What is the medieval term for a traveling merchant?

The story behind the answer

Among the choices, the broad commercial label best fits a person who bought and sold goods while moving between towns and fairs. A mercer was a specialist in fine textiles, usually guild-affiliated and shop-based; chapman and peddler imply small-scale hawkers of trifles or household goods. The general term describes merchants of varied wares and scales who traveled established routes.

These mobile dealers threaded Europe’s great trade networks—Hanseatic ports, the Champagne fairs, and pilgrimage roads—carrying spices, cloth, metalwork, and news. They relied on packhorses or riverboats, paid tolls at bridges and city gates, and sought safe-conducts from lords. Fun fact: chapman comes from Old English “céapman” (related to “cheap,” originally meaning “barter” or “trade”), while mercer derives from Old French “mercier,” showing how commerce shaped medieval language.