Why were guilds important
Why were guilds important
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.
