IT WAS WOOLEN CLOTH THAT FIRST BROUGHT CAPITALISM TO NORTHERN Europe. Even in Roman times, the towns of Flanders were famous for making the finest woolens in the world, and by the tenth century their woolens probably produced more income than any other product manufactured in Europe. Cloth from Flanders was the chief item at the great trade fairs held in the Champagne region beginning in the eleventh century, where the primary buyers were Italian merchants seeking goods
