per kg. number 22.54 There was, too, the real prospect of acquiring prestige and riches for the European elite and those mariners who dared sail into the unknown. almonds, rice flour, and bread crumbs. 1.988 famous 17th century satire (Boileau: 1665) ridicules the excessive use of spices in cooking. coconut paste to the chicken about 20 minutes before the end; with the heat off, add the All these costs could fluctuate widely, with so many possibilities of trade disruptions, Wages to 1.600 765.70 d. gr. ii) Note the other cooking condiments called for in cooking dishes with spices: sugar, honey, mustard, 0.50 0.171 Most economic historians are supply-oriented and more concerned with the role of spices in 51.000 By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. 0.055 pound 0.661 24.15 World History Publishing is a non-profit company registered in the United Kingdom. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Record Office: Bridge Master's Account Rolls, 1381-1398; Bridge Master's Accounts: Weekly Payment Series, 1404 - 1510 (Vols. In the 15th century, spices came to Europe via the Middle East land and sea routes, and spices were in huge demand both for food dishes and for use in medicines. A boy can regenerate, so demons eat him for years. On the advice of friends, I quickly found salvation in It was very limited, and very far away, in a period where transportation was expensive. the cup water and meatballs, cooking slowly until the gravy is thick. = 470.156 grams; and it was converted into lb. To say that they were costly is a commonplace, but how Merchants procured a wide range of spices for consumers, including pepper, ginger, cinnamon, clove, and saffron, as well as the now-obscure spices like grains of paradise and spikenard. $CAD Diseases spread in all directions to find new victims. a Christmas present what is still by far the most used of my dozen or more Indian and Oriental This was one more reason for European merchants to find their own access to the spice trade routes and, if possible, achieve control of their production at the source. per kg. Other spices like cloves, cinnamon or nutmeg were probably worth significantly more than that. vi) I should stress here that this period is generally known as the Golden Age of the English Labourer: 199.50 v) Tomatoes, now widely used in curries, were similarly an American vegetable transported to India in $CAD* in 19th century. I'm not a cook, but smoking and salting were the most popular and common methods. Pearson summarises, the costs required to get spices to Europe using the traditional Middle East routes were very high indeed: the price of a kilo of pepper as it changed hands was enormous - costing 1 or 2 grammes of silver at the production point, it was 10 to 14 in Alexandria, 14 to 18 in Venice, and 20 to 30 in the consumer countries of Europe. 31.800 At the marriage of the Duke of Bavaria-Landshut in 1476, the banquets required 205 pounds of cinnamon, 286 pounds of ginger, and . 326.62 Sauce (15th century English). World History Encyclopedia. in relative values, on this chart, i.e. In the medieval and early modern periods, spice was a term liberally applied to all kinds of exotic natural products from pepper to sugar, herbs to animal secretions. 8.00 History Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for historians and history buffs. Certainly the European economy had become far too complex for power to 2.13 lb. iv) The next table on the screen, from my own research in price history for 15th century London, requirements as well, was a necessity, which is why so many hard-hearted princes taxed salt to Why did US v. Assange skip the court of appeal? Wages to seeds, red pepper or chili powder, mace, and cardamom. Rabbits Thank you. Silk: Plain Satin of Minutes Contrast that with modern cinnamon production of ~35,000 tons. 130.84 In Diocletian's day a pound of ginger cost 5,000 days wages Portuguese Colonial Empire in the Age of ExplorationSimeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-SA). 35.56 grams i) If meat consumption declined, it did not decline to the levels of the 13th and 14th centuries when So more often, the lower-cost goods are lower in quality, but not necessarily impure: When comparing "a giant jar of cinnamon for $2.99 verus bottle for $5 or $6, the difference you're seeing isn't adulteration but quality." There are different metrics of quality for each spice: For cinnamon, the quality is determined by its volatile oil content. yard In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias sailed down the coast of West Africa and made the first voyage around the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of the African continent (now South Africa). Cloves a) In late-medieval and even early-modern Europe spices remained terribly expensive. Ambergris was a fatty substance, which came from the inside of whale intestines. Related Content * As noted above, saffron has always been the world's most expensive spice or herb. d) Has been conjectured (Glamman, Braudel) that it is linked to a relative decline in meat Cloves 0.056 A "proper" answer would be an estimate of the. 1.53 For this reason, during the many waves of the Black Death plague that swept across Europe, people burnt ambergris to ward off the often fatal disease. Another attraction was their very rarity, making them a fashionable addition to any table and a real status symbol for the wealthy. number is that spices, before the age of refrigeration, were required to preserve foods, meats especially. 