The Armour Archive

I am looking for some resources on fabric prices in the 15th century; I want to do a comparison of the cost of wool to silk or silk damask.

Thanks

Have you looked in The Tudor Tailor? It is 16thC, but I think it covers relative prices for early in the century.

"Mediaeval Cloth: Cloth types in the late 15th century" (pp. 3-9) and "Ells, Aunes, & Braccia: Notes on medieval cloth measures (p. 10) of Dragon #10

A whole lot of references to wool, silk, and damask in the Paston letters (you could start with Garments in the Paston Letters to figure out which documents will be especially useful, but I don't think the links from there work any more)

The Wool Trade In English Medieval History

Medieval wool and cloth exports and The English medieval wool and cloth trade: new approaches for the local historian

John Munro has several articles on this sort of thing -- primarily relating to the wool industry in England and the Low Countries. Some of the ones most relevant to what you're interested in are Flemish Woollens and German Commerce during the Later Middle Ages: Changing Trends in Cloth Prices and Markets, 1290-1550; The West European Woollen Industries and their Struggles for International Markets, c.1000-1500; Wool and Wool-Based Textiles in the West European Economy, c.800 - 1500: Innovations and Traditions in Textile Products, Technology, and Industrial Organisation; Industrial Change in the Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Low Countries: the Arrival of Spanish Merino Wools and the Expansion of the 'Nouvelles Draperies'; The Symbiosis of Towns and Textiles: Urban Institutions and the Changing Fortunes of Cloth Manufacturing in the Low Countries and England, 1280-1570; Textiles as Articles of Consumption in Flemish Towns, 1330-1575; and The Low Countries' Export Trade in Textiles with the Mediterranean Basin, 1200-1600: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Comparative Advantages in Overland and Maritime Trade Routes.
Unavailable online, but potentially useful: "Wool-Price Schedules and the Qualities of English Wools in the Later Middle Ages, ca. 1270-1499," Textile History 9 (1978); reprinted in Textiles, Towns, and Trade: Essays in the Economic History of Late-Medieval England and the Low Countries.




How much research are you looking to do for this, btw? Here's some additional resources, but most of 'em you'll have to get either through interlibrary loan or some other method.
Rembrandt Duits, "Figured Riches: The Value of Gold Brocades in Fifteenth-Century Florentine Painting," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 62 (1999)
Carole Collier Frick, Dressing Renaissance Florence: Families, Fortunes, and Fine Clothing
Alison Hanham, "Foreign Exchange and the English Wool Merchant in the Late 15th Century," Bulletin of the Institute for Historical Research 44 (1973)
Alison Hanham, The Celys and Their World: An English Merchant Family of the Fifteenth Century
Jennifer I. Kermode, "Money and Credit in the Fifteenth Century: Some Lessons from Yorkshire," Business History Review vol. 65, no. 3 (1991)
"The price of coloured damask in the Trattato, 1350-1550," Apollo CXXV (1987)

Alcyoneus thanks for the heads up, Kim has a copy of the book I will have to read that.


Karen all I can say is HOLY CRAP! Just a quick scan of what you posted already answers so many questions for me. I may go much further with my project than I had planned now!

James B. wrote:Karen all I can say is HOLY CRAP! Just a quick scan of what you posted already answers so many questions for me. I may go much further with my project than I had planned now!

Hee.

That would be awesome. So, what are the chances that you could write this "further project" into an article for The Oak or Tournaments Illuminated?

Semi-conjectural comment deleted. In summary: Tournaments Illuminated will increase in its rockingness, both exponentially and soon. Consider yourselves warned.

If you want help looking it over -- whether this ends up in The Oak, Tournaments Illuminated, Compleat Anachronist, Textile History, or lining the bottom of a birdcage lemme know. Happy to help.

Karen when would you need something for the Oak? I am updating my Jack documentation.

James B. wrote:Karen when would you need something for the Oak? I am updating my Jack documentation.

Here's how to get in touch with the Oak editor -- she plans to put out the next issue in about a month or so, but now that The Oak doesn't need to put all of its efforts into fundraising before it can put out an issue, it'll be publishing more often.