Meet the Middle Ages
BackTrade and fairs
All buying and selling was done in the towns, because the King wanted to make money from the duties on all goods brought into the country. Also, in this way the merchants and craftsmen did not have to compete with tradesmen in the country-side.
The peasants had to go to the market-place in town to sell their ware. If they lived far away, they had to start very early in the morning, before sunrise. They loaded their packhorses or carts with farm produce such as meat, grain, wool, eggs and butter. Some peasants brought iron, coal, firewood or tar, others brought fish. They sold the goods directly to the consumers, or to merchants who sold the goods on. A lot of the iron produced by the peasants of Småland was sold to the Hanseatic merchants in Kalmar, who in their turn exported it to other towns around the Baltic Sea.
The peasants bought many things in town, too. They could buy shoes from the shoemaker or a belt from the "remslagare", a craftsman who made things from leather. They could also buy imported goods from the merchants, things like spices, and salt or pretty fabrics. Once or twice a year, there was a big fair in town, when peasants came from all over the region to buy and to sell.
When they visited town, they also amused themselves, perhaps by going to a tavern. There, they could hear the latest news , both from the country and from foreign places. They probably did not get back to their farms until late at night.