition to warriors and weapons, they are also strong in the fleet” 4, but also have an unlimited ruler, whose title Rybakov translates as “king "(in Swedish translations - konung), and in society Svionov noble people and slaves stand out.

Therefore, it is very difficult to bridge the gap between the Sveons of Tacitus and the Sveons from Swedish history. And what confuses me the most is the next moment. The Sueons, according to Tacitus' description, give the impression of a powerful socio-political organization: strong on land and sea, organized under the authority of an unlimited ruler. However, after they were mentioned by Tacitus, there was no news about them for... 500 years! For the next mentions of the Svei (or those in whom science sees the Svei) appear only in the middle of the 6th century.

The Gothic historian Jordan, describing the legendary island of Scandza, reported that 28 peoples lived on it. Among them, Jordan mentioned two nations: Suehans And Suetidi, in which it is customary to see Svei. 5 Suetidi / Svetids are identified with the word Svitjod (Svetjud) / sveafolket or Svei / Svei people, which was found on a number of rune stones of Sweden (suiþiuþu, suiþiuþu, suaþiauþu) 6 or mentioned in the Ynglinga Saga as the name of a country/locality (Svíþóð ) – Odin's homeland, the name of which he transferred to his new country in northern Europe. 7 Please pay attention to this - I will explain why below.

The identity accepted in science Svetidov Jordana with Svetjod from the Icelandic sagas and, accordingly, with the Suehans, looks very convincing, while the Suehans may well be some other people relatively Svetidov and, accordingly, – sveev.

And here we have three options for a similar ethnonym: Sveons Tacita, Suehans And Suetidi Jordan, and the former are separated by a gap of almost 500 years, and the latter are mentioned at the same time, but clearly represent two different ethnic communities. In my opinion, the Sueons, mentioned by Tacitus and then disappeared from the historical arena for 500 years, could have simply acted under a different name during this period (as the names of the Alans, according to Procopius, “dissolved” in the name of the Vandals) - in the early Middle Ages, peoples often acted both under local and supralocal names.

The Swedish historian D. Harrison also believes the same, who in one of his last works wrote the following:

There is no way to say how the Suiones of Tacitus are connected with the Suehans of Jordan and with the Suehans of the Viking period. 8

Actually, they are connected by a similar name, which “traveled” through time, passed from people to people, disappeared for some time, and then appeared again. So the bearers of the name Sveonov there were quite a few, and it is not easy to determine which of them was which. And there are many similar examples in the early Middle Ages. Here is an example about the Germans from the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea:

The Vandals formerly lived near Meotida. Suffering from hunger, they headed to the Germans, now called Franks, and to the Rhine River, adding to themselves the Gothic tribe of Alans. 9

Or another example from Procopius about the name of the Alans:

Gizeric (king of the Vandals, ruled 428-477 - L.G.) divided the Vandals and Alans into detachments... They say, however, that the number of Vandals and Alans in former times did not exceed fifty thousand... Then only thanks to the birth of their children and the annexation they reached such a large number of people among them other barbarians... But the names of the Alans and other barbarians, except the Maurusians, were absorbed by the name of the Vandals. 10

So, we see that in the V-VI centuries. many peoples could act under a common name, change their name from time to time, dissolving the old name into the name of a new ethnopolitical community.

Returning to ethnonyms from Swedish history, I will quote the words of the Austrian medievalist H. Wolfram, who noted that many European peoples in antiquity and the Middle Ages bore the names of Goths and “Sevii”. 11 We find information about the connection between the Suevi and the Svei from the Scandinavian Peninsula from the Dutch scientist Horopius.

Since disputes about the ancestors of peoples were very popular in scientific circles of the 16th century, Horopius was aware of the work of the Swedish chronicler John Magnus, who created the “Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sveonumque regibus” (1554), which affirmed the idea of ​​​​the ancestral home of the Goths from southern Sweden. Horopius was very skeptical about the search for the ancestral home of the Goths in Sweden. In accordance with his opinion, the Goths did not come from the south of Sweden, but moved there from the European continent during one of the last waves of colonization, which was also quite honorable for the Swedish ancestors. Another ancestor of the Swedes - the Suevi - came from what is now Germany and are the Suevi who moved to Scandinavia. 12 The Swedish historian Nordström, who studied the work of Magnus, noted that other Swedish scientists also share this opinion. The same point of view was expressed by A.G. Kuzmin. 13

As we see, a name similar to the Svei was noted in different times from different peoples, and not each of these names can be “pulled up” to the ancestors of modern Swedes. The same can be said about another ancestor - the Getae. Again: modern Swedes had two ancestors, not one.

The first mentions of the second ancestor of modern Swedes - the Goeths - are usually associated with the already mentioned Jordan. In addition to the Svei, Jordan also names many other peoples, among them those that are perceived by modern researchers as distorted names of the current Getae: Vagoth, Gautigoth and Ostrogothae. 14 However, no connections are found between them and the Svetids/Svei, i.e. it can be assumed that each of the ethnic groups named by Jordan existed in the form of separate communities, not united in more complex unions.

In addition to Jordan, the authors who brought to us information about the Getae include Procopius of Caesarea. In his work “The War with the Goths,” Procopius talks about the large island of Thule, on which 13 peoples lived, and each of them had its own king (basileus). Mention is made of the Gauti, Heruli and Skridsfinoi (Gautoi, Erouloi, Skritiphinoi). There are no Svei among the listed peoples, but the Gauts are generally identified with the Getae. In Swedish historiography, the island of Thule is traditionally identified with the Scandinavian Peninsula. 15 Among modern Scandinaviists one can find an identification of Thule with Iceland:

Procopius describes in detail the way of life of the Skritifinns (Sami) and speaks of the tribe of Gauts, or Gavts, i.e. Goeths, placing all these peoples on the island of Fulu (Iceland). 16

I would like to note that both of the above identifications are a derivative reconstruction, and a short excerpt from Procopius does not give us any reason to see in it material for the history of Sweden. They tried to attribute the name of the legendary island of Tula/Fula to many landscapes, and we are not even sure whether this landscape (or landscapes - islands with this name could have been preserved) to this day or, given the significant geophysical changes that the northern European latitudes experienced at over the past two thousand years, it rests on the shelf of one of the seas of the Arctic Ocean.

