Jean Boinebroke of Douai

Jehan Boinebroke was a French merchant from Douai who flourished at the apogee of the Flemish cloth industry. From the 12th century Douai was one of the great emporiums where merchants gathered to buy English wool and fine Flemis weaves.

Boinebroke was principally a wool merchant who dealt in English and domestic wools. He provided wool on credit to industrial drapers, who pledged their clothes, looms and sometimes even their homes as security. His secondary activity was that of a cloth merchant. He was also a civic politician, having served nine terms as alderman in the town government, and a landowner, with many properties in Douai and a sheep farm outside.