Figure 1.--From the domestiction of sheep at about the same time as the onset of the Neolithic/agricultural revolution (about 10,000 BC), boys have been employed as sheperds. Sheperds were often depoicted in medevial art because of the association with Jesus. One of the most important boy shepherds of history was St. Partick who would lead the Chrtistianisation of Ireland. Wool was one of the most valuable medieval commodities. And boy shephers aplayed an imprtant part in the priduction of wool. We have been unable to idenyfy the artist here, but it has an Italian look to it. Apparently it is Italain, painted in the early-19th century. Notice the ruin of a Roman aqueduct in the vbackground.

Wool played a major role in the medieval European econonomy. The imprtance of the wool trade can not be overtasted. In the high middle ages as the European econmy began to quicken, wool textiles emerged as the most important manufacturefd commoduty in both regional and intetnational trade. [Munro] The Romans as early as 200 BC are know to have worked on improving their flocks through breeding. This was the origin of the famed Spanish Merino sheep. The wool trade was especially importnt to the English abd developing European economy. The ancient Britons kept sheep and wove wool before the Roman invaded. The establishment of Roman rule (1st century AD) led to important improvements in methods. The Romans built a factory at Winchester. William the Conqueror introduced skilled Flemish weavers (11th century). English King Richard the Lion Hearted was captured (1192). The HolyRoman Emperor demanded a huge ransom. The necessary payment was collected all over England. At the time monastaries were an important oart of the English economy. Cistercian monks provided 50,000 sacks of wool. Henry II promoted wool industries through laws, cloth fairs, and guilds of weavers. Edward III brought more weavers, dyers, and fullers from Flanders. England developed, however, as primarily a wool producing country, not a wool weaving. England was the great wool-producing country of Europe. Wool was medieval England's main export trade. Every European country relying on England as a source for wool. Weaving was the most important industry ib Europe, making the Low Countries the richest provinces in Europed making the region so important as Europen emerged from the medieval era.

Spain

Wool played a major role in the medieval European econonomy. The Romans as early as 200 BC are know to have worked on improving their flocks through breeding. One source suggests this was the origin of the famed Spanish Merino sheep. Another source reports that it was known as early as the 12th century and may have originated in Moorish North Africa. Merino sheep , were a breed of fine-wool sheep. It was well adapted to semi-arid climates prevalent in Spain as well as to nomadic pasturing. Spain had a export trade in wool which was the major source of export earnings and income for the crown of Castill. Merino wool was vonsidered of exceptional quality. Actual data on Spanish exports only becomes availasble in 1500. Shipments at first like England went mostly to Flanders (the Low Countries). There were also shipents to northern Italy. [Phillips, p. 777.] The destination of exports were affected by the Protestant Reformation and the Dutch War of Indepencence. Spanish wool exprts peaked in 1550 and then declined unyil the late-17th century. Unlike England, Spain did not develop an important weaving industry and used the American gold and silver shipments from the Americas to import finished textiles. It should be stessed that unlikle today when weacing is not dominant industry, the production of textiles was the major indutry. Spain did not begin to develop an important weaving industry until the 18th century. Curiously the Inca Empire the Spanish conquered (16th centurty) had an extridunarily skilled textile industry. Spain instead imported textiles from Flanders and Italy. This is just one area in which the Spanish failed to develop industry. Whuch was fine as long as American mines produced large quantities of gold and silver. When the mines played out, however, Spain and the Spaninsh economy declined to become a European backwater.

England

The wool trade was especially importnt to the English and developing European economy. The ancient Britons kept sheep and wove wool before the Roman invaded. The establishment of Roman rule (1st century AD) led to important improvements in methods. The Romans built a factory at Winchester. William the Conqueror introduced skilled Flemish weavers (11th century). Henry II (1154-89) promoted wool industries through laws, cloth fairs, and guilds of weavers. King Richard the Lion Hearted (r1189-99) was captured (1192). The Holy Roman Emperor demanded a huge ransom. The necessary payment was collected all over England. At the time monastaries were an important oart of the English economy. Cistercian monks provided 50,000 sacks of wool. Edward III (1327-77) brought more weavers, dyers, and fullers from Flanders. England developed, however, as primarily a wool producing country, not a wool weaving country. England was the great wool-producing country of Europe. Wool was medieval England's main export trade. Every European country relying on England as a source for wool. Foreign traders dominated the English wool exports. Enhlish merchants began exporting wool themselves in the (14th century). As the century progress the trade in raw wool began to give way to the trade in processed wool. Inflation affected wool prices (16th century). Inflation was in part a result of all the American gold and silver flowing into Europe from the Spanish conquests in the New World, some of which reached England durectly through privetering and reached the west of Europe indicrectly. The expansion of the wool trade meant more land was coverted to sheep reaing or inclosed -- the inclosures. This displaced large numbers of tennant farmers was forced off the land, producing class of wandering, beggars. The Elizabethan poor laws were specifically created to address this situation. The seemingly economic shift had significant political consequences. Inflation reduced the real income of the monarchy because much of its income was fixed sums. The country gentry, however, greatly benefited from the inclosures as well as from the purchase of the lands obtained by closing the monasteries, much o which was also coverted to sheep rearing. The gentry began to use Parliament to asertively protect its wealth from royal taxation.

Low Countries

Italy was important in both cloth production and the cloth trade (13th-16th centuries). This wa the most important industry oif the age. Italy's impotance due to the over-whelming predominance of Italians in medieval and early modern Europe’s trade and finance as well as seafaring. Here we are taling about northern Italy, meaning a collection of independence city states. Venice was the most imprtant, but Genoa and Milan were also of considerble importance. Notatably Christophr Columbus's father was a wool merchant. And sea navigation was an important part of the wool trade. These Itaian citytates created the fundamental mercantile and fifnancial institutions of the medieval 'Commercial Revolution'. The Italians led with the commercial transformation and expansion that propelled Europe into the modern age (11th-14th centuries). [Munro, p. 47.] Part of the reason for this was Italian geopgraphic position in the Medterranean whixh dominated access to the Silk Road and Spice Route. For higher-grade woolen cloths, wool quality was the primary determinant of textile quality. A factor in the Italianm textile industry was access to high grade wool. England lost to Spain its former, long-held primacy in producing the world's higest grade wools (16th century). [Munro, p. 46.] A factor here was the increasing rise of English wool in domestic textike production. English wool had important advantages in transaction costs. Italian production of wool textilesd was a major part of the economy of northern Italy. There was also priducrion of other fbrics, but wool-based textiles were very important. [Munro, p. 48.]

Sources

Munro, John N. "The rise, expansion, and decline of the Italian wool-based cloth industries, 1100-1730: A study in international competition, transaction costs, and comparative advantage," Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History 3rd series, Vol. 9 (2012), pp. 45-207.

Phillps, Carla Rahn. "The Spanish Wool Trade, 1500-1780," The Journal of Economic History Vol. 42, No. 4 (December, 1982), pp. 775-95.

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