History of Wool

This was the result of the widespread domestication of sheep and similar animals. The wool was harvested by hand or through using bronze combs until the invention of shears, which probably happened during the Iron Age.

The wool trade was huge business during medieval times. The English crown derived a large amount of money from its wool exports, which almost monopolized the European market. There have been wide selections of British laws through the centuries which have served to regulate the wool trade and the use of wool. At one time wool was even required to be used in burials. There was even a law which punished the smuggling of wool out of the country. This practice, known as owling, was punishable by chopping off a hand. The American colonies were forbidden to trade wool with anyone but Britain by the English crown in 1699.

The Medicis of Florence, in conjunction with the wool guild, or Arte della Lana, built their wealth and banking system on the wool trade during the Renaissance. Royal permission was required for the export of merino lambs in Spain. It was relatively late that German wool, which is derived from sheep of Spanish origin, overtakes English wool in popularly. The wool trade was eventually dominated by the Australians, whose colonial economy was based on raising sheep.

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