I already wrote in different jobs about what in modern Swedish medieval studies, Sweden is no longer considered the ancestral home of the Goths(so Horopius won this match against John Magnus). And if the connection between the Svetids of Jordan and the Svetians of the Viking period was quite convincingly substantiated in science, then the “island of Scandza” itself is no longer associated with the Scandinavian Peninsula. We read from D. Harrison:

Both written sources and archaeological materials show that the most ancient ancestors of the Goths, or, more correctly, those who first began to call themselves Goths, around the Nativity of Christ, lived in what is now northern Poland. They, of course, had contacts with other peoples in the Baltic Sea region, but we cannot say that by their origin they were from the Scandinavian Peninsula. 17

A similar opinion is expressed by Swedish historians T. Lindqvist and M. Sjöberg:

It is very difficult to determine who the Goeths are. The similarity with the Goths led to the fact that in the 15th century. they began to believe that the Goths came from Götland. This idea played an important role for national identity during its formation. But in our time, the idea that the Goths came from Scandinavia is very controversial. There have been serious doubts expressed in science about this. 18

For those who still believe in the exodus of the Goths from the south of Sweden, I will cite for comparison several passages from the sources, from which it is clear how different the Goths were and that Swedish Götaland is not their ancestral home.

In Procopius of Caesarea we find, for example, a mention of the name Goths both as a separate ethnonym and as a collective name for many peoples:

In former times there were many Gothic tribes, and there are many of them now, but the largest and most significant of them were the Goths, Vandals, Visigoths and Gepids. 19

In addition, in the early Middle Ages there was a known tradition of linking the origin of the Goths with the Sauromatians and Melanchlenians: “In former times, however, they (the Goths - L.G.) were called Sauromatians and Melanchlenians.” 20

Those readers of these lines who are under the spell of the ideas of Gothicism of the 16th century about Gothic-Germanic unity in the spirit of Irenik - Pirkheimer will definitely ask the question: “How is it possible that the Goths descended from the Iranian-speaking Sauromatians?!” I will answer that, just as modern Bulgarians descend from the Turkic-speaking Volga Bulgars and from the Slavic-speaking Balkan peoples, living history differs from utopian dogmas.

Modern science affirms the idea that the first Guthia - Γοτθια of ancient ethnography could be located in the Black Sea region (in Crimea or on the Kerch Peninsula) or in Eastern Europe (in today's Romania or Poland). 21

A few more examples. In Jordan, the Goths are the successors of the Thracian Getae, while the Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocatta (beginning of the 7th century) identified the Getae with the Sclavenians. Scholastic traditions, dating back to Gothicism, put rigid partitions between the named peoples, and in living history they all existed in interaction in such a way that new communities could stand out and isolate themselves from the ancient ethnopolitical community, taking with them one of the well-known ancient names, or a weakening ancient the community was dismembered among the new newcomers, while some names were absorbed by others.

The Austrian medievalist and researcher of the history of barbarians H. Wolfram noted that from the first mention of the name “Goths” in ancient sources between 16 and 18 AD. AD for several centuries this name covered the most various peoples. There were periods when the name of the Goths disappeared, for example, between the time of Ptolemy and the 60s. III century it ceased to be found in sources, and then appeared again as an ethnonym, replacing the name “Scythians”, however, having existed for some time, it again sank into oblivion, never forming a medieval nation and quite early turning into a myth. 22

I cited all this variety of examples in order to confirm my main idea: you cannot arbitrarily substitute modern terms into early medieval sources, for example, replacing the names of individual ethnopolitical groups with the names of modern nations - this will create such confusion that it is simply surprising.

I will conclude this review with an example from an era close to ours: the odyssey of the ethnonym Angles. With the migration of the English people from the south of the Jutland Peninsula to the British Isles, their name was assigned to the new ethnic group of the English. When Europeans explored America, the name of the English “moved” to the North American continent and gave the name New England region in the northeastern United States. Thus, the original name is the same: the Angles - the English - the inhabitants of New England in the USA, but which different peoples bear it at different times.

I would like to offer another explanation. In my opinion, gentis Sueonum from the Bertinian Annals - a completely different people compared to the Svei from the Scandinavian Peninsula, but with a similar name. I gave examples above that this was a common occurrence in the early Middle Ages.

This similarity could have misled Louis the Pious (778-840) and his entourage. I would like to remind you that contacts between Louis the Pious and the Svei kings functioned in the period from 829 in connection with the wish of the Svei king to become familiar with Christian teaching. Since Saint Ansgar (801-865) had already preached Christianity to the Danish king Harald Klak, he seemed a suitable figure to act as a Christian missionary to the Svean king. Ansgar arrived in Birka and stayed there in the period 829-831, and in 831 he returned home and received the archbishopric of Hamburg. Around 851-853. Ansgar visited Birka for the second time also for a missionary purpose, since Christianity did not take root well among the pagan Svei. The Life of Ansgar was compiled by his successor, Archbishop Rimbert in 865-876.

So, in the early 830s, completely legal relations were established between Louis the Pious and the Svei king, and at the end of the 830s (more precisely, 839), people appeared at the court of Louis whose family name was similar to the Svei, but they arrived as part of a completely different embassy, ​​from a different side and with different goals. Quite naturally, Louis the Pious suspected something was wrong: the time was such that conspiracies and attacks could be expected from any side. But it is precisely the fact that the story did not have any continuation that speaks in favor of my assumption: representatives gentis Sueonum as part of the people's embassy Rhos were simple “namesakes” of the Swedians from the Scandinavian Peninsula, which, apparently, was found out, at least with Byzantine help, since a notification was sent to Emperor Theophilus.

Now let's see what information the source contains about the Rhos people. First of all, we see that the title of the ruler of the Rhos people - kagan (chacanus) - firmly connects this people with the south of Eastern Europe. According to sources, it is known that the name Rus was known both as the name of one people and as a name uniting several peoples, i.e. polytonym For example, Masudi (896-956) - “Arab Herodotus” wrote that the Rus are “numerous peoples with different categories (Garkavi translated as “divided into many tribes”). Among them is a certain category called al-laudaana; they are the most numerous and walk around trade affairs to the country of Andalus, to Rum, to Kustantinia and to the Khazars.”

It is known that eastern geographers used information from earlier sources without naming them. A major contribution that made it possible to look into the prehistory of the information of eastern geographers was the work of V.V. Sedova and E.S. Galkina, who dealt with the problem of localization of the Russian Kaganate. Sedov identified the Russian Khaganate with the territory of the Volyntsev archaeological culture. Galkina, who continued the development of A.G.’s ideas. Kuzmina about the pre-Slavic origin of the Rus, connects the core of the Russian Kaganate with the Saltov culture of the Don region, the carriers of which were the Sarmatian-Alan tribes.

I emphasized above that the Icelandic sagas tell how Odin moved to the north of Europe from Great Svitjod in the south and “took” the name of his homeland with him, naming his new country. In Scandinavian studies, the so-called “migration legend” is considered bookish, fictional, and does not contain historical information. Or maybe it is this legend that contains a grain of rationality? Why shouldn't the name of the Swedes come out of Eastern Europe in the same way as the name of the Danes spread throughout Europe, eventually reaching the Scandinavian Peninsula?

