Where did medieval people get their supplies?

Answer 1

Most supplies medieval people used were produced locally. Metalsmiths, carpenters, carvers, weavers, potters, and so on traded with farmers who produced food. This was done largely without money in the early times, but in the later times, markets were places where people could buy and sell goods for currency.

The pilgrim routes to the Middle East, which became the crusader routes, were also routes where such imported goods as silk and spices were moved. When the Mongols conquered most of Asia, they reopened the central Asian land route called the Silk Road, which served the same purpose.

There was also an important trade going on between northern Europe and southern, along which such goods as Baltic amber would move South in exchange for jewelry, spices and so on, traded in the opposite direction.