Markets were bustling, cacophonous, and full of activity to the point where, in late medieval Italy, the phrase “fare un mercato” (literally “to do a market”) was used to describe being loud and agitated. Narrative sources attest to the cries and shouts of sellers urging customers to buy from their stalls. But what could customers actually purchase at a market? How were these markets established in the first place? What rules governed the exchange of goods?
Carrots and cauldrons
At the twelfth-century market in Sahagún, a rural town in the Kingdom of Castile, customers could purchase meat, cattle, poultry, fruits, vegetables, grain, fish, honey, eggs, butter, and cheese. Animal food and fodder were also available. Additionally, vendors sold wool, timber, coal, leather, and furs, which could later be transformed into…
