Merchants and Craftsmen
Merchants and Craftsmen
This chapter examines Jewish merchants and craftsmen in late medieval Italy. Jewish carters and pack-saddle makers hired out their goods and conveyances for a daily or weekly rate. These carters from the city of Spoleto would often come upon Jewish cloth and saffron merchants from the Umbrian Apennines and the Marches. In Perugia, from 1383, Jews were enrolled in the guild of the cotton-waste and rag sellers, and had close relations with the wool guild, which they partly financed. Moreover, in the villages and larger Umbrian trading centres, Jewish cloth merchants had workrooms and shops where they received their town and country clientèle. Other merchants, too, travelled the roads of Umbria. These were the corn merchants, some of which were Jews. The chapter then considers the Italian leather trade, looking at the rise in the export of hides and leather by Jewish merchants from 1570 until the end of the century.
Keywords: Jewish merchants, Jewish craftsmen, late medieval Italy, Jewish carters, Jewish cloth merchants, Jewish saffron merchants, Umbria, Umbrian trading centres, Jewish corn merchants, Italian leather trade
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