Then all this scattered information adds up to a logical picture: the Scandinavian Sveians and Sveons from the Bertinian Annals are two different peoples with a similar name, perhaps genetically dating back to the name of one legendary ancestor. The Sveons from the Bertin Annals are a people with the relict name Sueonum, who remained in the south of Eastern Europe and retained their ancient generic name, but became part of larger formations, such as the formation of Rus' (this is the only historically verifiable opportunity for the Sveons to “be Rus”: accept this name from Rus', and not vice versa!)

A similar story happened with the above-mentioned English after the resettlement of a significant part of them to the British Isles. But in the ancestral home, the ancient family name in the south of the Jutland Peninsula was preserved as the local name of the small region of Angeln in Schleswig-Holstein. Previously, this land ended up in the region of the Danes, and its population began to be called by the common name of the Danes, but retaining their generic name of the Angles - hence the toponym of our time.

Now let's return again to the question of what kind of confusion is created in science if, when transmitting early medieval sources, they deviate from the context of the era. If the text of the Bertin Annals had included the Svei instead of the historically incorrect Swedes, then no one would have tied them to the Scandinavian Peninsula: the Tale of Bygone Years would have stood in the way of such reasoning, which stipulates that the Svei in the Baltic Sea region are a different people compared to the Varangians-Rus . A logical conclusion would follow from this: the Sveons from the Bertin annals and the Sveans from Svejarike are two different peoples with a similar name.

Accordingly, the assumption that representatives of the king of the Swedes ended up in Constantinople in 839, from where they came to Louis the Pious, is a completely wild fantasy! Indeed, it was precisely in those same years that representatives of Louis the Pious - missionaries and chroniclers - visited the Svei kings, described in their writings both the situation that reigned in Birka and the most significant events in the life of the kings and society. And not one of them subsequently mentioned such a grandiose event as the embassy from Birka to Constantinople. Were they not informed about this?

Yes, if such an event could be carried out, it would be talked about from generation to generation. Adam of Bremen used the life of Ansgar, as well as other chronicles that noted the most significant information from the life of the rulers of the Scandinavian Peninsula, and did not find a word about the great embassy of the king of the Swedes to Constantinople. His informant was the Danish king Sven Estridsson, who was connected by numerous ties of kinship with the Sveian kings. How King Sven spoke about a significant event about the marriage of King Olof Shotkonung's daughter Ingigerda with Yaroslav the Wise. If not for his story, we would not have known about this marriage, since the chronicle did not attach importance to the details and reported only about the birth of Yaroslav’s first child. But for small states, such a fact was remarkable: so, they say, great sovereigns knew us and also wooed our brides. And then they “forgot” such an event as the embassy from Birka to Constantinople!

My interlocutor also talks about “a coin of Theophilus found in a burial in Sweden,” which supposedly confirms that “at least one of the ambassadors was still a Swede.” This is exactly how the Theophilus coin from the Birka excavation is interpreted; early hoards of dirhams in Sweden; archaeological traces of the Scandinavians in the territory of North-West Rus'.

I'll start with the coin. Why should we assume that the mentioned coin was brought and buried by Svei? What are the reasons for this? One thing: a Scandinavian-centric view of the events of that time. The idea was strengthened in the mind that the epicenter of events was the Scandinavian Peninsula, and everything came from there: embassies, expeditions, trade initiatives.

However, history suggests otherwise. Now as then, the epicenter was continental Europe, and its peripheral territories, such as the Scandinavian Peninsula, were the host. The aforementioned Ansgar expedition to Birka included trade caravans, i.e. trading people from the Frankish state went to Birka during the reign of Emperor Theophilus. This is one of the ways that coins, including Byzantine ones, could have gotten there. I am not talking here about the fact that Birka was a trading center into which money could flow in different ways and through different persons, including from Eastern Europe.

At the same time, I had the assumption that it was the traders from Eastern Europe who were very early stage began to explore the Scandinavian Peninsula, and not vice versa. I would like to present absolutely stunning results of archaeological research in the Kama region and the Urals. They are well known, but they were not particularly introduced into the general concept of the initial period of ancient Russian history. They were of no interest to the Normanists, since they did not help in any way to prove the comprehensive role of the “Scandinavians” in Eastern Europe, and for scientists who connect the beginning of Old Russian political genesis and cultural genesis with the settlement of the Slavs, this information was too early. For my own concepts of the pre-Slavic Indo-European period of ancient Russian history they turned out to be very interesting, because I saw in these archaeological finds traces of the presence of the Rus - inhabitants in Eastern Europe.

Archaeological studies of the Kama region and the Urals show that this region has led international trade impressive scale. According to archaeologists of the Urals, the beginning of connections between this region and the south lies in ancient times - traced back to the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages. But trade relations are better documented for the early Iron Age, when in the 8th-6th centuries. BC Through commodity exchange in the Kama region, ready-made models of weapons and tools, as well as metal, arrived from the North Caucasus (less often from Transcaucasia). 23

In the Kama basin up to the Urals, monuments of ancient Greek culture were found, i.e. this region, like the Baltic Sea coast of a similar period, was in the sphere of ancient Greek trade. 24 In the second half of the VI – IV centuries. BC The Kama population (Ananyin culture) had intensive contacts with the Sauromatian world, the Sakas, and the peoples of Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Moreover, it is emphasized that these ties were of a deeper nature than just a trade exchange. In the area of ​​the Ananyino culture (the Kama region, the Vychegda basin, the Urals), some types of arrowheads, iron daggers and swords, parts of horse harnesses, and objects of animal style, identical to those of the Sauromatians, appeared. 25

The Ananyinsky iron-making center functioned in the 8th-7th centuries. BC along with the North Caucasian, Middle Dnieper, Scythian. 26 At the turn of the era, things from the southern lands in the Kama region were replenished with numerous glass beads, as well as plaques made of blue Egyptian faience in the form of scarabs, lions, and copper Roman pans. 27 In the first half of the 1st millennium AD. in the Kama region there was a massive influx of Middle Eastern beads, many variants of Roman provincial brooches from the workshops of the Northern Black Sea region, as well as those made by the late Scythians of the Dnieper region and the Sarmatians of the Lower Volga region. In the burial grounds of the 3rd-5th centuries. In the Middle Kama region, dozens of mollusk shells were discovered, obtained in the tropical parts of the Pacific and Indian oceans. The spread of Kama artifacts to the west, to the Middle Volga region, to the area of ​​the Sursko-Oka interfluve, indicates the development of contacts in a westerly direction. 28

In the V-VIII centuries. Southern exports to the Kama region continue to grow: these are, as before, glass and stone beads, silver necklaces, belt sets, ceremonial weapons and other items of Black Sea, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian origin. Numerous finds of ceremonial silverware and coins attract attention. In the Kama region, 123 points are known containing 187 silver vessels of Byzantine, Iranian, and Central Asian origin. In addition, more than 200 Sasanian drachmas, about 300 Byzantine and about 20 Khorezmian coins were found. The time of the influx of Sasanian silver into the Kama region is dated differently, within the period of the 3rd-7th centuries. 29

