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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS

XX. EUROPEAN CITIES DURING THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

Em. Macron, Rediscovering the Path to Europe

» Contents of this Chapter

Growth of the Cities   * City Life   * Civic Industry—the Guilds   * Trade and Commerce   * Money and Banking   * Italian Cities   * German Cities, the Hanseatic League   * The Cities of Flanders

Page 8

CIVIC INDUSTRY: THE GUILDS

FORMATION OF GUILDS

The Anglo-Saxon word "guild," which means "to pay," came to be applied to a club or society whose members made contributions for some common purpose. This form Of association is very old. Some of the guilds in imperial Rome had been established in the age of the kings, while not a few of those which flourish to-day in China and India were founded before the Christian era. Guilds existed in Continental Europe as early as the time of Charlemagne, but they did not become prominent till after the crusades.

MERCHANT GUILDS

A guild of merchants grew up when those who bought and sold goods in any place united to protect their own interests. The membership included many artisans, as well as professional traders, for in medieval times a man often sold in the front room of his shop the goods which he made in the back rooms. He was often both shopkeeper and workman in one.

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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents

url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp

IN PRINT

Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy