Identity & Exchange : Secondhand Markets of Medieval England

This essay is the second part of a two-part series. You can find part one here, discussing how the growing wool industry in England, along with the social pressures created after the Black Death, combined to create the perfect conditions of supply and demand to fuel secondhand markets. I have been researching these essays (on-and-off) for over a year, so I am delighted to finally have them finished! Please enjoy!

The relationship between people and clothing is one the oldest and most enduring connections we have to material culture. Since prehistory, dress has served not only as a means of sheltering and insulating the body but also as a way of cultivating a shared sense of communal belonging. Both materials, harvested from local landscapes, and craft traditions, so locally ingrained to feel seemingly endemic, helped to reinforce a collective identity. Dress, therefore, became a language, communicated not just through its aesthetic vocabulary but also in its grammar of landscape, labour and history.

As textile production moved away from the home and became increasingly specialised, these semantics began to shift. No longer could the wearer feel the same connection to place and community when putting on a garment. This distance became further exacerbated by increasingly stratified social structures, which allowed clothing to reflect difference as much as cohesion. These evolving economic and social dynamics created new complexities in how people experienced and understood their clothing. It is within this tension that secondhand markets emerged, as spaces where people could navigate the relationship between the garments they wore and the identities they wished to inhabit.

Today, though their prominence is growing, secondhand sales are still largely considered a marginal aspect of the economy – an alternative form of consumption positioned against mainstream markets. In medieval Europe, however, the circulation of used goods occupied a much different space. Rather than existing along the periphery, secondary clothing markets were integrated into the everyday rhythms and habits of consumers. At a time when clothing was primarily created from purchased lengths of cloth, either at home or by a tailor, secondhand sales became one of the few places ready-made garments were available.

A new cloth market in Norwich. Photo from norwich-heritage.co.uk.

This significance within the medieval economy is reflected in the way secondhand trade was organised. Across Europe, many merchants and craftspeople belonged to guilds, professional associations that regulated trade practices, established quality standards and protected the interest of its members. Alongside better-known guilds such as grocers, goldsmiths, and furriers, some cities also established guilds of secondhand traders. The first, founded in Venice in 1264, specialised not just in secondhand goods in general, but in used clothing and textiles specifically. Over the next century, cities across the Low Countries followed suit, with Bruges, Ghent, Utrecht, Leuven, and Dordrecht all establishing secondhand guilds. In cities without guilds dedicated to secondhand dealers, the trade was often absorbed into existing merchant structures, as in Bologna and Florence, where traders of secondhand clothing joined the linen drapers¹.

This provides important context as we shift to medieval England. Though guild structures were equally prevalent here as the rest of Europe, secondhand trade appears to have existed outside of their formal framework. Instead, secondhand dealers, or “upholders” as they were commonly known, were regulated through civic legislation. A 1439 ordinance from Coventry, for example, states that all upholders were to be held individually accountable for their own actions. This legislation tells us not only that secondhand dealers were recognised as a distinct occupational group, but also that the trade was prevalent enough to warrant regulation.

Beyond the nature of the trade, administrative records can also reveal something of the individuals who sustained it. In Nottingham, a widow named Margery Wood was granted a license to trade as an upholder in 1467. Her status as a widow is significant – under medieval English law, widows had greater legal and economic independence than married women and often assumed the occupations of their late husbands. Registration records from Canterbury show that over a dozen other women (whose marital status were not specified) were also given upholder licenses over the course of the 15th century. Unfortunately, whether these women entered the trade independently or continued businesses previously run by their husbands is not known. Nevertheless, it demonstrates that women were an active, if not dominant, presence in the commercial spheres of secondhand goods.

How garments themselves continued to sustain meaning can be seen in wills and financial records from aristocratic households and ecclesiastical institutions.As early as the 12th century, garments began to appear in last will and testaments as items of personal property that could be passed down through generations. This became increasing common practice by the 14th century, and by the 15th century, wills began to specify that garments should be sold directly into the secondhand market. One such example is the will of Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Warwick, who requested that her “great head-dress with rubies” be sold to offset the cost of her burial.

Lady Isabel le Despenser, wearing a headdress similar to the one she sold into the secondhand market. Photo from Find A Grave.

Clothing and accessories could also function as a means of financial security during life, for both institutions and individuals. This is demonstrated by fifteenth century account books from Durham Priory Cathedral, who record the selling of clothing into the secondhand market to generate extra income Accounts from individuals were also known – records from 1432 show Dame Alianor Hilton pawned her velvet and damask gowns, furred with marten, for £12, compared to the garment’s original price of £64. Notably, at the time, £12 represented approximately three years’ wages for a skilled labourer. This reveals that secondhand clothing was not exclusively purchased by the lower class. Instead, it is likely that multiple levels of the social hierarchy were using secondhand markets to navigate the anxieties associated with social distinction and maintaining a public identity.