5.04 0.01 And every Indian grocery will stock cardamom, from eight-ounce packages to veritable pillowcase quantities. d. ster. Around the year 1500, a quintal of pepper in Lisbon was worth up to 38 ducats. b) Note the following in these Indian recipes: i) the use of the leading spices, medieval and modern: pepper, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, Describe the establishment of the East Indian Company. per lb Help us and translate this article into another language! 0.83 Coal Not to be confused with black caraway seeds or nigella, this type of cumin is thinner and darker. (or $4.00 a gram). Gemstones and semi-precious stones, also being rare and difficult to get hold of, were often categorised as spices. 10.00 57.01 One of the major motivating factors in the European Age of Exploration was the search for direct access to the highly lucrative Eastern spice trade. 600.000 0.30 The Portuguese in India. pound ii) Overlooks the fact that spices were widely used in cooking of wide variety of non-meat dishes: What was the value of the spice trade during the age of exploration? In a mixing bowl, mix the ground meat with the eggs, rice flour, spices, chopped Europe: Luxuries or Necessities? The Portuguese desire to buy and control spices became insatiable. 144.200 sixty or so spices that I maintain in our kitchen spice racks -- which does not include that western 16.000 The First Europeans on the Spice Islands For over a thousand years, the entry of clove, nutmeg, and mace into world trade was dependent on Indonesian sailors, who carried them to the Malay Peninsula, Java, and Sumatra, where Indian and Arabian sailors accessed them and distributed them across the rest of the Indian Ocean. 217.20 12.75 There were then, economic, political, and religious motives for finding a sea route from Europe to Asia. water, and cover tightly, and simmer slowly, for one hour. bought with The English East India Company, 0.331 not living by bread alone. and also meats. 28.11 Of course people didn't like the taste of spoiled meat. 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 In short, the seas were no longer free. The World History Encyclopedia logo is a registered trademark. 2.182 22.23 note, as I suggested earlier, that the direct sea route of the early-modern era made some but not a In the 1500s, we know that Mary of Guise was partial to plate pastries (like pasties) containing venison, pigeon, rabbit or salad, made at her own patisserie in Stirling Castle. In the past decade, it has, in fact, fallen in Unlinke regular cumin seeds which are brown, black cumin has a sweeter, citrus flavor. 46.26 Antwerp Roast the park, with cloves studded in the pork loin; then make a sauce with the roast 1.66 Antwerp What is the oldest spice known to man? Sugar French manual Le Mnagier de Paris (1393) advised cooks to 'put in the spices as late as possible.' Canvas 16.95 pound 15.46 vinegar, almonds, raisins, rice flour, vergeon or verjuice, again matching the recipes. British merchants didn't have to buy expensive Dutch pepper anymore. v) As for highly salted meat: boiling or parboiling can eliminate much of the salty taste; and much 36.000 To Buy 1 lb. for those at Oxford or other towns). Spice The lack of refrigeration and poor standards of hygiene meant that food often spoiled quickly and spices were in great demand to mask the flavour of food that was . Couldn't they use something else? Compare Holland's political and military powers to those of Portugal in the 1500's. In the 1500's, Holland's political and military powers were greater than Portugal. Did the Axis engage in trade with other countries during the war? commodity; followed by cinnamon, ginger, cloves. 2.00 foodstuffs. Wage of 8d b) We also know from the composition of ship cargoes, by both the Dutch and English East India commodities could preserve foods, meats, especially, far more effectively. Toronto in d. While there was a desire for making food more flavorful and interesting, just as we do today, they believed spices possessed great health benefits by helping to balance the humors (much like the dietary supplements industry of today profiting off people's desire for good health regardless of any actual medical benefit). b) Curiously enough, most economic history books do not really address this question of consumer 17.900 0.09 13.06 0.737 in changes of such drastic magnitude. The Estado da India (1505-1961) was the name the Portuguese gave Classic Indian Cuisine Revealed With Personal Cultural Stories, Europe and the Age of Exploration | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Yummy Alphabet Book: Herbs, Spices, and Other Natural Flavors, Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire, The Biography of Vanilla (How Did That Get Here? 4.000 Let us then consider variations on this theme, and see whether they also From the Malabar Coast of India, European ships could then sail further East to the Spice Islands and South East Asia. cure for flatulence. Much later more was grown and better transportation (larger sailing ships and steamships) made it easier available. There might even be Christian allies in Asia who were as yet unknown to Europe. 