A special study of the circumstances in which trade was carried on in medieval Aberdeen is made possible by the survival of an almost continuous series of the Aberdeen Council Registers from 1398 until the end of the period with which we are concerned; and it is because these records yield price material from one locality over a period of a century and a half that we have chosen to concentrate on the Aberdeen evidence, although we have also studied some of the printed records for Edinburgh and Ayr.

Two of Aberdeen's special features were the prominence of its salmon trade and its comparatively northerly location. These were recognized by contemporaries as significant factors affecting the burgh's economic well-being. Thus the preservation of the burgh's reputation as an exporter of quality salmon was thought crucial; it was also seen to be important to channel the trade in animal products through Aberdeen rather than allow it to drain to the more southerly burghs. Those in Aberdeen capable of recognizing the town's economic strengths – above all salmon – and weaknesses – its remoteness – were also capable of applying the practices of other burghs in Aberdeen. Aberdonians who were merchants, commissioners to parliament, or members of embassies to foreign parts would have taken the opportunity offered by contact with their colleagues from other towns to learn and to take new ideas home with them. For example, when the provost, baillies, and council considered in january 1517 how they should set the assize of the twopenny loaf, they looked at the weight of wheat bread in Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth, and elsewhere in Lothian and Angus, and then compared the quality of wheat in Lothian and Angus with that in the countryside around Aberdeen.