Economy
Agricultural Markets
A serf always owed a signifcant part of his harvest to his lord. A free peasant might theoretically be able to keep his harvest, but most peasants had to sell a portion to raise the cash to make their rents. Most farmers in our period raised crops and livestock knowing that a portion was destined for the market.
Types of Markets
Markets in the Middle Ages were physical places of assembly, not the abstractions of modern times. Some rural markets were located at a nearby town and were even held within the city walls. More often, the village itself had a weekly market. Markets could even be held at a crossroads, with neighboring farmers selling from their wagons or a stand or a blanket. Cattle markets, horse markets, and other specialty items had their own special days. Finally, it was not uncommon to use the local church itself as a market or at least as a warehouse for a market held outside the doors.
The countryside had specialty markets, too. The woodcutter, for example, not only sold wood to the carpenter but he also sold charcoal to the smith and pitch to the shipwright. The vintners sold their grapes to the wineries, of course. Shepherds and wranglers of all sorts sold their livestock to big markets: wool, meat, feathers, leather. And trappers did a huge business in furs.