Did medieval stores have names?

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Short Answer

For the most part, we have little evidence for the naming of shops, especially before the Late Middle Ages in Europe. Visual evidence suggests that almost all shops did not publicly display a name but some did display an object representing their trade. A surviving example of a shop name from England is La Corner Schoppe, while in Italy at least a merchant might use his family name. In China, medicine shop names were common in the 10th and 11th centuries at least, examples including Infant Malnutrition Medicine Shop and Ugly Granny Medicine Shop.

Details

Our evidence for medieval Europe is patchy. David Garrioch, in the article House names, shop signs and social organization in Western European cities, 1500-1900 (Urban History Vol. 21, No. 1 (April 1994), writes:

The history of shop signs reaches back at least to Roman times. In northern Europe, however, the earliest traces seem to date from the thirteenth century, although it is possible that they were in use before then. By the sixteenth century both signs and names seem to have been numerous all over Europe, and the evidence suggests that their numbers continued to increase in most cities until the eighteenth century.

In a footnote, Garrioch cites evidence from Adolphe Berty (1855). He

found two in Paris from 1206 and 1212. He argued that they were probably more numerous than the records suggest, but he adds that there was no doubt less need for them in the less crowded outer areas than in the city centre

In a study of one part of Paris by Berty published 5 years later

the earliest sign found...dates from the 1340s and the house-lists for this part of Paris in 1280 do not contain any.

For London, the oldest shop sign with a name found is from 1278, according to the BBC article La Corner Schoppe: the funny origins of shop names:

The earliest recorded shop name is La Corner Schoppe [sic]. The name was found in a document written in 1278 in Westminster, London. However there were numerous Corner Shops throughout the 1200s onwards, but most would have taken the name of the building.

The orginal source for 'La Corner Schoppe' (actually 'la Cornereschoppe') is the Calendar of Wills Proved and Enrolled in the Court of Husting, London: Part 1, 1258-1358 (ANNO 7 EDWARD I)

Readings in Medieval History, Volume II has primary source material on a Florentine merchant, Stagio, who used his own name for his shop, but it's not clear if this was displayed or not.

The history of signboards: from the earliest times to the present day is a dated source (1867) quite detailed:

...signs were of but little use. A few objects, typical of the trade carried on, would suffice; a knife for the cutler, a stocking for the hosier, a hand for the glover, a pair of scissors for the tailor, a bunch of grapes for the vintner, fully answered public requirements. But as luxury increased, and the number of houses or shops dealing in the same article multiplied, something more was wanted. Particular trades continued to be confined to particular streets ; the desideratum then was, to give to each shop a name or token by which it might be mentioned in conversation, so that it could be recommended, and customers sent to it. Reading was still a scarce acquirement; consequently, to write up the owner's name would have been of little use.

Looking at images of medieval art seems to confirm the above. Most shops have no sign of any kind, but a few have objects - see, for example, and the images below.

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Siena, 1300s.

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"Pontifical de Sens, France, XIVe siècle". Source: BnF, previously posted by LangLangC in his answer to another question.

The webpage Merchants’ Stalls & Shops has links to more images from various European cities. The only sign with writing is this "Hand-colored 19th-century woodcut reproduction of a medieval illustration", but even here none of the other establishments visible seem to have any signage (there's a better image here). There are also a number of illustrations of shops (salt, cheese, butcher's shops) in the Tacuinum Sanitatis but none appear to have names displayed.

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Selling salt in a shop, miniature from Tacuinum sanitatis, end of 14th century. Source: habsburger.net

Without saying so explicitly, it seems that medicine shops in 10th & 11th century China had shop signs. A Social History of Medieval China gives numerous examples of shops with names (including the imaginatively named Ugly Granny Medicine Shop), but doesn't actually directly say they had names on signs.

Upvote:-2

Short and very general answer -- if the town was big enough to have shops, a common practice was to have pictorial signs. These might be standardized tools of the trade as another poster mentioned, or might just be a memorable and easy to describe image. The location of an inn might then be given as "under the sign of the dancing pig." These references still persist in traditional music and stories, for example "I live at the sign of the ups and downs" in the song by the same name.

Upvote:1

One point is that trade went through a massive expansion in the 12th/13th centuries. Here is a review of a beautiful and fascinating book on the subject: Spufford: Power and Profit. Other books also by Peter Spufford cover similar territory and are similarly worthwhile. So in major cities, at least, you might need to be more specific about which period you are interested in.

Stretching the question, it might help to look at English cities in the early-modern period, just because then we have some humble, everyday publications that advertise their printing shop:

Those are two early examples out of many in the Bodleian library's collection of broadside publications. You can find more, though later, examples (search for "sign" in the "Imprint" section of Advanced Search). The printers' shops are referenced by address and a nearby sign, presumably of a pub in most cases. We can stop searching for "sign", but stay in the 16th century, to find some addresses without signs (all from the Bodleian broadside website mentioned):

  • "Imprinted at London by Abel Ieffs, and are to be soulde by William Barley dwelling in gracious strete neare leaden haule";
  • "Imprinted at London, by Richard Iones, dwelling neere Holburne Bridge";
  • "Imprinted at London in Fletestrete nere to S. Dunstons church by Thomas Marshe";
  • "Imprynted at Norwich in the paryshe of Saynct Andrews by Anthony de Solempne. 1570".

If we accept that these are (partially) relevant to your question, it seems that the name of the printer is how the shop was identified. (At times, there would have been a legal requirement to name the printer, as each publication required a licence, but the first example makes it clear that this is also an advert for trade.)

Upvote:2

Most villages didn't have shops.

Think of the population size. You grew up with these same people all your life. No one went anywhere. Peddlars traveled. Tinkers repaired pots. Gypsys had skills needed too. You either made it yourself or traded for it.

I live in extreme southwest Kansas. Raised on my grandmothers homestead. 11 children in my class until high school. The citizens here do their own work: welding, tree felling, horse breaking, milking, and no we're not Amish or something other. We didn't have street signs until UPS required them. Then we did the county. When we need someone with special skill or equipment, we ask around.

My address is driving instructions. 9 miles south, 15 miles west of the NW corner of a town because I live on a dirt track. The whole county except state highways are dirt roads- county seat excepting. Lots of rural anywhere in the world is the same now.

Imagine a thousand years ago, check the population of the region you are interested in, and extrapolate up as the population rises. By the way, even in metro USA, people tend to stay within their small corners of it. I have no idea why. I lived in Denver for a while and was all over the place.

Upvote:21

The Academy of Saint Gabriel is a group of volunteers who have compiled lists of historical names from the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Their compilations of Sign Names for Places include:

  • Dated references to inn and tavern names by Mari ingen Briain meic Donnchada (Kathleen M. O'Brien)

    Early name references for inns and taverns here include:

    • Lamme (attested 1320)
    • Ramme (attested 1707 and 1339)
    • Cok (attested 1327)
    • Hegle (contemporary for eagle, attested 1273)
    • Raven (attested 1344)
    • Swan (attested 1337)
    • Harp and Harpe (attested late 14th century)
    • Hat (attested 1273)
    • Ros and Rose (attested 1273)
    • Whytehors, Whytehorse and Whithors (attested respectively 1285, 1312, 1358)
    • Sevensterre, Seusterrys and Sevesterre (attested respectively 1355, 1379, 1384)
    • George and Jorge (attested respectivley 1472 and 1479)
    • Bosoms yn (attested 1522)
    • Mitford taverne (attested 1489)

  • Comparison of Inn/Shop/House names found London 1473-1600 with those found in the ten shires surrounding London in 1636

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