Textile Prices

Professor John Munro passed away on December 23, 2013. This site is maintained and kept online as an archive. For more infomation please visit the Centre for Medieval Studies

Professor John H. Munro
Department of Economics
University of Toronto
150 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G7
CANADA

MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TEXTILE PRICES

Updated on Friday, 1 August 2008

Before using these Excel files on cloth prices, please read carefully the following Explanatory notes.

PART A: EXCEL FILES FOR LUXURY WOOLLEN CLOTH PRICES IN THE LOW COUNTRIES AND ENGLAND

FLANDERS: Bruges woollen cloth prices, 1302-1500: annual prices and quinquennial mean prices for Bruges woollens, in pounds groot Flemish
FLANDERS: Bruges woollen cloth prices, 1302-1500: by colours: annual prices and quinquennial mean prices for Bruges woollens, in pounds groot Flemish
FLANDERS: Ghent woollen cloth prices, 1330 - 1570 : annual prices and quinquennial mean prices for Ghent woollens, in pounds groot Flemish: by customers (burgermasters, schepenen (aldermen), and other upper echelon officials.
FLANDERS: Ypres woollen cloth prices, 1406 - 1500: annual prices and quinquennial mean prices for Ypres woollens, in pounds groot Flemish. Note that, because of the total destruction of the Ypres town hall (stadhuis) and its civic archives during World War I, the only annual civic accounts that have survived are in the duplicate set deposited with the ducal Chambre de Comptes at Lille, from 1406-07.
FLANDERS: Cloth Prices from the Nouvelles Draperies: from Kortrijk, Wervik, Comines, Menen, and other small-town or village draperies, whose woollens were sold on the Bruges market (late 14th - 15th centuries).
BRABANT: Leuven Cloth Prices, 1400 - 1505: annual prices and quinquennial mean prices for Leuven woollens, in Rhenish gulden and in pounds groot Flemish
BRABANT: Mechelen Cloth Prices, 1316-1520: annual prices and quinquennial mean prices for Mechelen woollens, in pounds oude groot and pounds groot Flemish.
Note that Mechelen (Malines: in French) was technically a seigneurie that had been a fief of the prince-bishops of Ličge until 1356, when it was transferred to Count Louis de Mâele of Flanders; and on his death in 1384, it became a fief of his son-in-law, Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy, who became the new Count of Flanders. Nevertheless, Mechelen was economically part of the duchy of Brabant, and used Brabantine coinage.
BRABANT: Mechelen Cloth Prices, 1470 - 1520: annual prices and quinquennial mean prices for Mechelen woollens, by colours, in pounds groot Flemish.
BRABANT: Prices and Production Costs of Scarlets at Mechelen, 1360 - 1415: annual prices and quinquennial mean prices for Mechelen scarlet woollens, in pounds oude groot and pounds groot Flemish, with the quantities, prices, and costs of the kermes dyestuffs, and of finishing costs (dyeing and shearing).
ENGLAND: Prices for English Woollens in Pounds Sterling and Florins, 1360 - 1560: as Purchased at Cambridge and Winchester for Choristers and Servants (3 qualities) and as Exported from major English ports.
Comparisons of Prices for Flemish, Brabantine, and English Woollens: in quinquennial means, in pounds groot Flemish and pounds sterling, in three tables.
Comparisons of English, Brabantine, and Flemish Cloth Prices (including those for the Nouvelles Draperies): in quinquennial means, in pounds groot Flemish and pounds sterling: a variant of the previous table.
Comparative Cloth Prices for the Mid Fifteenth Century: England and the Low Countries: Prices in Pounds Groot Flemish, Pounds Sterling, and Florentine Florins, in the 1430s and 1440s: in Flanders, England, Spain, Italy, and Poland.
Textile Prices in Polish Markets, ca. 1400: in Polish groszes (per ell, Flemish pounds groot, English pounds sterling, and Florentine florins.