Outside of towns and cities, secondhand trade becomes increasingly difficult to see, as fewer records tend to survive. While secondhand markets were equally likely to exist, smaller communities lacked the population necessary to sustain the levels of supply and demand found in denser areas. Thus, secondhand sales, on their own, would have been unable to provide a stable livelihood. Instead, it was likely to have been folded into other professions, becoming part of the diversified income streams that characterised medieval households. Later records show that innkeepers, alehouse keepers, and hairdressers casually took on secondhand sales, and this was likely to have occurred during the medieval period as well. Itinerant peddlers and hawkers would have sold secondhand clothing alongside sundry goods, food, drink and spices.

However, selling textiles was only part of the secondhand trade. Equally important was the knowledge and skill required to repair and extend the life of worn-out garments. Cloth was a valuable and carefully managed resource during this period and damage did not necessarily mark the end of a garments life in the way it often does today. Holes, threadbare fabric, or worn seams could all be repaired while the garment continued to maintain value, both economically and practically. Only when a garment reached a state where it could no longer function as clothing did it enter a later stage of reuse. Fabric could be cut down and re-sewn into smaller garments or used as household textiles. Archaeological finds from medieval latrines suggest that, upon reaching the end of its lifecycle, cloth was likely used, one final time, as toilet paper.

However, refashioning clothing was not always an innocent act – the same skills that allowed garments to maintain their value could also be a criminal asset. A 13th century legal treatise identified menders of clothing as among those who actively aided and abetted thieves, demonstrating how specialised knowledge of textiles could be used to alter, disguise, and obscure a garment’s original identity. Stolen clothing could be obtained through all manner of creative means. It was taken from laundry areas and wash tubs, whether dirty or clean, and trunks containing textiles were taken off wagons during transport. Shop windows were broken to gain access to the clothing inside and thieves would physically remove clothing from unsuspecting victims in the street, with children and drunks often being specifically targeted.

The early date of this legislation is significant, as it predates both the expansion of the English cloth industry and the later social stratification that accelerated the growth of secondhand markets. This suggests that concerns surrounding the theft and illicit circulation of clothing were present long before these markets reached their later scale. Although records of clothing theft from the period being discussed here are limited, later evidence corroborates the extent of the problem. By the 17th century, prosecutions for the theft of clothing accounted for 27% of all recorded larceny cases, suggesting that garments remained a frequent target of theft throughout the medieval and early modern periods.

Concerns around dishonest commerce were a recurring feature of the medieval economy. Even when garments had been acquired honestly, deceitful merchants were still presented with a plentitude of opportunities to misrepresent their wears. Worn areas could be strategically hidden and dyes could be used to enhance the appearance of the garment while concealing its otherwise poor quality. Further legislation highlights the prevalence of this problem – a 1365 London ordinance stated that clothing must keep its original linings and collars; in 1375, a Norwich dealer was accused of “twisting old cloths into new shapes;” and an ordinance from York in 1301 stated that skinners who mixed new and old skins would be fined and have their goods burned in the street. In London, this crime would be faced with the pillory.

The relationship between people and clothing has always been about more than just the body. During the medieval period, these expressions and connotations became increasingly complex. The ubiquity of secondhand clothing added a further complicating layer as garments now also carried social aspirations and the possibility of transformation. To some degree, this period marked an important shift in how we define ourselves – identity was no longer primarily shaped by shared landscapes and traditions, but instead through the lives, histories, and social worlds of others.

Thank you so much for reading! I put a lot of time and care into writing and researching these essays! If you enjoy my work, please consider making a small contribution below — genuinely any amount will be very appreciated!

This essay leaned heavily on the work of James Davis and Kate Kelsey Staples, so if you are interested in reading more on this topic, I would start with their articles. Additionally, if you are interested in a citation for any specific thing mentioned above, please reach out!

Bibliography:

Allerston, P.A., 1996. The market in second-hand clothes and furnishings in Venice, c1500-c1650. European University Institute.

Davis, J., 2010. Marketing secondhand goods in late medieval England. Journal of Historical Reseach in Marketing 2, 270–286.

Goldberg, P.J.P. 1992. Women, work, and life cycle in a Medieval economy: women in York and Yorkshire c.1300-1520. Clarendon Press, New York; Oxford.

Harris, M.D. & Taylor and Francis 2018. The Coventry Leet Book or Mayor's Register: Containing the records of the city Court Leet or View of frankpledge, A.D. 1420-1555 with divers other matters. Routledge, Boca Raton.

Lemire, B., 1990. The Theft of Clothes and Popular Consumerism in Early Modern England. Journal of Social History 24, 255–276.

Lemire, B., 1991. Peddling Fashion Salesmen Pawnbrokers Taylors Thieves and the Second-hand Clothes Trade in England c. 1700 1800. Textile History 22, 67–82.

Staples, K.K., 2015. The Significance of the Secondhand Trade in Europe, 1200–1600. History Compass 13, 297–309.

Sylvester, L., Chambers, M.C. and Owen-Crocker, G.R. 2014. Medieval Dress and Textiles in Britain: A Multilingual Sourcebook. Boydell & Brewer.

Threlfall-Holmes, M. 2005. Monks and markets: Durham Cathedral Priory, 1460-1520. Oxford University Press, New York; Oxford.

1. Though not specifically credited, secondhand sellers in Florence had a part in commissioning Dontatello’s statue of St. Mark at Orsanmichele, through their association with the linen drapers guild.