The Middle Ages for Kids - Guilds Illustration

Middle Ages for Kids
Guilds

During the 1100s, merchants, artists, bankers, and other professionals grouped themselves together in business associations called guilds. Each guild was a group of people who all worked in the same trade. For example, bakers would belong to a bakers guild, and bankers would belong to the bankers guild, and so on.

Goals of the Guilds: Guilds were designed to end competition. If you were a guild member, the guild made sure you didn't have any competition in your area. Plus, the guild was on hand if you needed help. Besides all the business reasons to belong to a guild, guilds also provided medical care and employee benefits. If you were out of work because your shop had burned down, the guild cared for you until you could rebuild. Guilds were also social groups throwing festivals and parties for its members.

Rules: To be a member of the guild you had to follow their rules. These included: Letting the guild set the price for all your goods, all members of the guild paid workers the same wage, your work had to be up to guild standards (no shoddy workmanship), and finally you couldn't advertise. This was to give all guild members the same advantages.

Levels: There were three level within each guild, Master, Journeyman and Apprentice.

  • Masters: At the top of the ladder were people who owned their own shop. Owners were called "master".
  • Journeyman: Right below the master was a journeyman. This was someone who was skilled in the job but was not quite up to the level of master. As you learned you moved up until you could prove to the guild that you were good enough to be a master by submitted a piece of work. If it was approved, you became a master and your guild helped you set up your shop, in a location assigned by the guild.
  • Apprentice: An apprentice was at the bottom of the ladder. During the period an apprentice was learning a skill, he received food, a place to sleep, and training, but he was not paid.

Taxes: The Guilds made sure that all shop owners paid taxes to the king. This kept the kings on their side. Soon, kings began to depend upon shop owners for many of their needs, including the income this new middle class paid the kingdom.

Teacher Guilds: As the towns grew, leaders in the new middle class realized that there was a need for lawyers and courts if they were going to rule themselves and handle local government in the towns. But almost no one knew how to read or write. To fix this, one of the towns created a "university", which was a school separate from the monasteries and cathedral schools. The university was not a single place. School was held in rented rooms or in courtyards. Books were scarce. Teachers had to read to students, who then had to memorize what they heard. Classes met on a regular schedule. Not just anyone could be a student. You had to pass a test and be accepted. These universities soon became known as teacher guilds.

By the end of the 1200s, teacher guilds (universities) had sprung up all over Europe. There were over 1,000 students at any one time studying Roman Law, Latin, the teachings of Islamic scholars, and the philosophy of the ancient Greek, Aristotle. Students who attended the universities were not the sons of nobles. They were the sons of merchants. When literature and art were added to the curriculum, there was clearly a stirring, the beginning of the rebirth of culture. The success of the universities shows that things were changing, and they were changing rapidly.

Interactive Quiz about the Middle Ages (with answers)