Among the oldest guilds were those for stone masons and glass makers. But there were guilds of all sorts, and in guild oriented cities, many or most jobs were involved in the guild structure. There were carpenters' guilds and bakers' guilds and cobblers' guilds. There were even guilds that were entirely female, such as the silk guilds of Paris and Cologne. In time, there were also merchant guilds, in addition to craft guilds. Please use the link below for more information.
Guilds regulated several standards including pay rates, hours worked, and other workplace related items. They operated much like the labor unions of today.
There were many guilds. They were divided into two main types, guilds for craftsmen and guilds for merchants. Each of these types had many different kinds of guilds within it. Examples of crafts guilds included stone masons, carpenters, wax candle makers, brewers, soap makers, and fine shoe makers. Industries such as textiles sometimes had many guilds associated with them, each for a different kind of operation. Wool weavers would have one guild, and another would be for makers of linen or silk, and tailors had their own guilds separately. Guilds were often affiliated with each other, and this included trade guilds and merchant guilds both. In some places, the town or city governments were run by guilds, and such cities built alliances of their own.
I think what you are asking about may be the word "hansa" or "hanse" which was not a merchant's guild, but an organization or league of merchant's guilds. The Hanseatic League rivaled nations for power and importance at one time.
During the Middle ages, a group of artisans was known as a guild. In order to be taken seriously as a craftsman, a person had to be part of a guild. Guilds would take on apprentices and teach them trade secrets.
Merchant guilds provided loans and aid to merchants and their families. A merchant guild was a group of workers in the same industry during the Middle Ages. Merchant guilds also helped with trade between other civilizations.
Craft guilds made items for the merchant guilds while the merchant sold the items.
To their members and their families.
Merchant Guilds
prices and working conditions
merchant guild would buy merch and then sell while craft guilds would sell the stuff they made i think...
Stonemason and Carpenter
The only difference was what they made or sold.
Among the oldest guilds were those for stone masons and glass makers. But there were guilds of all sorts, and in guild oriented cities, many or most jobs were involved in the guild structure. There were carpenters' guilds and bakers' guilds and cobblers' guilds. There were even guilds that were entirely female, such as the silk guilds of Paris and Cologne. In time, there were also merchant guilds, in addition to craft guilds. Please use the link below for more information.
Nearly every craft or trade that required any skill had a guild. There were stonemasons' guilds, silk workers' guilds, carpenters' guilds, jewelers' guilds, merchant guilds of all sorts, and many others. There is a link below to an article on medieval guilds.
Merchant Guilds a group of merchants. They became very powerful, making laws and rules for other merchants, causing individual trades to be endangered. This is what i THINK. so yeahh....
Merchant guilds dominated the economic and political life of medieval towns.