The influx of jewelry into the Kama region from the south in the 6th-7th centuries was noted with particular intensity. An example is the so-called Bartym treasures, i.e. treasures found in the vicinity of the Bartymsky settlement in the river basin. Sylva. Thus, 3 Khorezmian bowls, a Sasanian bowl and cup, a “Bactrian circle” bowl and a Byzantine dish were found. 30 In one of the vessels 264 silver milliaresia imp were discovered. Irakli. In addition to these, 8 more coins and the stem of a silver cup were found at the same place. The treasure was assessed by archaeologists as unique both in terms of the number of items (272 coins) and their quality: the coins were perfectly preserved, belonged to early issue coins (around 615), 59 copies were made with one pair of stamps. According to the assessment of the treasure researcher L.N. Kazamanova, it belonged to one issue and was not disparate in circulation. 31

The above materials give archaeologists grounds to say that the trade of the southern regions with the Kama region in the 1st millennium AD. was one of the important and well-developed trade areas and was so organized “that large quantities of expensive goods were delivered here by merchants from very remote areas. The fact that merchants with great valuables came directly to the Kama region is evidenced not only by the Bartym treasures, but also by the discovery of a Byzantine merchant’s weight found at the Verkh-Sainsky settlement... located 2 km from the Bartym treasures and the village... archaeological materials are convincing indicate that... the population had long mastered trading operations and had a large number of prestigious valuables (beads, jewelry, weapons, silver vessels, coins), which, along with furs, wax and honey, could serve as an equivalent in exchange.” 32

In addition to the south, the Kama region also had trade contacts with the Baltic lands. As an example, we usually point out the finds of the so-called Nevolinsky type belts, well known from the monuments of the Upper and Middle Kama region (in the basin of the Sylva River, the upper reaches of the Cheptsa River, along the Vychegda River, etc.) and characteristic of women’s burials dating from the end of VII-VIII centuries These are narrow leather belts, decorated with a buckle and numerous bronze plates and pendants consisting of beads and other decorations. The deceased were girded with these belts over a dress made of locally produced woolen fabric or imported silk fabric. As noted by R.D. Goldin, “judging by the number of belts (at least 72 – L.G.), the variety of their variants, the finds of complete specimens with all the attachments, these items were made right here – in the Sylvensky river. There are such belts in neighboring territories, in particular on the river. Chusovoy... Quite a lot of them in... Upper Kama region.” 33

The dynamics of the development of the production of these belts is also traced: “Belts of the Nevolinsky type developed from belts decorated with overlays of local variants of heraldic forms, which received the name Agafonovsky in science... and widespread here in the 7th century... Nevolinsky belts at the end of the 8th-9th centuries. were replaced in the Kama region by numerous and varied belts of the Saltovsky type.” 34 It is interesting to note here the fact that a significant accumulation of Nevolinsky-type belts has been identified on the Finnish coast of the Baltic Sea, where 19 belts were discovered in several burials. Belts of this type date back in Finland to the beginning of the 8th century. Their appearance is explained by the development of trading activities of merchants from the Kama region, who mastered trade routes to the Baltic at the turn of the 7th-8th centuries. As a result, the word "permi" may have appeared in the Finnish language to refer to traveling traders. 35

Proof that goods from the Kama region actually “traveled” over long distances is the discovery of a small number of Nevolin belts in Siberia, in burial grounds near Tomsk. 36 The distribution of Nevolin-type belts far beyond the boundaries of the place where they were made suggests that they were considered a recognized luxury item. Their prestige is evidenced by the fact that one such belt was discovered in Sweden, in the royal mound in Uppsala. 37

Archaeological finds such as Nevolinsky-type belts eloquently indicate that the development of trade in Eastern Europe in the latitudinal direction initially went from east to west, and not vice versa. This conclusion is confirmed by the analysis of such archaeological material as beads.

Swedish archaeologist Johan Kallmer, who investigated the origin of bead material in sets of 800-1000 beads from monuments on the territory of the Scandinavian peninsula, identified varieties of oriental beads that came to Scandinavia from Eastern Europe. Among them, for example, are beads made using the millefiori (“thousand flowers”) technique, presented in abundance both in Scandinavia and in Eastern Europe - in the Don region, the Volga region, the Kama region and the Caucasus, as well as other types of beads (round beads, made from a stick and then pierced with amethyst color, carnelian spherical beads, cylindrical beads with protruding blue-white eyes), also well known in the Middle East, Caucasus, Volga, Kama and Scandinavian countries. Their absence in Western European countries indicated their arrival in Scandinavia through Eastern Europe.

Kallmer compared some variants of oriental beads with finds of Nevolinsky-type belts and came to the conclusion that the influx of these types of oriental beads, as well as Nevolinsky belts, into Scandinavia was associated with the trading activities of merchants from Eastern Europe, from the Volga-Oka interfluve or the Kama basin. 38 Russian archaeologists R.D. Goldin and E.V. Goldin, as a result of a thorough study of the beads of the Nevolin culture in the Urals, determined that all of the above types of early eastern beads discovered in Scandinavia are not only well known in the burial grounds of the Nevolin culture, but also appeared in the Urals much earlier (6th century) than in the Baltic.

The presented archaeological research materials convincingly show that the trade route from Eastern Europe 39 to the Baltic Sea region was laid thanks to the activities of Eastern European merchants moving from the “Simov limit” to the Varangian Sea: first to the Finnish coast of the Baltic Sea at the turn of the 7th-8th centuries, then further, to the Scandinavian Peninsula, from the beginning of the 9th century. And this is very logical. Rivers and river systems served as transport arteries in Eastern Europe. The expected route of movement of traders from the Urals went along the Kama, Volga, Mologa, Msta, Volkhov and other rivers to Ladoga, and then to the Gulf of Finland. 40

Only local peoples who lived along these rivers from generation to generation and thereby accumulated knowledge about the Eastern European hydraulic system, the peculiarities of the river regime, and optimal routes could be users of river systems as transport routes.

To illustrate what has been said, it seemed useful to me to cite an excerpt from “Ural Tales” by P.P. Bazhov (“Ermakov’s Swans”), which reflects the centuries-old experience of riverine residents who know what river navigation is:

So, you say, Ermak was one of the Don Cossacks? Said to our region and immediately found a road to the Siberian side? Where none of our people had ever been, did he and his entire army sail along the rivers?

That would be clever! He sat down on the Kama, sweated on the oars, and got out to the Tura, and then walk along the Siberian rivers, wherever you like. Along the Irtysh, they say, swim all the way to China - you won’t be shaken!

