Silkworms, capital and merchant ships: European silk industry in the medieval world economy

Silk represented a bridge connecting East Asia, the Middle East and the Occident in the exchange of art forms between A.D. 1000 and 1500. The study of medieval production, trade, and use of silk, therefore, provided the opportunity to examine the complex dependencies between the artistic mind, technical skills, entrepreneurial options and political conditions in different areas of Eurasia. The aim of this article is not only to explain the overwhelming rise of the late medieval Italian silk industry, but to show the pace of regional developments in Eurasia, at times diverging, at times in unison.