Trade in luxury goods was in the Middle Ages one of the elements building prestige and position in the international arena. Willingness to pay for importing goods, including duties and brokerage expenses, testified the economic potential of the State of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. In these days alcohol, including wine, was regarded as a luxury product. The article discusses the problem of fees incurred by the Order, associated with importing and distribution of wine in the country at the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Previous research in this area did not include specific source information, which did not allow determining the scale of the phenomenon. The economic data, which is analyzed in the text, is scattered in many types of source materials – volume of imported wine in inventories and accounts, the price of the product, place of origin and destination. The article gives a closer picture of the wine trade both from the perspective of the State of the Teutonic Order as well as the European perspective of the late Middle Ages.

Trade in luxury goods was in the Middle Ages one of the elements building prestige and position in the international arena. Willingness to pay for importing goods, including duties and brokerage expenses, testified the economic potential of the State of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. In these days alcohol, including wine, was regarded as a luxury product. The article discusses the problem of fees incurred by the Order, associated with importing and distribution of wine in the country at the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Previous research in this area did not include specific source information, which did not allow determining the scale of the phenomenon. The economic data, which is analyzed in the text, is scattered in many types of source materials – volume of imported wine in inventories and accounts, the price of the product, place of origin and destination. The article gives a closer picture of the wine trade both from the perspective of the State of the Teutonic Order as well as the European perspective of the late Middle Ages.