In words it’s quite easy, but if you try it in practice, you’ll end up singing! You swam to the first crossing, and then you stumble. There are no pillars placed and there is no sign on the water: either there is a channel here, or an oxbow has approached, or another river has fallen out. So guess - should I swim to the right or to steer to the left? You probably can’t ask the coastal sandbanks and you can’t tell by the sun, because every river has its own loops and bends and you can’t guess them.

No, friend, don’t think that the path through the water is smooth. In fact, it will be more cunning to swim along an unfamiliar river than to make your way through the wildest forest. The main reason is that there are no signs, and you don’t walk on your own, but the river leads you. If you don’t recognize her path forward, you will only harm yourself and others, and you may even ruin your heads. 41

The first trading center in the Mälaren region was not Birka, but a trading post on the islet of Helgö. A Buddha figurine from Northern India and a ritual cup from Egypt, dating back to the 6th century, were found there, as well as coins from Ravenna, Rome, Byzantium, and Arab coins. At this time, the inhabitants of the Scandinavian Peninsula did not have a sailing fleet to carry out sea expeditions of this scale. So there is only one conclusion left: Merchants from Eastern Europe brought international trade to the Scandinavian Peninsula. True, until now it has proven difficult to identify these merchants ethnically: the Finno-Ugric peoples were not known as seafarers. With the recognition of my concept of the Rus as part of the Indo-European substratum of Eastern Europe, the complexity of ethnic identification is eliminated.

There is still a lot of material confirming this assumption. However, from what I was able to present today, so as not to overload the reader, it is clear: the question of “archaeological traces of the Scandinavians in the North-West of Rus'” can be resolved in different ways. There were mainly things present, and things could well have circulated in the trade turnover of Eastern European merchants who mastered the market of the Scandinavian Peninsula from the 6th century. And this cannot be discounted in any way.

Lydia Grot,
Candidate of Historical Sciences

Moscow, April 28 - “News. Economy". Trade routes have been formed since ancient times, when traders from different countries transported their goods to sell and buy them in other countries. Goods were only available where they were made, so traders had to travel long distances to deliver them to buyers in other countries. These trade routes facilitated cultural exchange as well as economic development. In addition, they contributed to the spread of religious views, ideas, innovations and even bacteria. Below we will talk about the main trade routes that were formed in ancient times. 1. The Silk Road is the most famous trade route in the world

The Great Silk Road is a caravan road that connected East Asia with the Mediterranean in ancient times and the Middle Ages. It was primarily used to export silk from China, which is where its name comes from. The path was laid in the 2nd century BC. e., led from Xian through Lanzhou to Dunhuang, where it bifurcated: the northern road passed through Turfan, then crossed the Pamirs and went to Fergana and the Kazakh steppes, the southern - past Lake Lob-Nor along the southern edge of the Taklamakancher desert through Yarkand and Pamir (in southern part) led to Bactria, and from there to Parthia, India and the Middle East up to the Mediterranean Sea. The term "Silk Road" was coined by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877.

During the journey from east to west, silk and spices passed through dozens of hands. In this regard, historians are talking about the travel of goods and technologies, not people. Mainly donkeys and camels were used for transportation. The number of camels in the caravans that plied the Taklamakan desert varied from 3 to 300. Thanks to intensive trade in the Tang state, a fashion for Central Asian clothes and products was formed. In the 4th-9th centuries the international trading network supported by the Sogdians in the east and the Rachdonite Jews in the west. The Sogdian language served as a language of international communication: for example, the sacred texts of Buddhism were translated from Sanskrit into Chinese through Sogdian media. The intensity of trade relations decreased after the ousting of the Romans from the Middle East and the beginning of the Arab conquests. During the periodic Byzantine-Iranian wars, the rulers of Persia blocked the caravan routes in order to cause maximum damage to the Byzantine economy. Difficulties with the delivery of goods also arose in the early Arab period, especially after the defeat of the Chinese in the Battle of Talas, which forced them to leave Central Asia. Silk, although the main one, was far from the only product transported along the transcontinental route. Khuttal horses, highly valued in China, military equipment, gold and silver, semi-precious stones and glassware, leather and wool, carpets and cotton fabrics, exotic fruits - watermelons and peaches, fat-tailed sheep and hunting dogs, leopards and lions. From China, caravans brought porcelain and metal utensils, lacquerware and cosmetics, tea and rice. In the travel bags of merchants one could find elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns, tortoiseshells, spices and much more. The Great Silk Road played a major role in the development of economic and cultural ties between the peoples of Western Asia, the Caucasus, Central Asia and China. He served as a conduit for the spread of technology and innovation, including in the arts (dance, music, fine arts, architecture), religion (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Manichaeism), technology (the production of silk itself, as well as gunpowder, paper, etc.). Moreover, almost all technologies (with the exception, perhaps, of the chariot in ancient times) spread from China to the west, and not in the opposite direction 2. Spice Road

The Spice Road is the overland part of one of the oldest trade routes on earth, connecting India, the Spice Islands and East Africa with the Mediterranean countries. It started from the ports of the Arabian and Red Seas, where goods were reloaded onto caravans that went through Petra to the Mediterranean coast. To facilitate trade, Queen Hatshepsut, the pharaohs Senusret III and Necho I, and King Darius I attempted to dig a canal connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean. During the time of King Solomon, the land part of the spice road went to the coast of the Gulf of Eilat in the area of ​​​​the city of Etzion-Gaver (present-day Eilat). Along this route, not only spices were delivered from the Spice Islands (cinnamon, ginger, pepper) from India, but also valuable wood and ivory from East Africa, silk from China, gold, silver, and precious stones. Depending on the military-political situation, certain sections of the spice road, like any other trade route, could be shifted towards safer areas. For example, during the time of King Herod, the main port for the spice trade on this route on the Mediterranean coast was Caesarea, and during the Crusades, caravans from Petra, bypassing the conflict area, went south, reaching the Mediterranean Sea in the El-Arish area, but this trade was never interrupted. Muslim dominance over the spice trade route forced Europeans to find alternate routes, ultimately leading to the Age of Discovery. 3. Incense Road

