Saffron slowly propagated throughout much of Eurasia and was later brought to parts of North Africa, North America, and Oceania. Saffron was detailed in a 7th-century BC Assyrian botanical reference compiled under Ashurbanipal. Documentation of saffron's use over the span of 3,500 years has been uncovered. Saffron-based pigments have indeed been found in 50,000-year-old depictions of prehistoric places in northwest Iran. The Sumerians later used wild-growing saffron in their remedies and magical potions. Saffron was an article of long-distance trade before the Minoan palace culture's 2nd millennium BC peak. Ancient Persians cultivated Persian saffron ("Crocus sativus" 'Hausknechtii') in Derbent, Isfahan, and
History of saffron merchants, and Knights. Its first uses are documented in the south-west of the Kingdom around 1250. It is indeed unlikely that Kings and Religious didn't try growing Crocus sativus by that time: Saffron was rare, expensive, and demanded, and Crocus sativus could be farmed under France's latitudes. By the 14th century, the wide use of saffron for spicing and coloring food is documented in recipe books such as the "Viandier de Taillevent", written by the King's cook. And by the 15th century, local saffron farming is attested with taxes levied by the religious power, which reveal how important saffron crops