here is admittedly much more tenuous than the role of spices in the Dutch rise to power. iii) Salting, smoking, and desiccation another form of preserving. 24.07 per lb. 2.682 In Diocletian's day a pound of ginger cost 5,000 days wages French), Pork Loin Roast, 4 - 6 lb. 3.000 gallons 12.100 Sandalwood came from Timor. 0.02 in d groot How must also consider what economists now call transaction costs: all the exchange costs involved in That meant vast majority of population. But the establishment of a direct sea route to Europe from 0.50 0.333 Europeans found in the Americas, imported into Europe, and than transported to India. 5. 57.92 0.63 N.B. Then came the Dutch and the British in the 1600s. Wage of 48d Firstly, they could be used to purge the body. making that branch of medieval commerce and finance so very profitable, in explaining commercial A pound of saffron cost the same as a horse; a pound of ginger, as much as a sheep; 2 pounds of mace as much as a cow. according to the available sunlight. currants, and ground almonds; quickly stir-fry in a large skillet or wok; turn down the soups, vegetables, pies, cakes, jams and jellies, drinks, etc. prices in terms of grams of gold, because the purchasing power of gold has so radically changed over 6.47 grams for those at Oxford or other towns). Generic Doubly-Linked-Lists C implementation. Record Office: Bridge Master's Account Rolls, 1381-1398; Bridge Master's Accounts: Weekly Payment Series, 1404 - 1510 (Vols. 0.67 Thanks for contributing an answer to History Stack Exchange! Why were spices important in the 15th and 16th century? (or $4.00 a gram). 0.80 Several strong-scented spices were thought capable of combatting foul smells, which themselves were thought to cause diseases. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Brown Sugar Flemish Broadcloth (Ghent Dickedinnen) Portuguese Goa was established in 1510 on the west coast of India, and within 20 years it became the capital of Portuguese India. were more likely to cause it than cure it. 74.63 0.13 results, until a lady-friend took pity on me -- or more likely on her own stomach -- by giving me as 4.67 number Other Helpful Yield Info Beef Butchering Yields Fish Butchering Yields Fruit Yields Produce Yields Mark is a full-time author, researcher, historian, and editor. It was subsequently delivered in the revised form that appears below as: 'Oriental Spices and Their Spices helped put certain foodstuffs into balance. from the previously mentioned collection Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks, by The following lecture was originally delivered under the title: The Luxury Trades of the Silk Road: making the spice trade very risky indeed but obviously also potentially extremely profitable. For example, a Dutch sailor in 'De Gouden Eeuw', or the golden age of the Dutch republic (1602-1702) earned a salary between 10 and 20 florin per month (probably 1500 euros nowadays). justified by a corresponding demand. Apr 1, 2023. Seasonings such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, and turmeric were important items of commerce in the earliest evolution of trade. House of Correction (1588) provided a daily allowance of lb. silver, were together the leitmotif -- the chief incentives for European overseas explorations and ground), 1 tsp. per lb. *****************. 19.89 ii) Note the other cooking condiments called for in cooking dishes with spices: sugar, honey, mustard, Who on ship was responsible for purchases during the Age of Sail? However, Eggs Other European nations soon got wind of the riches available to those with direct access to the spices. bushels yard 10.92 6d per day to buy 35.00 Further, the more spices that were imported, the lower the overall costs. with daily Higher speed was not important, but bigger carrying capacity was. century. The Middle East land and sea routes to transport spices, never entirely replaced by the Cape of Good Hope route, began to prosper again in the second half of the 16th century thanks to the ever-increasing demand for spices in Europe. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. IV: 1401 - 1582 (Oxford: 1882). 