Cogs, Cargoes and Commerce

Book excerpt: Using a wide range of new or previously ignored sources, the authors of this volume challenge a number of long-established patterns of thought in medieval historiography. Focusing attention firmly on the basic commodities of everyday life, rather than on objects of more or less conspicuous consumption, the articles shed light on new and important aspects of the expansion of trade in northern Europe between 1150 and 1400. Eight of the articles deal with trade, transport and volumes of one or more of the most important bulk commodities of the period, and the ninth is dedicated to the development of the most important means of transport, the cargo ship."