Rare Herbs, Spices, and Goods?

[Azure Trance]

What are the rare trade goods of the medieval ages? I know the 2nd Ed players handbook had a list (Rare & Exotic Spices) but alas I lost the PHB, twice. If people could contribute what they know I would appreciate it as this is a bit of detail I look for sometimes.

Silk - Coming all the way from the East
Chinaware - Same (though I'm not sure why it's so good; simply good porceloin?)
Salt - For those away from the Coastline

Slew of spices, though if I think about it I'm not sure what some of them taste like since I'm not a cook - Ginger, Cloves, Pepper, Saffron And my friend told me about why purple was the color of royalty, as apparently the dye for it came from a certain rare shellfish / snail which was only found in the coast (near Egypt?).

 

[Dragongirl]

resins for perfumes . . . ivory . . . slaves . . . depending on the area timber . . .

 

[Dragongirl]

. . . amber . . .

 

[jgbrowning]

silk, olive oil, wine, furs, big timber (deforestation hit hard and early in the middle ages), saffron, mace, nutmeg, pepper, vanilla, cocao, salt, cloves, indigo (dye), amber, and i cant think of anymore off hand...


edit: and dragongirls.. ivory, slaves, perfume resins

joe b.

 

[Dragongirl]

And my friend told me about why purple was the color of royalty, as apparently the dye for it came from a certain rare shellfish / snail which was only found in the coast (near Egypt?).

One of which was "Tyrian Purple" after the dye taken from the shell of the murax (sp?). Tyre is . . . somewhere ont he coast of either modern day Lebanon or Syria I believe. Took millions of shells to make a tiny bit of dye. There were other areas to get this but this was the main one.

Resins I mention include frankincense and myrrh.

 

[Dragongirl]

vanilla, cocao

For some reason I thought these were from the new world. Not that it would matter in a made up campaign world.

 

[jgbrowning]

For some reason I thought these were from the new world. Not that it would matter in a made up campaign world.

yes, your right. my bad.

joe b.

head full, editing.. manors. magic..

 

[Azure Trance]

silk, olive oil, wine, furs, big timber (deforestation hit hard and early in the middle ages), saffron, mace, nutmeg, pepper, vanilla, cocao, salt, cloves, indigo (dye), amber, and i cant think of anymore off hand...


edit: and dragongirls.. ivory, slaves, perfume resins

joe b.

Wasn't Olive Oil common back then? It might be a more modern thing but I for some reason thought Italy always had lots of olive farms. Wines the same thing, isn't it too common? I wonder if people back then 'knew' what good wine would be, as if people had a sort of brand recognition in taverns (Ah! A wine from Louis stock in Normandy! Fantastic!)

And regarding Timber ... well, that's not something I pictured either. Doesn't seem that convienant to ship over long distances anyway; I recall reading somewhere that even until the ... (making it up since can't remember, but late-ish) 15th/16th century Europe still had lots of Forested areas?

 

[Dragongirl]

Wasn't Olive Oil common back then? It might be a more modern thing but I for some reason thought Italy always had lots of olive farms. Wines the same thing, isn't it too common? I wonder if people back then 'knew' what good wine would be, as if people had a sort of brand recognition in taverns (Ah! A wine from Louis stock in Normandy! Fantastic!)

And regarding Timber ... well, that's not something I pictured either. Doesn't seem that convienant to ship over long distances anyway; I recall reading somewhere that even until the ... (making it up since can't remember, but late-ish) 15th/16th century Europe still had lots of Forested areas?

Yes oils and wines were commonly traded back to pre-roman times. As for timber, like I said it depends on the area. Egpyt as long ago as 4-5 thousand years ago used to heavily import timber from Cyprus and what is now Lebanon.

 

[Azure Trance]

saffron, mace, nutmeg, pepper, cloves, ginger

Which of these are native to Europe, and which to more exotic locales (India; China) for purposes of determining which are more common then others?