Download or read book Peasants, Merchants, and Markets written by James Masschaele and published by Palgrave MacMillan. This book was released on 1997 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By examining the economic interests of urban merchants and peasant traders, the commodities they exchanged, and the markets and transportation networks they used to engage in trade, the book explores how commerce helped to erode the localism of medieval society and to create enduring institutions and motivations for a more expansive social and economic life.