Most of the European trade in the Middle Ages were controlled by?

Answer 1

AnswerItalian Merchants. AnswerTrade was controlled by the middle class and the guilds set up to protect people in crafts and trade.

In the Late Middle Ages, the most important groups were the Italian merchant cities and the Hanseatic League.

Answer 2

The stock answer that some teachers might be looking for is that trade was controlled by Italian Merchants. This is only partly true. There were several groups controlling trade, and who was doing it depended on where and when it was happening.

Before the 13th century, a lot of trade in eastern parts of the Mediterranean region was controlled by the Byzantine Empire. After the 13th century, this trade was taken over by Italian merchants and merchant guilds.

In parts of the North, trade was controlled in the Early Middle Ages by Vikings. This was particularly important in what is now Russia and the Ukraine. After the end of the Age of Vikings, trade in some of these areas by the Mongol Empire. Beginning in the 13th century, trade in the Baltic and nearby ports was controlled by the Hanseatic League.

In the Middle East, trade was controlled by Arabs for most of the medieval period, and after that by Turks.

Answer 3

Local trade in specific goods and services were often controlled by guilds in the Middle Ages.

A lot depended on the place and time, and on the goods or services.

Villages and small towns generally did not have guilds. In larger towns and cities, guilds were mostly unions of merchants or tradesmen who worked in the same industries and wanted to limit competition from outsiders and newcomers.

There were organizations of guilds, and these could be confined to a single place or industry, or they could be more widespread. Those confined to a single place sometimes turned towns or cities in which they operated into communes (commonwealth might be a better term in modern English).

Organizations of guilds in cities and towns formed trading leagues, of which the Hanseatic League is best known. It controlled almost all trade based on water transportation in the areas of Northern Europe where it operated.

Sometimes the Church controlled the trade of certain goods. For example, prior to the use of hops, beer was flavored with gruit, a combination of seasonings, and gruit was controlled by the Church, which got taxes from the trade in the seasonings.

Sometimes the government controlled trade in some goods. For example, with the Reformation, the things reformed included beer seasonings. Since hops were not in the list of Church controlled seasonings for beer, they could be freely controlled, and taxed, by governments, without regard to Church connections. Partly for this reason, perhaps, hops came into widespread use.

There were sometimes specific organizations that were the only ones around that had the power to control some trade. For example, the Knights Templar were the only ones of their time with sufficient power to protect money as it moved from place to place. The result was that they provided the services later provided by bankers.

Answer 4

Mainly the Catholic church. The Kings and Queens ruled with the blessings of the church. The church controlled all of the society. If you went against the church you were in real trouble.

Answer 5

the main trade route was controlled by the arabs. they were also considered the greatest traders of that time.

Answer 6

Italian city-states.

Answer 7

itallian merchants