Coeur’s rise was extraordinary in that it occurred not only at a time usually seen as one of recession, but also in a country said to have been most hard hit by war. Yet what it illustrates is the essential soundness of the traditional European commercial structure. Merchants worked in well-known markets which, with energy, skill, foresight and a modicum of luck, could be harnessed to success. All large towns now had permanent wholesale and retail outlets. Sea and land transport operated all the year round, although certain commercial rhythms remained for seasonal goods such as wine, fish or wool clips. Fairs were less important than they had been in the thirteenth century, but survived alongside the permanent markets, giving opportunities to meet a number of customers and suppliers together, to see a broad supply of goods and to clear debts. The English wool Staplers regularly used the four main fairs in the Low Countries: the Easter and winter (‘cold mart’) fairs at Bergen-op-Zoom and the Whitsun (Sinxen) and autumn (Bammis) fairs in Antwerp. Major fairs, such as those at Frankfurt and Geneva, also developed at major junctions on the routes between the advanced west and expanding east. Fairs were worth manipulating, and Louis XI vigorously promoted Lyons as an alternative to Geneva, prompting the Medicis to move their branch from Geneva to Lyons by 1466.
As Louis’s action shows, governments were keen to encourage trade, which they saw as a lever in diplomacy and, above all, as a source of revenue. The basic purpose of government was seen in the Middle Ages to be the provision of peace and internal order. Success in this alone benefited merchants, but the increasingly centralised governments of the late Middle Ages went further, and offered specific commercial protection through legislation and effective law courts. Not all government action was protective to all merchants. Governments might favour one interest or group above another, sometimes with formal charters of privileges, and consequently some of their actions were seen by some merchants as government interference. Not all mercantile legislation, therefore, was scrupulously observed. However, extra taxes and the manipulation of trade were, for many merchants, reasonably balanced by stability and the protection of courts.
Regular trade, backed by political stability, allowed commercial specialisation. The specialisation of shipping, based on the transport of particular goods, has been noted above. The specialisation of commodities was also an integral part of the European economy. Areas specialised because of natural resources, or because of human decisions to manipulate their environment. Thus around Bordeaux and in the Rhone valley vines were grown to the detriment of grain. Woad was grown in large quantities in Toulouse and provided a further profitable enterprise to merchants from Burgos, who shipped it alongside Biscay iron and the Mesta’s wool, to become some of the richest merchants in Castile. Livestock specialisation included the activity of the Spanish Mesta, whose transhumance routes were protected by royal charters. Cereal specialisation is evident in the trade from eastern Europe, while in Madeira planters chose to turn from cereals to sugar, substantially undermining the former Mediterranean trade. Human choice also developed industrial centres, whether of Flemish woollens, Augsburg fustian, Hainault linen or Florentine silk.
Widespread use of credit and the transfer of money by letter of exchange have already been noted. Reliable markets and transport allowed the development of banking, based on exchange. Lending for certain gain was prohibited by the Church, but lending in one currency and being paid in another always carried a certain element of risk and thus fell outside the Church’s prohibition. Certain money markets were so predictable that the risk was small, and lending through letters of exchange (real and fictitious) became a regular part of business. It allowed companies like the Medici to become international bankers as well as commodity traders. Specie was still used in insecure markets (which included Russia as far as the Hansards were concerned), for final accounting, or where trade was in chronic imbalance (notably the Levant). Barter was also used in some peripheral markets, such as Iceland, or at times of shortage and glut.