During the late Middle Ages (13th-15th centuries), pastel was one of the most widely used vegetable dyes in textile production. It was used to obtain the colour blue, but it was also used in the composition of other shades. The exploitation of pastel was widespread in several European areas, but the best and most abundant crops were concentrated at least during the 14th and 15th centuries in Lombardy and Languedoc. From both regions there were export networks to the main economic centres of the continent, among which was the city of Valencia. Here the dye arrived by land or sea and was distributed to supply both local consumption and that generated by other populations in the Hispanic kingdoms. A micro-analysis of Valencian notarial sources from the period 1452-1500 has detected two hundred pastel transactions involving Italian merchants, mostly involving the Lombard crop. Through these transactions, pastel was delivered to merchants and craftsmen in the Valencian capital itself, but also to agents in other towns in the rest of the kingdom of Valencia, Aragon and Castile. All these places are shown on the attached map. This illustration is intended to highlight not only the extent to which textile production at the time often depended on supplies from abroad, but also the links that were established at the time between international trade (which allowed contact between Valencia and Italy, for example) and regional and local trade (thanks to which certain imports were channelled to the interior of the peninsula, also for example).
Collection: Images
Project: 2. Social and economic impact of technological revolutions in Europe., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe., 9. Travels and travelers: economic, social and cultural connections.
Chronology: XV
Scope: Secondary education, Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Image
Format: Map
Source: David Igual Luis, Valencia e Italia en el siglo XV. Rutas, mercados y hombres de negocios en el espacio económico del Mediterráneo occidental, Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Valencia (Colección de Tesis Doctorales en Microficha), Valencia, 1996, vol. II, p. 449.
Language: Spanish
Date: 1996
Owner: Pablo Ballesta Fernández (Modernalia)
Copyright: David Igual Luis © Universitat de València ©
Abstract: Trade, dyeing and textile production in Valencia
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