Guilds in the Middle Ages

Term Paper # 103708

Literature > English

This paper discusses the guilds that were in existence in Geoffrey Chaucer's fourteenth century England.

1,339 words () | 1 source | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper identifies some of the various occupational guilds that formed a part of Geoffrey Chaucer's fourteenth century English world. The paper shows how occupational guilds were a pervasive part of fourteenth century English life and a significant, if not all-encompassing, part of the lives of their members.

From the Paper:

"In Chaucer's The Prologue to "The Canterbury Tales," the reader is introduced to a haberdasher, a carpenter, carpet-maker, weaver and to a dyer. These were presumably all very important trades during Chaucer's time, but they were also only a few of the occupations that had guilds during the period. For instance, merchant guilds were quite common in Chaucer's England. By all accounts, these guilds were predominantly organizations comprised of merchants involved in long-distance commerce as well as in local wholesale trade. As well, Gary Richardson of the University of California at Irvine reports that there is at least the suggestion that many of these merchants were also businessmen engaged in the retail selling of commodity goods in their home cities as well as in the distant, exotic locales wherein they were permitted the right to set up shop. Interestingly, it appears as though the merchant guilds of pre-modern England were mostly devoted to trade. However, the most powerful among them could actually establish colonies in foreign cities and even become inextricably involved in local politics - at least in their home towns (Richardson, para.5)."

Sample of Sources Used:

Richardson, Gary. "Medieval Guilds." EH.Net Encyclopedia: Medieval Guilds. 7 Oct. 2005. Economic History Services. 12 Apr. 2007 <http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/richardson.guilds>