Data from : Géographie de la production et réseaux de distribution des métaux précieux au Moyen Âge (XIIIe-XVe siècle)

This article proposes to articulate the spaces of production to the distribution networks of precious metals (silver, gold, copper, lead), based on a quantitative and reticular commentary of seven Italian trade manuals of the late Middle Ages. Through the mapping of metal occurrences and the networking of their places of exchange, it appears that the majority of argentiferous metals production areas in Europe and the Mediterranean were connected to the networks of Italian merchants, with the exception of those in southern France and the Iberian Peninsula. Two lesser known spaces have been highlighted, Cilician Armenia and the Atlas. The production and trade of gold, on the other hand, are not very visible in the manuals. In a context where the trend was towards the export of metals from the north to the east and south of the Mediterranean, the Italian commercial space was divided into three groups: an eastern sea dominated by the Venetians who obtained their metals from central and eastern Europe, a western sea shared between the Florentine and Neapolitan networks who obtained their metals from Sardinia, and a northern extension dominated by the Bruges networks who obtained their metals from central Europe and England.