The Incense Route is a trade route that in antiquity connected the south of the Arabian Peninsula with the countries of the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. Through it, valuable incense was delivered to the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia from the ancient kingdoms on the territory of modern Yemen and Oman, as well as from the Horn of Africa and the island of Socotra - mainly South Arabian incense, myrrh and African spices. The widespread use of incense in the ancient East created a great demand for it and, therefore, caused extensive trade in these goods, which gave rise to the emergence of this trade route. The trade in incense apparently began in the 2nd millennium BC. e. When the Romans at the beginning of our era took control of the sea route to India and thereby jeopardized the coastal incense trade that was conducted through Aden, the capital of the Hadhramaut Shabwa state acquired the importance of an important trading center. Therefore, aromatic resins now had to be delivered to the port of Qana (15 km west of today’s fishermen’s village of Bir Ali in Yemen), and from there to Shabwa. Incense from Somalia and Ethiopia also went to Cana. If the leaders of the camel caravans deviated from the established route, they were threatened death penalty. In the desert it was allowed to move only in organized caravans along strictly marked paths. Any deviation from these rules was considered the most serious crime and was punishable by death. Caravans were the lifeblood of Shabwa. Therefore, only one gate was reserved for the passage of the caravan. The wealth and importance of Shabwa lay in the position of the city, which was important place gathering and organizing trade caravans to cross the great desert of the Rub al-Khali. Participants in the caravan had to pay one tenth of the cost of the goods, which was given to the priests of the city temples in the name of the main goddess Siin. There were 60 religious temples in Shabwa, and the city was the administrative and religious center of the ancient state of Hadhramaut. The population was obliged to bring the entire annual collection of aromatic resins to the temples of Shabva, and no one was allowed to export a single piece of resin outside the country. However, there were probably many attempts to violate this prohibition. Over time, the trade in incense fell into decline, and the shine of the South Arabian cities faded. And only rare caravans continued to walk along the old roads, laid long before the discovery of incense, transporting the salt necessary for life. 4. The Amber Path

The Amber Route is an ancient trade route along which in antiquity Baltic amber was transported from the Baltic states to the Mediterranean. He is mentioned by the “father of history” Herodotus. Products made from Baltic amber were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun (1400-1392 BC). The route along which succinite amber reached the Mediterranean Sea initially ran from Jutland along the Rhine and Oder rivers, and then from Sambia along the Vistula and Danube. The new Vistula amber route of the beginning of our era was called by Polish archaeologists the Great, or Main. In 2000, scientist Jerzy Wielowiejski managed to reconstruct this Roman amber road based on finds of amber raw materials and products. The delivery point for the raw stone was the southern city of the Roman Empire - Aquileia (on the border of Italy and Slovenia).

During the era of the Principate, the technique of processing amber, which was supplied to the city from the Baltic coast through the Roman province of Pannonia, reached a high level of development in Aquileia. From the port of Aquileia, amber goods sailed to Greece, Egypt, Syria, India and other distant countries. In Central Asia, two directions of trade routes were identified: Syrdarya and Amudarya: trade in amber intensified from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e., especially in the first centuries AD. e., up to the 5th century. n. e. Following along the Syr Darya, amber penetrates into the Fergana Valley, actively covering its western and southwestern regions, and further east, to the borders of China. In the early Middle Ages, internal routes became more ramified. To the northeast is the Chui Valley. To the southeast is the Zeravshan Valley, the extreme eastern point is the Western Pamir, the headwaters of the Pyanj River. At the end of the twentieth century, as part of the protection of European cultural heritage, a program for creating tourist amber routes arose. They follow ancient trade routes from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean countries. 5. Tea route

The ancient tea route, or Chamagudao, originated during the Tang Dynasty (618–907) and reached its peak during the Song Dynasty (907–1270), when up to seven and a half tons of tea were transported to Lhasa annually. The routes of the ancient caravans of the tea route ran deep into the mountains in southwest China. These are some of the highest roads in the world - highways that connected Tibet with the interior of the country, historical evidence of coexistence and good neighborly relations between Han Chinese, Tibetans and other peoples. Transportation was carried out both using horse-drawn transport and on foot. 6. Salt Road

The Salt Road is an ancient trade route along which salt was transported, which is also reflected in the name of the road. The Salt Road provided Rome with a monopoly on salt and became one of the sources of the city's prosperity. In Rome, the road began at the Porta Salaria of Aurelian's Wall and led through the interior of central Italy to the Camp of Truent on the Adriatic coast, a distance of 242 kilometers. Along the road there are underground burials - catacombs, mostly Christian: cemeterium Jordanorum ad S. Alexandrorum, catacombs of St. Panphil, Priscilla (pagan and Christian burials), Trazon, St. Felice. Among others, Jason of Rome was buried here. 7. Trans-Saharan trade route

The Trans-Saharan trade route is very ancient. Along the two main roads crossing the desert from south to north, images of chariots were found. From this, researchers concluded that trade routes ran through the Sahara in ancient times. The Garamantes who lived there were intermediaries in the trade of ivory, carbuncles and slaves between the North (Carthage, Ancient Rome) and the South. The main caravan trade routes shifted several times. So until the 11th century. The main caravan route passed through medieval Ghana, from the 12th century. he moved east, connecting the Malian gold mines with the trading cities of North Africa. Malian gold, like many other goods (skins, ostrich feathers, etc.) found their way to the Middle East and from there often to Europe. Since the 15th century The main caravan route began to pass through Hausaland. The fall of medieval Mali at the end of the 15th century, the depletion of gold mines in the Bamboo region and the formation of the large state formation of Songhai led to a shift in trade routes to the east - from Western to Central Sudan. After the establishment of sea routes between the coast of West Africa and Europe in the first half of the 19th century, trans-Saharan trade began to decline, however, it continued to exist until the end of the first quarter of the 20th century. 8. Tin path

The Tin Route was a trade route of Northern Eurasia in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Along this route, tin ore from deposits located on the territory of Central, Southern and Eastern Kazakhstan, Altai and the north of Central Asia was transported far to the west for the needs of the metalworking centers of the Eurasian metallurgical province of the Late Bronze Age: Derbeden (Middle Volga region, Urals) and Loboykovsky (Middle Podneprovye, Podontsovye). The monopoly in tin mining belonged to the Andronovo tribes (Fedorovskaya culture), in post-Andronovo times - to the bearers of the Sargarin-Alekseevskaya (Begazy-Dandybaevskaya) culture. The Trans-Eurasian “tin route” ran to the west in two branches. The first went through the Middle Urals (area of ​​the Cherkaskul culture, later - the Mezhovskaya culture) to the Middle Volga region and Pokamye (area of ​​the Suskan culture), where the Derbeden metalworking center operated. The second branch of the route ran through the Southern Urals, the Steppe Volga region and the Don region to the Dnieper, where the Loboykovsky center operated.

UDC 316.4.051

EUROPEAN TRADE IN THE MIDDLE AGES Aborvalova Olga Nikolaevna,

Associate Professor, Candidate of Sociological Sciences, Associate Professor Saratov Institute (branch) of the Russian State Trade and Economic University, Saratov, Russia

aborvalova@yandex. ru

The article examines the specifics of the development of trade in European countries during the period of feudalism, the formation of merchant guilds as a form of organization of the trading community. The influence of religion on the development of trade relations is traced.

Keywords: feudal trade; merchant guilds; religion and trade; fair trade; Hanseatic Trade Union.

