Guilds

The guilds in the Middle Ages were an important part of Medieval life. There were two types of guilds, Merchant Guilds and Craft Guilds. The Merchant Guilds negotiated with the lord and levy trade became regulated. The regulations that the Merchan Guild and the lord made, resulted in a Merchant Guild charter. This charter allowed th merchants to pay an annual payment to the lord who owned the land where the town was based.

Merchant guilds were very powerful because they controlled the way that the town traded. They mad rules that put a ban on any illicit trading by non Merchant Guild members, fines were imposed on any Merchant Guild members who violated the Merchant Guilds charter. Leading members of the Merchant Guilds became very important members of the Medieval town community of the Middle Ages. They adopted the role of spokesperson for all of the members. The introduction of the Merchant Guilds in a town or city lead to its own hierarchy and involvement in civic duties such as chief spokesman of the Merchant Guild became the mayor of the town, or city.

Craft guilds formed in a similar way to the Merchant Guilds. They were a group of tradesmen or craftsmen engaged int the same occupation joined together. There were Craft Guilds of every trade performed within a Medieval city. They included carpenters, painters, cloth makers, bakers, shoemakers, or cobblers,apothecaries, candle makers. The craft guilds formed organizatons for protectoin and mutual aid. no one within a medevil town could practice a craft or trade with out belonging to the merchant or craft guild association.

The Craft Guilds ensured that their craft or trade effectively became a 'closed shop' or monopoly preventing any outside competition. Prices were fixed between members of the Craft Guilds. And the Craft Guilds ensured that high standards of quality were maintained. The number of Craft Guild members were also regulated, allowing a restricted membership in order to ensure that the numbers of Craft Guilds did not exceed the business requirements.

Ashley Ochoa & Lyn Shannon