Table Of ContentMedieval Trade in Central Europe, Scandinavia, and the Balkans
(10th–12th Centuries)
East Central and Eastern Europe
in the Middle Ages, 450–1450
General Editors
Florin Curta and Dušan Zupka
volume 64
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ecee
Medieval Trade in
Central Europe, Scandinavia,
and the Balkans
(10th–12th Centuries)
A Comparative Study
By
Piotr Pranke
Miloš Zečević
Translated by
Michał Romanek
LEIDEN | BOSTON
This book was originally published in Polish as Handel interregionalny od X do XII wieku. Europa Środkowa,
Środkowo-Wschodnia, Półwysep Skandynawski i Półwysep Bałkański. Studium Porównawcze (National
Programme for the Development of Humanities, 21H 13 0689 82) by Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK, Toruń, in
2016. The book has been corrected, supplemented and expanded with additional chapters.
Cover illustration: Merchants in the 12th century. Herrad of Landsberg, GLN edition
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pranke, Piotr, author. | Zečević, Miloš, author.
Title: Medieval trade in Central Europe, Scandinavia, and the Balkans
(10th–12th centuries) / Piotr Pranke, Milos Žečević ; translated by
Michał Romanek.
Other titles: Handel interregionalny od X do XII wieku. English
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2020. | Series: East Central and
Eastern Europe in the middle ages, 1450–1450, 1872–8103 ; vol.64 |
Originally published: Toruń : Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja
Kopernika, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2020019153 (print) | LCCN 2020019154 (ebook) | ISBN
9789004380332 (hardback) | ISBN 9789004431645 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Europe—Commerce—History—To 1500. | Trade
routes—Europe—History—To 1500.
Classification: LCC HF3495 .P73613 2020 (print) | LCC HF3495 (ebook) |
DDC 382.094—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020019153
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020019154
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
ISSN 1872-8103
ISBN 978-90-04-38033-2 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-43164-5 (e-book)
Copyright 2020 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi,
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Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
1 Theories of Socioeconomic Impact: from Immanuel Wallerstein’s
‘World Systems’ to Kondratiev/Schumpeter Waves 7
1.1 World Systems Analysis: from Business Cycles to Ancient
World Theory 7
1.2 Central Place Theory, Gateway Cities, Break-In Transportation
Theory: an Outline 15
1.3 Substantivism and Formalism: a Dispute over the Importance of
Economic Phenomena in the Past 26
2 Trade in the Period from the 10th to the 12th Centuries: Merchants
during the Early and High Middle Ages 33
2.1 Who Are the Merchants? 33
2.2 Those Who Come and Go: the Idea of an Itinerant Market 47
2.3 Fair Trading 60
2.4 The Customs Duty System: Just and Fair Duty 65
3 The Scandinavian Peninsula and the Balkan Peninsula:
a Comparative Analysis 71
3.1 Scandinavian Economic Penetration in the Light of Sources of
North European Provenance 71
3.2 Scandinavian Economic Penetration in the Light of
Oriental Sources 84
3.3 Trade on the Balkan Peninsula Territory 93
3.4 Production and Dependent Population: an Example of the
Balkan Peninsula 103
4 Goods That Were Exchanged in Trade 114
vi Contents
Appendix: A Source Study: High Medieval Market Institutions—
“ut nullus teloneum exigat nisi in mercatibus ubi communia commertia
emuntur ac venundantur” 159
Conclusions 201
Bibliography 207
Index 249
Illustrations
Figures
0.1 The Horse and the Donkey—Hortus deliciarum, ca. 1180 ix
1.1 Economic relationship model based on the ‘core-semi-periphery-periphery’
schema 9
1.2 Articulation of internal and external relations schema in a structural model
of the global system, as seen from the perspective of the society (or the
state) as a unit. After: Kajsa Ekholm, “Structure, dynamics, and the final
collapse of bronze age civilisations in the second millennium,” in Historical
Transformations: The Anthropology of Global Systems, eds. Kajsa Ekholm and
Jonathan Friedman, Lanham/New York/Toronto/Plymouth: AltaMira Press,
2008, fig. 6.2, p. 168 9
1.3 The scheme of sociocultural transformations in the ‘ancient world sys-
tems’ approach. After: Christoph Kümmel, Frühe Weltsysteme: Zentrum und
Peripherie-Modelle in der Archäologie (Tübinger Texte. Materialen zur Ur-und
Frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie) 4 (Rahden/Westfalen, 2001), p. 35 11
1.4 The scheme of core/periphery production relations. After: Kajsa Ekholm,
“Structure, dynamics, and the final collapse of bronze age civilisations in
