Reference no: EM133417178

Industry in Medieval Cities

The revival of trade enabled cities and towns to become important centers for manufacturing a wide range of products, such as cloth, metalwork, shoes, and leather goods. A host of crafts were carried on in houses along the narrow streets of the medieval cities. From the twelfth century on, artisans began to organize themselves into guilds, which came to play a leading role in the economic life of the cities.

By the thirteenth century, virtually every group of craftworkers, including tanners, carpenters, and bakers, had its own guild, and specialized groups of merchants, such as dealers in silk, spices, wool, or banking, had guilds as well. Craft guilds directed almost every aspect of the production process. They set standards for the articles produced, specified the methods of production to be used, and fixed the price at which the finished goods could be sold. Guilds also determined the number of men who could enter a specific trade and the procedure they must follow to do so.

A person who wanted to learn a trade first became an apprentice to a master craftsman, usually at around the age of ten. After five to seven years of service, in which they learned their craft, apprentices became journeymen (or journeywomen, although most were male), who then worked for wages for other masters.

Journeymen aspired to become masters as well. To do so, they were expected to produce a "masterpiece," a finished piece in their craft that allowed the master craftsmen of the guild to judge whether the journeymen were qualified to become masters and join the guild.

PART 2: Answer the following questions:

Explain what the commercial revolution was and why the impact was so important towards the economy.