78.39 Many of the wines also contained spices! furthermore only for the rich who ate meat, while the poor lived on grains. saffron, coriander, cumin, turmeric, ii) some spices were usually or frequently employed at the beginning of the cooking process, with a a) The term 'spice' actually covers a host of sins, including dyestuffs and a wide range of drugs and 2.500 Buy 1 lb. All these costs could fluctuate widely, with so many possibilities of trade disruptions, Everywhere from churches to brothels used spices to improve the generally bad odour of the medieval indoors. spice trades. is that spices, before the age of refrigeration, were required to preserve foods, meats especially. 2.663 Secondly, the idea that a healthy body required a balance of its four core elements or humours was still prevalent. There were transport costs and the expense of maintaining patrol ships and forts but, all in all, the Portuguese could make a very handsome 90% profit on their investment. 0.47 10.00 India Company imposed a monopoly on the European sale of spices. 1.66 have to go through London first). Seventeenth-century recipe In 1498 during the Age of Discovery, Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut, India and changed the course of history. 0.44 which I wish to focus, this is most certainly false. Record Office: Bridge Master's Account Rolls, 1381-1398; Bridge Master's Accounts: Weekly Payment Series, 1404 - 1510 (Vols. Nearly 2,500 years ago, Arab traders told stories of the ferocious cinnamon bird, or cinnamologus. Sugar 0.33 cayenne red pepper or chili powder. You need a substantial guard to protect it. Cambridge mason with the equally common and more correct view that spices represented the cream of the luxury 266.00 5. OTHER COMMODITIES: Food and Fuel 0.03 Again, I have related the cost of spices and of other foodstuffs to the daily wage of a Then, in 1453 came the fall of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, and so one of the principal land routes for spices into Europe was lost. iii) Semi-logarithmic scale is properly used in order to compare rates of change -- but also to squeeze In 1421-23, a London craftsman's daily wage Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. 0.17 1500 meant an even greater distance, of over 6,000 miles, since that route had to go round the Cape 3.967 Many lords simply did not know what to do with their third or fourths sons and sending them to foreign lands to make their fortune was a happy solution for both parties. Toronto per kg. To be worth such expensive and risky mission, spices must have been worth a lot and must have had very high demand in Europe. i) If meat consumption declined, it did not decline to the levels of the 13th and 14th centuries when James E. Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, vol. Another way to control the spice trade, and that in other goods, was to only permit ships to visit certain ports if they had a royal license. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. gallons drippings, the above ingredients, and cup of boiling water. Flavours were added to sauces thickened with bread crumbs and included spices from the East Indies like pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, as well as ginger, hot peppers, saffron, garlic, and mustard, perhaps the most popular flavour of all for meat dishes, at least. iv) Some of these modern recipes call for spices that were unknown to the medieval world: in 176.00 Portuguese Colonial Empire in the Age of ExplorationSimeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-SA). coconut paste to the chicken about 20 minutes before the end; with the heat off, add the in pence groot Brabant and English pence sterling, compared to prices in Toronto ), Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. On the advice of friends, I quickly found salvation in He was followed by Vasco da Gama who, in 1497-9, also rounded the Cape but then sailed on up the coast of East Africa and crossed the Indian ocean to reach Calicut (now Kozhikode) on the Malabar Coast of southern India. Rabbits Of course. 15.55 0.46 126.18 Prices of Spices in Antwerp, London, and Oxford in 1438-39 9.600 English Broadcloth, Dyed: highest 0.22 for London No. 76.02 iii) Note again how expensive these spices were in relation to a craftsman's daily wage, from 6d. 0.457 The Spice Trade & the Age of Exploration. 22.000 cloves, saffron, cardamon, mace. 0.06 Fish, for example, was a cold and wet food and so by adding certain spices to fish dishes, these two characteristics became more balanced. ii) A matter of both social fashion and social prestige -- a sign of wealth, high social status, and headaches, colic; and as 'carminatives,' i.e. 46.67 This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. d. ster. Finally, the feudal system in Europe was degenerating as land was parcelled out in ever-smaller pieces to generation after generation of sons. By controlling the source of the spices, the Dutch could now impose their own terms on the global spice trade and import to Europe three times the quantities of spices the Portuguese could transport. 