EUROPEAN TRADE IN THE MIDDLE AGES Olga Aborvalova,

associate Professor, PhD in Sociology, Associate Professor

Saratov Institute (Branch), Russian State Trade and Economic University,

Saratov, Russia aborvalova@yandex. ru

This article discusses the specifics of the development of trade in Europe in the feudal period, the formation of merchant guilds as a form of organization of the trading community. Shows the influence of religion on the development of trade relations.

Keywords: feudal trade; merchant guilds; religion and trade; Fair trade; the Hanseatic trade union.

Until the 13th century. The development of European trade, as well as Russian trade, was significantly hampered by the presence of objective factors, which include the weak purchasing power of the bulk of the population, which consisted mainly of peasants. In addition, feudal fragmentation strengthened the power of the lords, using which they collected numerous duties - for exhibiting goods, measuring and weighing, crossing crossings, etc. For example, in France, when transporting goods along the Loire River, duties were charged 70 times. The sale of goods in markets was also burdened with various payments. A merchant, even at home, could not sell more than a certain amount of goods without resorting to seigneurial weights, measures or arshins, and he had to pay for this.

The development of trade was hampered by the poor condition of roads and bridges (or their complete absence), which made the delivery of goods extremely difficult, especially during the off-season. An important role was played by the lack of overnight accommodation and road safety along the route. In this connection, the merchants were forced to accompany their goods on horseback, with a sword at the saddle, trying to protect themselves and the transported cargo.

At the same time, the farthest journey was also the most profitable for the merchant. The desire to make a profit was balanced by the hardships endured, the risks and dangers of the journey. A medieval merchant is always on the road. It is no coincidence that the merchants of this time were called “dusty feet.”

The legal status of merchants provided them with a special place in society, but at the same time, due to their wandering lifestyle, they were looked upon everywhere as strangers. No one knew the origin of these eternal wanderers, most of whom were not of free origin. Although according to the existing Law of that time, any person who was not assigned to

Mr., and it was almost impossible to prove the opposite. It followed that merchants could be positioned as free people. If agrarian culture made of the peasant a person for whom slavery was the norm, then trade made of the merchant a person whose normal condition of life was freedom.

To protect their interests, medieval merchants united into special trading corporations - guilds. In the XI - XII centuries. Such guilds existed in England, France, Flanders, and Germany. They were also known in Russia.

Members of a guild that united merchants of a city (as in Europe), or who traded a certain type goods (as in Russia, for example, “clothers”, “wine merchants”, etc.) jointly protected transported goods, achieved their profitable sale through fair trade, created farmsteads, and received legal and customs benefits. In their city, guilds guaranteed merchants a profitable sale of imported goods, securing for themselves a monopoly on retail sales, which was more profitable. As a rule, each guild had its own administration. The guild was headed by an elder, his assistants and an elected council.

During the early Middle Ages, the attitude of the Catholic Church towards trade and merchants was extremely contradictory, which, in turn, had a significant impact on the development of trade. On the one hand, trade was perceived by the ministers of the Catholic Church as a necessary activity for obtaining economic benefits, on the other hand, it was regarded as a craft displeasing to God. Usury caused particular indignation. Apologists of the Christian Church promised hellish torments for the moneylenders. Usury was officially prohibited to Christians. Canon law fought against the issuance of money on interest (usury), which the church condemned, calling it extortion. Only non-believers, that is, Jews, could be lenders. Religious intolerance provoked persecution of Jews and their settlement in ghettos as the norm of relations. In the X1-X11th centuries. attitude

The Catholic Church's attitude towards trade and merchants is changing. This is due to the fact that during the period under review, the church, having accumulated significant wealth and acquired large land holdings, began to actively support merchants, eradicating prejudices against them on the part of the lords.

XII and XIII centuries. characterizes the sustainable development of social systems, population growth, and an increase in the frequency of intercountry communications. All this leads to the fact that trade quickly gains momentum and becomes extremely active.

The busiest trade movement in the Middle Ages, as in the ancients, took place along the Mediterranean Sea, the center of which was Byzantium. This was due to the fact that its possessions occupied most of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, including the Black Sea. Byzantium provided intermediary services in trade between East and West - Asia and Europe. Italian, German, Bulgarian, Russian, Persian, and Arab merchants came here. Since the Crusades, when the naval forces of Byzantium declined, the merchant fleets of Italian cities - Venice, Genoa, Pisa and some others - began to dominate the Mediterranean Sea. During the Latin Empire, Venice took over the main trade of the East. Its colony of Tana, located at the mouth of the Don (Azov, near the ancient Greek colony of Tanais), became a transshipment point for eastern goods coming from Central Asia along the Caspian Sea, the Lower Volga and the Lower Don. Subsequently, after the restoration of the Byzantine Empire with the help of the Genoese, trade dominance in the Black Sea passed into the hands of the latter. The Genoese founded several prosperous colonies in Crimea, of which Kafa (ancient Feodosia) received the most importance. The main product of this eastern trade were slaves, which the Venetians and Genoese bought in the ports of the Black Sea, Syria and Egypt. At the time described, Russia was under the yoke of the Tatar yoke and many noble families

Venice and Genoa became rich by trading in Russian captives, whom they bought from the Tatars.

Another trade route, parallel to the Mediterranean Sea, gave Western European merchants access to Scandinavian, German and Russian markets: these were the North and Baltic Seas, which replaced land roads. But the trade carried out here was different from that which developed in the Mediterranean.

Mediterranean trade supplied Europe only with luxury goods, the Baltic and North Seas provided it with raw products. Lubeck, Bremen and Amsterdam shipowners went to England for skins, to Bergen for Norwegian timber, to Sweden for resin and wood ash for painting, to Revel and Riga for products that were traded at Novgorod fairs, for Russian furs and leathers. and lard. In exchange for goods that supplied the whole of Europe, they acquired in Bruges highly valued Flanders fabrics, as well as spices, food supplies and valuables brought here from the Mediterranean Sea, and transported them to the northern countries.

The Middle Ages were an era of inland seas, and much of medieval trade was by sea or river. Merchants preferred river roads to land roads, as they were cheaper and safer.

However, from the middle of the 13th century. Regular traffic is also beginning to be established along major roads. At this time, large and small roads are dotted with markets, where merchants and consumers converged to conclude transactions. There were countless markets in the Middle Ages: lords organized markets on their lands and attracted merchants here in order to charge a fee for selling goods and setting up shops.

Along with this, large shopping centers, such as the markets of Rouen, Reims, Orleans, Toulouse, etc. Such was, for example, the Gostiny Dvor in Paris, which was more reminiscent of an oriental bazaar: merchants of clothing goods

they traded on Fridays, clothiers - on Saturdays. Various places were reserved for tanners, shoemakers, coppersmiths and iron wares traders, seamstresses and quilters, fish, grain, flour and bread traders. On the days designated for trading one or another product, merchants of a given workshop who had shops in Paris were obliged to lock their shops and trade in the Gostiny Dvor under pain of a fine, which was doubled in case of disobedience.