PART B: EXCEL FILES FOR TEXTILE PRICES: FOR CHEAPER WOOLLENS AND WORSTEDS (SAYS) IN THE LOW COUNTRIES AND ENGLAND

Prices for Cheap Woollens: Dukens and Witkins, from Flanders, Holland, and Scotland in the Later 15th Century: as sold on the Bruges market
Prices and Production Indices for the Hondschoote Sayetterie in the Sixteenth Century.
The Phelps Brown and Hopkins English Textile Price Data: for linens, woollens, and cottons, from Phelps Brown & Hopkins working papers and spreadsheets in the British Library for Political and Economic Science: annual data and quinquennial means
(1) Linens and canvas: from 1264 to 1710
(2) Woollens: from various sources: 1262 to 1817
(3) Woollens, at Cambridge and Oxford: from 1262 to 1583
(4) Cottons: from 1812 to 1954

PART C: EXCEL FILES FOR TEXTILE PRICES: FOR ALL WOOLLENS, ALL GRADES, AS RECORDED IN THE FLEMISH AND BRABANTINE TOWN ACCOUNTS:

FLANDERS: BRUGES 1302-1496

Prices of textiles purchased for the officials of Bruges' town government, semi-annually, 1302 to 1496: from both the Bruges drapery and from draperies in other towns in the Low Countries: for a variety of officials, from the burgermasters and schepenen (alderment) to civic musidicans, with a wide variety of textiles, from inexpensive to very costly.

Prices are given in both livres parisis and pounds groot Flemish: Ł1 groot Flemish = Ł12 livres parisis (from 1320). In both currencies, Ł1 = 20s - 240d.

Note that individual cloth prices are first recorded in the Bruges town account of 1302; and they cease to be recorded in the annual town accounts after 1496.

The Bruges textile accounts are especially important in providing market prices for textiles produced elsewhere in the Low Countries, especially those from the small-town and village Flemish draperies commonly known as the nouvelles draperies: Wervik, Kortrijk (Courtrai), Dendermonde (Termonde), Comen (Comines), Menen (Menin), Roulers, Armentičres.

FLANDERS: GHENT 1314 -1570

Prices of textiles purchased for the officials of Ghent' town government, semi-annually, 1302 to 1496: chiefly from the Ghent drapery: for a variety of officials, from the burgermasters and schepenen (aldermen) to civic musidicans, with a wide variety of textiles, from inexpensive to very costly.

Prices are given in both livres parisis and pounds groot Flemish: Ł1 groot Flemish = Ł12 livres parisis (from 1320). In the 14th century, some Ghent cloth prices are also given in Halle Payement: Ł40 HP = Ł1 groot Flemish. In all these currencies, Ł1 = 20s = 240d (i.e., with 12d to the shilling).

FLANDERS: AALST 1395 - 1538 :

Prices of woollen cloths purchased for officials of the town government, from various draperies in the southern Low Countries.

Prices are given in both livres parisis and pounds groot Flemish: Ł1 groot Flemish = Ł12 livres parisis (from 1320 to 1792). In all currencies, Ł1 = 20s = 240d.

FLANDERS: KORTRIJK (COURTRAI), 1397 - 1500:

Prices of woollen cloths purchased for officials of the town government, from the Kortrijk and various other draperies in the southern Low Countries, in pounds groot Flemish.

FLANDERS: VUUREN (FURNES) 1410-1447:

Prices of woollen cloths purchased for officials of the town government, from various draperies in the southern Low Countries, in pounds groot Flemish.

BRABANT: MECHELEN (MALINES), 1315 - 1550: see the above note on the late-medieval political status of Mechelen.

Prices of woollen cloths purchased for officials of the town government, chiefly from the Mechelen drapery.

Prices in pounds oude groot of Brabant and in pounds groot of Brabant, and Flanders. From ca. 1361 to 1400, values in pounds oude groot have been calculated in equivalent values in pounds groot of Flanders. From 1435, Ł1 groot of Flanders = Ł1.500 groot of Brabant (i.e., Ł1 10s 0d groot).

BRABANT: LEUVEN (LOUVAIN): Cloth Prices, 1459 - 1495.

Prices of woollen cloths purchased for officials of the town government, chiefly from the Leuven drapery.

Prices are given in Rijn Gulden (i.e., the gold Rhenish Imperial florin), pounds groot Brabant, and pounds groot Flemish. From 1435 to 1792: Ł1 groot Flemish = Ł1.500 groot Brabant = Ł12 livres parisis.

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