What were medieval guilds?

Answer 1

1st AnswerAn Association of individuals who share professional interests. Guilds were formed to protect members, set prices, and standardize quality. Notable guilds in the medieval ages are merchants guilds, the masons guild, and the often overlooked universities, which are a form of guilds.

Guild members often wore certain colours and cuts of clothing to identify themselves. This is where the traditional gown worn in university graduation ceremonies comes from.

2nd AnswerThe earliest medieval guilds may have begun with Roman guilds that survived into the Middle Ages. Among these were the masons' and glass makers' guilds. A document of Verona in the seventh century refers to a soap makers' guild in that city.

Guilds provided protection from competition for members, regulated the crafts they represented, and provided a well defined path for new members to join. They also provided minimum standards for their trades, and in this way benefited their customers to some degree.

The particulars of these things varied quite a lot. The usual path for new members was to go through a series of stages starting as apprentices. After apprenticeship, they were permitted to practice a trade independently as journeymen, but were not considered masters. A masterwork, submitted to the guild and accepted, earned them the title of master and full guild membership. This was the usual path, but there were others, including being born into or purchasing memberships in some guilds, notably as merchants.

Guilds banded together, especially when they were in the same town. Towns and cities of guilds also banded together for mutual support, and the greatest such organization was the Hanseatic League, which had its own armed forces and rivaled nations.

Guilds often controlled local economies. Sometimes groups of guilds controlled the politics of a town or city. This was true in some of the the Italian medieval communes, which were city states.

Answer 2

A guild is a group of people in particular trade. The guild would regulate quality and prices of goods it's members created. the guild would also collectannual fees from it's members in order for it to be able to be effective. The guild would push it's members to pay their taxes and in doing so get good relations with the government. normally you could not legally do a trade in a town without being in the towns guild. There are three ranks in a guild: apprentice, journeyman and master. the apprentice would have an unpaid apprenticeship with a master learning the trade where the master in return provided food and cloths for the apprentice, the apprentice ship would normally last 7 years but that varies on the trade. the journeyman would be a paid worker finding work with a master until he could make a master piece which he shows to a board of masters to gain his mastership. A master would own his own shop that has been assigned to him by the guild. A master would only be allowed to have one apprentice at a time. this was probably to keep a flood of craftsmen in a particular trade from taking over the market. if the guild member got sick and was unable to work, the guild would help him by giving him a small boost. if a guild member died, his family would be cared for by the guild. over all, the guild was created to protect it's members but it also ended up protecting it's costumers.

Answer 3

Medieval guilds were associations of craftsmen or merchants who organized to set standards of quality and pricing, and protected the members in a number of ways. This meant that the guildsmen were protected from competition from outsiders. It also meant that standards were set for their trades, and the guilds oversaw those standards; this benefited the customers as well as the guild members. Training was standardized, also, and this provided well known ways in which young people could learn trades and become masters in the guilds. Guilds banded together, and this sometimes lead to a town or city taking on a republican government, making it what was called a commune at the time, though the word had a meaning more like commonwealth today. Cities with such governments were able to enter into treaties with foreign nations, benefiting trade. And organizations of such cities were able to protect trade routes; an example of such an organization was the Hanseatic League. All of this raised the general level of prosperity of the time.

There are links below to articles with more information.

Answer 4

There are several things that medieval guilds made. Wool was one of the most popular products that were made by the guilds in this era.Ê

Answer 5

Guilds were types of crafts. For instance you could belong to the carpenter's guild- you would be a carpenter.

Answer 6

Guilds were groups of craftsmen or tradesmen, e.g. bowyers guild, cobblers guild. They were rudimentary trade unions, but different

Answer 7

A guild was known as a business group of people in the middle ages. They were basically the "middle" class of daily life medieval Europe.

Answer 8

establishing standards and prices for goods made by member craftsmen