Sugar and spices: The trade of Guillelmus Basquese in late medieval Mediterranean Europe

This dissertation examines the personal and professional activities of a fourteenth-century merchant named Guillelmus Basquese. This study is based upon the transcription, translation, and analysis of a notarial register located in the Archives Départementales de l'Hérault, Fonds des Notaires de l'Évêché in Montpellier, France. The register dates 1386 to 1402 and is comprised of 134 notarial acts on 57 folios; only a sample of the acts appear in the dissertation. This dissertation also includes a discussion of medieval notaries, notarial registers, the formulaic nature of notarial acts.;Guillelmus Basquese was a resident merchant of southern France who specialized in the sale of spices, especially saffron. This study includes a general history of the medieval spice trade, focusing on the saffron trade and Basquese's role in that trade. Throughout the fourteenth century, Montpellier served as a major redistribution point from spices originating in Catalonia and eventually being sold in Paris. Although this study only addresses the end of that period. Based upon the volume of spices appearing in the notarial acts, Basquese was a major figure in the saffron trade, garnering between one to two percent of the entire Catalan spice trade funneling through his operations in Montpellier.;This dissertation also includes a discussion of Basquese's business activities, including the business relationships he formed. The wide geographical area Basquese's commercial practices covered necessitated his entering into different types of business relationships to facilitate his long-distance trading activities. This study also reveals the degree of professionalization and sophistication attained by transporters in the fourteenth century.