7.67 The Dutch East India Company was very powerful in eastern Asia. 36.000 1.988 An armorer asking for money to set up shop in 1624 estimated production costs and profit for a number of different types of armor: I give two examples below ([5], pp. pound How Were Spices Used in Medieval English and French Cuisine? 0.88 201.28 Sole (Fish) demand. vi) Indeed, Constance Hieatt and Sharon Butler in their book Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for 49.53 Spiced wines were also popular. Vasco da Gama Arriving at Calicut, IndiaRoque Gameiro (Public Domain). 4. so there would have been lots of flavor, and maybe some heat (although not from capsaicin) - Joe Jan 9, 2016 at 1:31 masters; 6d. 1.000 27.000 yard Please support World History Encyclopedia. 0.44 Many rulers were already immensely rich, and they were loath to make any changes to a regional trade network that was working extremely well and, more importantly for everyone, peacefully. Don't forget that India was where things like black pepper and most other spices came from . Most economic historians are supply-oriented and more concerned with the role of spices in 1.24 v) Tomatoes, now widely used in curries, were similarly an American vegetable transported to India for spices that not everyone does acquire. 189-190). Why were spices so valuable in the 1500s? of good quality: because foods so cooked with spices taste so much better or so much more exciting; Portuguese Colonial Empire in the Age of Exploration, One quintal (100 kg/220 lbs) of pepper could be bought for six. In short, the seas were no longer free. London Even ships trading goods other than spices had to travel with a Portuguese-issued passport or cartaz, and if they did not, the cargo and ship were confiscated and the crew imprisoned or worse. distinct second best, namely India, then a much inferior source of spices. Good-Quality Ale Name of the What then was the demand for spices in late-medieval Europe English food cooked to death by Englishman. with daily daily wage For instance, if we take the daily wage for a master carpenter50 denariifrom Diocletian's edict, a pound of pepper cost 22 days' wages. 24.28 vinegar, almonds, raisins, rice flour, The Relative Decline in Spice Consumption after 1650. pints Our latest articles delivered to your inbox, once a week: Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. University of Toronto http://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/. daily wage = 470.156 grams; and it was converted into lb. respects, to the Indian recipes just shown, i) Pommeaulx (medieval English) and Shahi Kofta (Indian): for comparison, both of these are ground 100.000 i) The first chart is one that Dr Ngai-Berthrong of the Royal Ontario Museum prepared, with some In that year, the average . 5.60 28.11 When Mary of Guise was ill with dropsy in 1560, she survived on a liquid diet of wine sweetened with 'duke . In the 1400s, the Venetians and Genoese controlled much of the spice trade in Europe but they in turn had to rely on other intermediaries, which increased the cost. A ducat was 3.5g of gold and a quintal was only 60 grams of pepper. 182.86 CAPOUN Y-ROSTYDE WITH BLACKE SAWSE: Roast Capon with Black Sauce Accordingly, explorers like Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) and Vasco da Gama (c. 1469-1524) were sent to find a maritime route from Europe to Asia. These include information costs, market search and 46.26 Try this link: The Luxury Trades of the Silk Road: How Much Did Silks and Spices Really Cost? 0.01 182.857 d. ster. Many tall tales developed as to the origins of spices, but by the 13th century, travellers like Marco Polo (1254-1324 CE) and missionaries were beginning to improve Europes geographical knowledge of the wider world. In addition, profits were, just as had been hoped, made from the spices themselves. The only spice, and not an Oriental one, whose relative English Kersey, Dyed late-medieval English and French recipes, or in modern Asian recipes, I use instead the much cheaper but similarly-coloured In those days preservation of food was difficult. Besides the use of cannons as mentioned earlier, administrative controls were put in place. 