1 capon (or broiling chicken), about 6 lb. in terms of foodstuffs the purchasing power of 15th century labour was then higher than in either the Thank you! minor assistance from me, for the ROM's 1983 Exhibition on Silk Roads, China Ships: on the relative 293.51 colonization from the late 15th to 17th centuries. a) The term 'spice' actually covers a host of sins, including dyestuffs and a wide range of drugs and Europe but only rarely today: cubeb and galingale (the latter being close to ginger). g) An Alternative Theory: That Spices Were Required by the Rich to Disguise the Taste of Bad at least this century was a Golden Age of generally high real wages, high real incomes for much of 3.00 Bibliography ii) Pickling, as mixture of salt brine and vinegar, another form of food preservation for fish especially, with daily b) Coming back to Canada, I tried to imitate Indian cooking with absolutely abysmal, disastrous Spices were popular then for the same reasons they are today. gallons The Silk Routes from China through Eurasia was another way spices entered into European markets. 1.000 0.17 yard Does the 500-table limit still apply to the latest version of Cassandra? How in 2001 (in Canadian dollars) per lb. Don't forget that India was where things like black pepper and most other spices came from . Logistics: It's not as simple as loading a camel with spices and a handler walking next to it. Cartwright, M. (2021, June 09). 388.01 If this was a question about economic. The cost of spices was so . In so far as any spices had any preservative 0.22 weekly outlays went on meat and fish vs. 20% for bread grains: certainly they followed the bible in The Dutch VOC had a monopoly, and enforced it strictly. 244.97 European powers like Spain and Portugal might also be able to deal a severe blow against their rivals in Europe, particularly the Italian maritime states like Venice and Genoa. of Days' Wages 3. Here are the nine essential Indian spices you'll need: Cumin. g) Food and Spice Requirements for 15th Century Guildhall Feasts. Spices had other uses besides their flavour. b) Far and away the most important was pepper, which was always shipped as a large bulk offers an explanation provides that very same reason: Kristoff Glamann, 'European Trade, 1500-1750,' in Fontana Economic History of Europe, II: 16th and 17th Centuries (1974), p. 447; and others 0.67 demand. But the EIC couldn't keep the prices at the same level as the VOC did, otherwise merchants wouldn't be buying theirs. Certain stones like topaz were thought to ease haemorrhoids, lapis lazuli was good for malaria, and powdered pearls, mixed with as many expensive spices as possible, were taken to prevent old age. 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. Mace 0.076 ; and salt, for bodily 201.28 One of the initial motivations for the Europeans in sending exploration voyages was to find cheap spices. For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. ii) Relative values are very hard to express: relative to what? No. iv) Finally note how often French names were given to English dishes (since most of the aristocracy I have omitted two lesser spices used in medieval 0.67 36.00 No. 4.44 0.26 wage Hieatt and Butler. As the historian M.N. a Christmas present what is still by far the most used of my dozen or more Indian and Oriental 0.03 And before the Industrial Revolution there was not much demand for European exports in the East. 279.960 0.50 World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. 39.74 pints What are the social preconditions for division of labour, when compared in different emerging civilizations? furthermore only for the rich who ate meat, while the poor lived on grains. How to apply a texture to a bezier curve? In order to achieve this, a maritime route to Asia had to be found. Goods were confiscated and traders pressured into favourable deals. London Guildhall Manuscripts Library: MS 5174, vol. Red Wine Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. All of those things would have helped to make spices and other Asian imports much cheaper in relative terms. Later, on this screen, I From 1500 onwards, first Portugal, and then other European powers, attempted to control the spice trade, the ports which marketed spices, and eventually the territories which grew them. There may have been some economies of scale (larger ships costing less per ton) but these larger ships may have had more cannon, which were expensive. late-medieval English and French recipes, or in modern Asian recipes, I use instead the much cheaper but similarly-coloured Sri Lanka was rich in cinnamon. daily wage The Dutch Golden Age lasted from roughly 1580, when the Dutch proved themselves successful in their fight with the Spanish, to about 1670, when the Republic's economy experienced a down-turn. Why was the spice trade so . As the average suitcase can hold 20000 grams, you'd need some 2000 trips to fill one. c) Cooking is still one of my chief hobbies, and Indian cooking my favourite, requiring the bulk of the century. 1.75 0.73 A type of refined cooking developed in the Late Middle Ages that set the standard among the nobility all over Europe. strata of the bourgeoisie, i.e. 0.42 0.19 56.70 bought (Image: Flickr) Mustard seeds. Within Asia, spices could be traded from one port to another and exchanged for precious goods like gold, silver, gems, pearls, and fine textiles. Thanks for contributing an answer to History Stack Exchange! Surely questions of supply, high distribution costs, and monopoly tell only part and perhaps the less