Why did medieval villagers buy earthenware? Pottery and consumer behaviour in the Valencian countryside (1280–1450)

Existing scholarship on the early modern consumer revolution postulates a dichotomy between the classic pioneering countries of England and the Netherlands and the remaining parts of Europe, which were more stagnant. We contribute to this literature by analysing probate inventories in a rural area in north-western Germany. We show that a closer look at these spaces, which had an intermediate level of development and integration into global markets, reveals a more gradual development and a discernible market evolution. Sumptuary laws may have somewhat slowed down the change in material culture in German regions, but the presence of towns and the proximity to the Netherlands had noticeably positive effects on consumer behaviour. The proto-industrial orientation of local economies proved to be particularly important, as it led to the granting of access to global markets, in addition to greater availability of cash.We observe a delayed diffusion of the new consumer culture in intermediate European regions and argue for a more gradual view of the European consumer revolution.

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Bell e net vidre. Producción, distribución y consumo de vidrio en el reino de Valencia durante la Baja Edad Media

Fernández

2021

RHI-IHR

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El presente artículo analiza el desarrollo de la industria vidriera valenciana entre los siglos XIII y XV. Para ello se recurre a un centenar de documentos de carácter notarial, normativo, judicial y fiscal, procedentes de distintos archivos valencianos. Estos permiten estudiar la localización de los hornos de vidrio en el reino de Valencia y las formas de trabajo de los vidrieros, así como los procesos de distribución y los sistemas de venta del vidrio doméstico. Finalmente, se aborda la demanda y el consumo de estos bienes y sus usos en las viviendas de diferentes sectores sociales de la época. Todo ello invita a reconsiderar la relevancia de esta industria en el reino de Valencia, mucho menos estudiada que sus homólogas catalanas y mallorquinas, en el contexto de la Corona de Aragón y del Mediterráneo noroccidental durante la Baja Edad Media. This essay analyses the development of the Valencian glass industry between the 13th and the 15th centuries. For this purpose, it turns to around a hundred documents from notarial, normative, legal and tax records, placed in various Valencian archives. These reveal the location of glass furnaces in the kingdom of Valencia and the glass-makers’ activities, as well as the sale and distribution systems of domestic glass. Finally, it addresses the demand and consumption of these goods and their usage within the dwellings of various social strata of the period. This all leads to reconsider the relevance of this industry in the kingdom of Valencia, far less studied than its counterparts from Catalonia and Majorca, in the context of the Crown of Aragon and the north-western Mediterranean during the later middle ages.

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Why did medieval villagers buy earthenware? Pottery and consumer behaviour in the Valencian countryside (1280–1450)

Cited by 4 publications

References 14 publications

Moulding clay, making gold. Credit, labour and demand in ceramic businesses in late medieval Barcelona

Moulding clay, making gold. Credit, labour and demand in ceramic businesses in late medieval Barcelona

Consumer revolution in north‐western Germany: Material culture, global goods, and proto‐industry in rural households in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries

Bell e net vidre. Producción, distribución y consumo de vidrio en el reino de Valencia durante la Baja Edad Media

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