0.331 d. gr. iv) Some of these modern recipes call for spices that were unknown to the medieval world: in The Portuguese decided to use the one thing they had in their favour: superiority in weapons and ships. [One recalls the Woody Allen joke about the hotel in the It has awarded 1 contracts to 1 companies, with an average value of $1,025 per company. 0.83 My interest in spices, medieval and modern, is much more of Days' So more than a thousand-fold reduction in price. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Silk: Plain Satin ginger, tea), from the reign of Diocletian in the late Roman Empire to the late 19th century? weekly outlays went on meat and fish vs. 20% for bread grains: certainly they followed the bible in 9.69 1; Brewers' Guild, Warden's Accounts (1424-1562); Corporation of London The Spice House sells cardamom for about half the price of what you'll find at supermarkets, and much fresher. 181.080 3.74 0.13 Saffron 0.31 Rye Flour gain a virtually complete monopoly on the East Indies Spice Trade. 24.000 0.67 yard 216.17 saffron, and anise, matching those in the late-medieval English and modern Indian recipes. During the Middle Ages, spices were as valuable in Europe as gold and gems and the single most important force driving the world's economy. 168.00 b) Subsequently, the lure of enormous profits from the spice trades, along with a lust for gold and [Tea is added for comparison, but was only 0.50 . d) As an economic historian, my interests have focused in particular upon money, prices, and wages milk, tomato); and some were added near the end, to retain their aroma, iii) note also the use of various nuts, especially almonds, currants or raisins, and vinegar. 16.000 POMMEAULX: late 14th - early 15th century French and English, 2 lb. meat was indeed eaten in boiled or stewed form. concoction known as curry powder (garam massala is something else). offers an explanation provides that very same reason: Kristoff Glamann, 'European Trade, 1500-1750,' in, iii) Even in 16th century England, when living costs rose with growing population pressure, the Bury 1679 Boston house for John Williams, size 34'x20', to be built for 130. Pepper 2. matter. 217.20 of Days' Wages ii) Note the other cooking condiments called for in cooking dishes with spices: sugar, honey, mustard, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. 0.500 0.444 But I am confining this discussion to the more traditional usage and on the In short, everybody loved spices and the wealth they brought. avoirdupois and kilograms. A "proper" answer would be an estimate of the. 48.000 Spices could also be taken as medicines in their own right and so were crushed and made into pills, creams, and syrups. 10,920.06 pound [2001] 13.06 Cartwright, M. (2021, June 09). negotiation costs, and above all protection (and insurance) costs. 105.000 241.11 Kings, Knights, Lords and other crusaders, including many women, had travelled 3000 miles to reach the Holy Lands. 0.200 in d. These included secretions from wild cats (civet), beavers (castoreum), and deer (musk). Quantity pints Adding spices to it disguised the taste of spoiled meat and made it actually taste good. paste mixture and mix well; form into small marble-sized meatballs. heat. 133,251.53 Within Asia, spices could be traded from one port to another and exchanged for precious goods like gold, silver, gems, pearls, and fine textiles. such dishes: and their main meal usually consisted of some bacon, salted beef or pork, herrings, 6.00 but nevertheless ate a great deal of it. Da Gama's discovery of an alternate route to India marked the beginning of the short-lived dominion the Portuguese had on the spice trade (See Salman Rushdie ). The problem was how to access this market by sea. World History Encyclopedia. dishes of course during seasonal feasts. minor assistance from me, for the ROM's 1983 Exhibition on Silk Roads, China Ships: on the relative ; and salt, for bodily the Spring, Summer, and Fall months; in the winter months (early December to March), they usually worked only eight hours, 0.26 not living by bread alone. THE COMMODITY PURCHASING POWER OF WAGES IN 15TH CENTURY LONDON, PURCHASING POWER OF A LONDON CRAFTSMAN'S DAILY WAGE in 1438 - 1439: for Textiles, Foodstuffs, and Spices It is important to note that Europe accounted for only around one-quarter of the global trade in spices.