The Middle Ages were the heyday of fair trade, which functioned at a certain time. The Catholic Church played an important role in the development of fair trade. The emergence of the fair was primarily due to the need to find a safe and protected place for the exchange of goods. The patronage of the clergy provided those coming to the fair with safe passage, exchange of goods, as well as a fair resolution of controversial issues during the auction. In addition, condemning internecine wars, the church forbade knights to fight on Sundays, church holidays, and also on fair days. The Church threatened excommunication if the oath taken by the knights was broken.

Some researchers, for example, I. Kulischer, believe that trade was closely related to worship and often took place on church holidays. Even the word “mass” means both mass and fair. Sometimes trade took place in the temple itself at the same time as the service. Proclaimed here " God's peace"allowed to avoid clashes between knights and foreign merchants. Subsequently, trade was moved to the square in front of the church (as in Russia, for example, the Makaryevskaya Fair), where exchanges were made. The guarantee of peace was a cross erected on the market square, which meant the patronage of the lord and the church. They protected not only everyone present at the fair, but also everyone within a mile of it while the fair was in operation. Violation of market peace was punished by officials present at the fair

face - a market judge. In addition, many fair cities, for example, such as Cologne, Nuremberg, Prague, etc., were popular because there were Christian shrines revered by believers, attracting numerous pilgrims.

A significant milestone in the development of trade in northern Europe is the emergence in the 13th century. Hanseatic League - a trade association of North German cities led by Lübeck. By the XIV - XV centuries. this union already included up to 100 cities, including some Baltic cities - Revel (Tallinn), Dorpat (Tartu), Riga.

The economic role of the Hanse consisted of monopolistic mediation between the producing regions of almost all of Europe and part of the Mediterranean. The Hanseatic system of trade relations was based on several trading offices in the main producing regions of Europe - London, Venice, Novgorod, etc. General congresses of Hanseatic cities were held in Lübeck, the capital of the Hansa.

The military forces of the Hansa consisted of the fleet and troops of individual cities. Power in the Hanseatic cities was in the hands of the merchant patriciate. The interests of individual groups of trading cities often did not coincide, allowing controversial issues, the Hanseatic Court of Appeal was called.

The active development of trade was facilitated by the great geographical discoveries of the 15th - 17th centuries. From the countries of America to Europe a huge amount of previously unseen began to arrive, rare goods. It was quite difficult to quickly sell goods brought on large ships. To facilitate this process and speed up the delivery of goods to retail trade wholesalers were needed. In this situation, wealthy merchants bought the delivered goods and then distributed them to retailers in various countries. Thus, development wholesale trade, in the person of a merchant-intermediary, allowed sailors to quickly make their trade turnover, as a result of which

there was an increase in the total volume of goods transported and sold over a certain period of time.

At this time, the merchants of Western Europe expanded the range of their trading activities by attracting countries in Africa, America, and Asia, taking an active part in their exploitation. Large trading companies, which are so significant that they seek to establish a trade monopoly in countries and even regions of the world, such as the East India Companies, etc.

Geographical discoveries contributed to the movement of trade routes from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, there was a decline in trade and economic decline in Italy, Germany and, conversely, in England and the Netherlands, an increase in trade and, as a consequence, a strengthening of the economies of these countries.

The opening of new countries and the subsequent opening of new trade routes led to a significant increase in trade turnover between states, thus we can say that trade began to acquire a global character. This accelerated the process of decomposition of feudalism and contributed to the emergence of capitalist relations.

The development of foreign trade led to the creation during this period of new forms of organization of commercial capital. These are various trading companies, including joint stock companies, exchanges, etc. In parallel with trading capital, loan or banking capital developed during this period, replacing medieval usury.

With the strengthening of centralized states, priorities gradually changed: the interests of feudal lords and cities give way to

national interests, and, registration trade policy states. To a greater extent, it was a policy of protectionism, i.e. policy of supporting domestic merchants in competition with foreign merchants.

In general, the expansion of the scale of trade led to the elimination of territorial isolation and limited feudal estates, and contributed to the strengthening of entrepreneurial initiative. The economy of the initial accumulation of capital was moving towards free enterprise in trade.

Literature

1. History of economics. Textbook. /Under general ed. O.D. Kuznetsova, I, N. Shapkina. M., 2009.

2. Kulisher I.M. Basic issues of international trade policy. M., 2002.

Reviewer:

Shakhmatova N.V., Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Applied Sociology of Saratov University state university them. N.G. Chernyshevsky

Trade in the Middle Ages included many various features. The main role was foreign trade with other cities and countries. The development of agriculture, as well as cattle breeding, was welcomed in any feudal-type community. Almost everything that was needed for food was produced directly on the farm itself. People tried to buy in the markets only what was simply not produced in their area. Such goods mainly included wine, salt, bread or cloth. But sometimes Lebanese-made goods appeared on the market, which almost immediately left the shelves.

Goods from the east were almost always divided into two main groups. The first category included goods that could be weighed or counted or measured by meters. But the second type of goods included light spices, which were more difficult to obtain and were measured only in ounces. These could be various spices, oils and incense, or natural dyes. The role of such goods in the everyday life of many peoples occupied first place.

The European economy contained many weaving industries that would simply cease to exist without oriental dyes. Most people added spicy seasonings from the east to the meat, without which the meat seemed tasteless and bland to them. In addition to various seasonings, among oriental goods one could find various herbs that had medicinal properties. But even though the local peoples practically could not survive without eastern goods, the turnover of these products was not as great as expected.

The local commodity-money system of exchanging agricultural goods for artisans' tools in the Middle Ages significantly influenced the development of many cities. And after the annuity of payment in money was introduced, trade went uphill. Thanks to the fact that money rent was now introduced, all agricultural land and villages became involved in commodity-money relations. At first it was somewhat small and only a few peasant products reached the market, and it was difficult to find buyers in a small town. And due to the fact that the monopoly flourished, peasants could trade their goods only in their city or the nearest village.

There were very few links to the market economy in many medieval cities. Thus, in Germany in the southwestern states, the city district was only 140 square kilometers. In most cases, all cities were located no more than 20 kilometers from each other, and in England and similar countries, cities were located even closer to each other. One lawyer from England put forward his opinion that trade distances between cities should be no more than 10 kilometers.

Most likely, there was an unspoken rule according to which any peasant had to ride bulls to the neighboring city in a few hours. This was necessary so that after making purchases, he could return home before dark on the same day. The market featured mainly goods that were produced on farmland or made by skilled artisans who dedicated their entire lives to the craft. Of course, the market economy as a whole depended only on how productive it would be New Year.

Gradually, along with the development of production, more and more new positions began to appear in different branches of production, which made it possible for people to earn money and spend it again in the markets.