Much trade in medieval England was small-scale, with local producers selling their own goods at fairs and markets. The people who made money were merchants and the English kings, who levied lucrative taxes on trade. Merchants particularly prospered in all larger towns, contributing to the building of local churches or civic buildings.

South-western ports traded with France, particularly the Angevin territory of Gascony. Bristol merchants grew wealthy on profits from the Bordeaux wine trade with the Gascon vintners. In about AD 1270-80, a Southampton merchant, Richard of Southwick, was importing decorated jugs from south-west France and lusterware pottery from Spain. By far the most important medieval trade for many parts of the country, from the North to East Anglia and the South, was the cloth trade. It enriched the landowners and great monasteries whose flocks provided the wool and the merchants who traded in wool and cloth as well as many smaller traders in between.

Most financing of international trade was handled by Italian or Flemish bankers, some of whom lent enormous sums to the English kings. By the 14th century, English merchants were increasingly paying for their own ships to sail further afield, from the Baltic to Spain, loaded with cloth and returning with wine, oil or luxury goods.