Staple (trade)

A staple is a system of trade established by governments to designate specific towns or ports where certain goods had to be traded or exported, serving as regulated centers of commerce and taxation that facilitated control over trade, revenue, and quality standards. It was particularly common in medieval Europe.

Etymology

Its French equivalent is étape, and its German equivalent stapeln, words deriving from Late Latin stapula with the same meaning,^[1] derived from stabulum.^[2] designating a system that Hadrianus Junius considered to be of Gaulish origin.^[3]

The antiquary John Weever, quoting the 16th-century Tuscan merchant Lodovico Guicciardini, defined a staple town "to be a place, to which by the prince's authority and privilege wool, hides of beasts, wine, corn or grain, and other exotic or foreign merchandize are transferred, carried or conveyed to be sold".^[4]

Examples

• The Staple
• Amsterdam Entrepôt (Amsterdam stapelmarkt)
• Scottish Staple
• Stapelrecht