the second millennium” in Historical Transformations: The Anthropology of
Global Systems, eds. Kajsa Ekholm and Jonathan Friedman, (Lanham/New
York/Toronto/Plymouth: AltaMira Press, 2008), fig. 6.4, p. 173 11
1.5 The global system (Afro-West Asian Region) according to Andre Gunder
Frank. After: Andre G. Frank, ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age
(Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press), p. 76 12
1.6 Phases of ‘Central Civilization.’ After: David Wilkinson, “Civilizations, cores,
world economies, and oikumenes,” in The World Systems: Five Hundred Years
or Five Thousend?, eds. Andre G. Frank and Barry K. Gills, (London/New
York: Routledge 1993), fig. 7.1, p. 223 14
1.7 Scheme of circulation of goods and services: gift exchange and trade. After:
Andrew Strathern, Pamela J. Stewart, “Ceremonial exchange,” in A Handbook
of Economic Anthropology, ed. James G. Carrier, (Cheltenham/Northampton:
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2005), pp. 232–45 14
1.8 A model of the central places hierarchy. After: Stephen Brown, “Central
Place Theory: sixty years on,” in Contemporary Marketing History:
Proceedings of the Sixth Conference on Historical Research in Marketing and
Marketing Thought, Held May 22–25, 1993 at the JW Marriott Hotel, Lenox
Square, ed. Stephen Brown, (Atlanta: Michigan State University, 1993),
fig. 3, p. 73 17
viii Illustrations
1.9 Walter Christaller’s dispersion model based on the example of market
relationships. After: Edgar A.J. Johnson, The Organization of Space in
Developing Countries (Cambridge/Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,
1970), fig. 4–2, p. 128 17
1.10 A modified system consistent with resulting population distribution
according to the model created by August Lösch. After: Walter Isard,
Location and Space-Economy: A General Theory Relating to Industrial
Location, Market Areas, Land Use, Trade and Urban Structure (New York/
London: M.I.T. Press, 1956), fig. 52, p. 272 20
1.11 The economic impact of so-called gateway cities. After: Edgar A.J. Johnson,
The Organization of Space in Developing Countries (Cambridge/
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1970), fig. 3–5, p. 86 21
1.12 Boat construction. After: Olaus Magnus, 1555 22
1.13 Thiessen polygon. After: Zbigniew Kobyliński, “Podstawowe metody analizy
punktowych układów przestrzennych,” Archeologia Polski 32 (1987), no. 1,
fig. 10B, p. 40 24
1.14 Byzantine towns and Slavonian gateway cities in the Dalmatian area.
After: Neven Budak, “Early medieval boundaries in Dalmatia/Croatia
(8th–11th centuries),” in “Castellum, civitas, urbs”: Zentren und Eliten im
frühmittelalterlichen Ostmitteleuropa, eds. Orsolya Heinrich-Tamańska,
Hajnalka Herold, Péter Straub and Tivadar Vida, Budapest/Leipzig/
Keszthely/Rahden/Westfalen: Verlag Marie Leidorf, 2015), p. 37 25
1.15 Trade without money—Olaus Magnus, 1555 26
1.16 Joseph sold by his brothers, Herrad of Landsberg, ca. 1180 27
1.17 Merchant, Herrad of Landsberg, ca. 1180 28
1.18a ‘10 silver marks’—hoard from Spillings 29
1.18b Silver melted into bars—silver hoard from Spillings 29
1.19 A representation of the Viking house where the three caches of the Spillings
hoard were found-by W. Carter 29
1.20a Helgö—Buddha statuette 30
1.20b Helgö—Egyptian Coptic scoop 30
1.21 Deposition from Nørremølle. After: Gitte Ingvardson, “Nørremølle—the
largest Viking age silver hoard of Bornholm,” Journal of Archaeological
Numismatics 2 (2012), fig. 1, 283 30
1.22 Merchant, Herrad of Landsberg, ca. 1180 31
2.1 Fair privileges in the post-Carolingian area in chronological order 68
2.2 Fair privileges in the post-Carolingian area from the times of Conrad I to the
times of Frederick I 68
2.3 Customs privileges in the post-Carolingian area in dynamic terms—from
the reign of Conrad I to the reign of Frederick I (911–1190) 70
Illustrations ix
3.1 Territorial structure of the first Bulgarian state in the period from the 9th to
the 10th centuries 94
4.1 The Gniezno Doors, 12th century 129
4.2 Georgius Agricolas, De re metallica libri XII (Basel, 1556) 134
4.3 Historia de gentibus Septentrionalibus (Rome, 1555) 135
4.4 Goods and natural resources in Central and Eastern Europe based on a
source analysis 136
Tables
1.1 The distinct concepts in central places analysis as singled out by
Oliver Nakoinz 20
4.1 Goods and natural resources in Central and Eastern Europe 137
A.1 List of customs privileges in Post-Carolingian Europe
(10th–12th century) 159
A.2 List of mint privileges in the Post-Carolingian Europe
(10th–12th century) 180
A.3 List of market privileges for the Post-Carolingian Europe
(10th–12th century) 187
A.4 Trade privileges in the Balkans 198
Figure 0.1
The Horse and the Donkey—Hortus deliciarum,
ca. 1180
