Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Cauldron of God's Wrath
- Chapter 2 Bishops of Rome
- Chapter 3 Conversion of the Wild Men
- Chapter 4 Feudalism emerges
- Chapter 5 Land and Folk
- Chapter 6 The Village (1)
- Chapter 7 The Village (2)
- Chapter 8 Village Dance and Song
- Chapter 9 Nature and Superstition
- Chapter 10 Popes and Prelates
- Chapter 11 Rector and Vicar
- Chapter 12 The Making of a Priest
- Chapter 13 Church statistics
- Chapter 14 The Shepherd
- Chapter 15 The Flock (1)
- Chapter 16 The Flock (2)
- Chapter 17 The Silver Lining
- Chapter 18 Dante's Commedia
- Chapter 19 The Royal Court
- Chapter 20 Chivalry
- Chapter 21 Chaucer and Malory
- Chapter 22 The Monastery
- Chapter 23 Cloister Life
- Chapter 24 The Town
- Chapter 25 Home Life
- Chapter 26 Trade and Travel
- Chapter 27 Just Price and Usury
- Chapter 28 The Ghetto (1)
- Chapter 29 The Ghetto (2)
- Chapter 30 Justice and Police
- Chapter 31 From School to University
- Chapter 32 Scholastics and Bible
- Chapter 33 Science
- Chapter 34 Medicine
- Chapter 35 Freethought and Inquisition
- Chapter 36 The Papal Schism
- Chapter 37 The Lollards
- Chapter 38 The Black Death
- Chapter 39 The Hundred Years' War
- Chapter 40 The Mystics
- Chapter 41 The Peasant Saint
- Chapter 42 Artist Life
- Chapter 43 Literary Life
- Chapter 44 Sports and Theatre
- Chapter 45 Women's Life
- Chapter 46 Marriage and Divorce
- Chapter 47 The Old and the New
- Chapter 48 More and Utopia
- Chapter 49 The Fight for the Bible
- Chapter 50 The Open Bible
- Chapter 51 Peasant and Highbrow
- Chapter 52 The Bursting of the Dykes
- Notes
- Index
- Plate section
Chapter 26 - Trade and Travel
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Cauldron of God's Wrath
- Chapter 2 Bishops of Rome
- Chapter 3 Conversion of the Wild Men
- Chapter 4 Feudalism emerges
- Chapter 5 Land and Folk
- Chapter 6 The Village (1)
- Chapter 7 The Village (2)
- Chapter 8 Village Dance and Song
- Chapter 9 Nature and Superstition
- Chapter 10 Popes and Prelates
- Chapter 11 Rector and Vicar
- Chapter 12 The Making of a Priest
- Chapter 13 Church statistics
- Chapter 14 The Shepherd
- Chapter 15 The Flock (1)
- Chapter 16 The Flock (2)
- Chapter 17 The Silver Lining
- Chapter 18 Dante's Commedia
- Chapter 19 The Royal Court
- Chapter 20 Chivalry
- Chapter 21 Chaucer and Malory
- Chapter 22 The Monastery
- Chapter 23 Cloister Life
- Chapter 24 The Town
- Chapter 25 Home Life
- Chapter 26 Trade and Travel
- Chapter 27 Just Price and Usury
- Chapter 28 The Ghetto (1)
- Chapter 29 The Ghetto (2)
- Chapter 30 Justice and Police
- Chapter 31 From School to University
- Chapter 32 Scholastics and Bible
- Chapter 33 Science
- Chapter 34 Medicine
- Chapter 35 Freethought and Inquisition
- Chapter 36 The Papal Schism
- Chapter 37 The Lollards
- Chapter 38 The Black Death
- Chapter 39 The Hundred Years' War
- Chapter 40 The Mystics
- Chapter 41 The Peasant Saint
- Chapter 42 Artist Life
- Chapter 43 Literary Life
- Chapter 44 Sports and Theatre
- Chapter 45 Women's Life
- Chapter 46 Marriage and Divorce
- Chapter 47 The Old and the New
- Chapter 48 More and Utopia
- Chapter 49 The Fight for the Bible
- Chapter 50 The Open Bible
- Chapter 51 Peasant and Highbrow
- Chapter 52 The Bursting of the Dykes
- Notes
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
England during nearly all our period was quite in the second class as a trading country. The fullest trade in Europe was carried on by the cities of North Italy, the Rhineland and the Baltic and the Low Countries. So far as England is concerned, the early beginnings of travel and trade are best illustrated by the lives of Saewulf and St Godric of Finchale. Both of these sea-adventurers plunged finally into the great spiritual adventure of their time, the strict monastic life.
Saewulf was a merchant who chose for his confessor the saintly Bishop of Worcester, Wulfstan. The bishop tried to “convert” him; Saewulf shrank from taking the vow, but Wulfstan prophesied that he would do so before he died. Six years after Wulfstan's death, Saewulf undertook a penitent pilgrimage to Jerusalem, deliberately choosing the most adventurous route, as one “conscious of his own unworthiness”. He was wrecked near Bari; when he started again, it took him thirteen weeks to reach Jaffa. Here he landed at once; next day a hurricane destroyed, before his eyes, 23 of the 30 great ships in the harbour. He saw and worshipped at all the holy places; then, through many dangers from Mohammedan fleets and pirates, he reached Constantinople safely after a voyage of four months from Jaffa. Some years later we find him a monk at Malmesbury.
At Finchale, near Durham, there died in 1170 a hermit named Godric, who had lived very many years, perhaps as many as forty, in fasting, cold, and prayer.
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- Information
- Medieval PanoramaThe English Scene from Conquest to Reformation, pp. 317 - 330Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1938