Starting as loose agreements between merchants, they developed into powerful political organizations that shaped medieval society and paved the way for modern Europe…🧵
First off, what were guilds?
Popular in medieval Europe, guilds were groups of craftsmen or traders who got together to protect mutual interests. This could mean quality control, reducing competition, or helping each other financially.
Sort of an “alliance” of business folk.
There were two main types of guilds: merchant guilds and craft guilds.
Merchant guilds comprised all or most of the merchants in a particular town or city. These could be local traders or wholesale/retail sellers dealing in various types of goods.
Craft guilds, on the other hand, centered around a certain industry.
For instance there were guilds of weavers, masons, architects, painters, metalsmiths, bakers, butchers, leatherworkers, etc.
Pretty much every industry had a guild of some sort.
The history of guilds goes back to ancient Rome, where they were called ‘collegia.’ These were mostly hereditary organizations sanctioned by the government.
With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, though, guilds disappeared from European society for several centuries.
Traders during the early middle ages were mostly wandering peddlers who traveled from town to town, sometimes banding together to protect themselves from bandits.
But as larger cities developed in the 10th and 11th centuries, more complex organization was possible.
Merchants began delegating certain tasks like transportation of goods to others while they based themselves in cities as their hubs.
Eventually, town governments recognized the associations, and guilds became intimately involved in regulating and protecting members’ commerce.
By the 12th century, guilds were everywhere.
In Britain, well over 100 guilds represented traders and craftsmen from industries like weaving and metalwork. Florence boasted 21 guilds while its clothmaking guild represented some 30,000 workers. Paris had 120 guilds.
Their sheer numbers allowed them to have immense political influence.
In the 13th century, guilds were made up of wealthy and influential citizens. Town councils were dominated by guild members, and legislation usually favored guild activity.
In Paris, guilds grew so powerful that they monopolized trade on the River Seine and had authority over petty crimes and the city's grain quotas.
In many cities it was nearly impossible to have a political career without being a guild member.
Guilds achieved great influence through the power of collective bargaining, but their organizational structure also played a role.
They were organized into a strict hierarchy that’s still used in many industries today.
To enter a guild, established merchants or craftsmen had to “buy in”—in fact the name ‘guild’ comes from the Saxon word ‘gilden,’ meaning 'to pay.'
However, young unskilled workers could enter a guild by becoming apprentices in exchange for their labor.
Apprentices would work unpaid for a master, though they were often provided with food, shelter, and an education in their craft. After roughly 5-9 years, they would be competent enough to become journeymen.
Journeymen had the right to be paid for their labor. They still worked for a master, but once a journeyman provided proof of technical expertise in the form of a ‘masterpiece,’ he would join their ranks and start his own establishment.
Guild masters were the inner circle of the guild. They managed the other members and ensured high production standards for their industry.
Sometimes they even performed random checks to make sure their members’ products were up to snuff.
One Parisian baker recorded the process:
“If the master determines that the bread is not adequate, he can confiscate all the rest of it, even that which is in the oven. And if there are several types of bread in a window, the master will have each one assessed.”
Besides ensuring quality products and assisting their members, guilds contributed to their local communities.
They donated to the poor and helped build churches, and their guildhalls often served as centers of organization for entire towns.
The Florentine church Orsanmichele was constructed by the city’s guilds in the late 14th century. Each guild filled one of its 14 exterior niches with a statue of their patron saint.
They commissioned the best artists of the day: Ghiberti and Donatelllo to name a couple.
Despite wielding great power during the high middle ages and early renaissance, guilds began to decline in the 16th-17th centuries as merchants began to form companies.
And as technological innovation quickened, craft guilds lost their hold over industries.
The most lasting effect of guilds was their influence on the economic organization of Europe.
They bolstered the base of craftsmen, merchants, artisans, and bankers allowing a transition from feudalism to rudimentary capitalism.
Guilds caused a power shift by creating a distinct merchant class in societies that previously only had three basic classes: clergy, lords, and peasants. Merchants became a new “middle class.”
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Perhaps no figure deserves the title “defender of Western civilization” as much as him.
A warrior-statesman, he not only crushed foreign invasions but also laid the foundation for medieval Europe🧵
Born an illegitimate son to Pepin of Herstal, ruler of a few Frankish territories, Charles (c. 688–741 AD) enjoyed the youth of an aristocratic warrior, but was never expected to inherit his father’s rule.
Between royal courts and battlefields, he was trained as a warrior, receiving instruction in sword fighting, horseback combat, and military strategy.
The greatest men in history didn’t sit back and watch their men fight from afar — they led from the front.
A thread on courageous leaders who fought alongside their troops🧵
1. Leonidas
The Spartan king showed his willingness to sacrifice for his people when he, along with a cohort of vastly outnumbered Greeks, fought to the death at Thermopylae in 480 BC.
Despite his death, he’s become immortal in the legend that surrounds his epic last stand.
2. Alexander the Great
Alexander was a huge inspiration to his troops as he led his men from the front during his unprecedented military campaigns.
His bravery came at a cost though—he suffered several injuries, notably a slash to the head and thigh, and an arrow to the lung.
The Ancient Greeks basically invented Western philosophy. 2500 years on and we’re still studying their ideas.
Here are 10 Greek philosophers you need to know🧵
1. Thales, 7th cent. BC
Thales was part of a new generation of thinkers trying to uncover how the cosmos were constructed without relying on the gods as an explanation. An early Monist, he considered a single element to be the main building block of the cosmos.
2. Anaximander, 610 BC
A student of Thales, Anaximander saw the cosmos as ruled by laws, similar to human societies. Any action that disturbed the divine law would fail. He also explored astronomy, tracking the movements of the heavenly bodies, and developed a map of the cosmos.
Every civilization eventually dies — it’s inevitable.
But what can be done about it? What will you do when civilization crumbles around you?
According to historian Arnold Toynbee, there are precisely 3 options — and only one leads to survival…🧵
Toynbee was an English historian who published the 12 volume work “A Study of History,” which traced the life cycle of about two dozen world civilizations.
He attributed the growth and flourishing of civilizations to the creative energies of their leaders.
But once this energy is lost, disintegration and schism follow. A civilization then looks for new ways to recover its creativity.
Toynbee posited that during this phase citizens adopt new beliefs unlike the one that helped the civilization flourish in the first place.
Early Christians had a complete Bible by the 4th century — but that’s not the only thing they were reading to deepen their faith.
Here’s what books the early Church read besides the Bible🧵
1. The Didache, Anonymous, 1st cent.
The Didache is a brief discourse that contains moral and ritualistic teachings—a handbook for a Christian life.
It’s speculated the apostles wrote it, and contains the formulas for baptism and eucharist that are still used today.
2. The Shepherd of Hermas, Hermas, 2nd cent.
St. Iranaeus considered it to be canonical scripture. Though it missed the cut, it’s a fascinating work that centers around the life of a former slave who's given mystical visions and parables informing him how to live a faithful life
What do Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, and Otto von Bismarck all have in common?
They knew that in order to rule effectively, one must shun ideology.
Instead, they embraced realpolitik: rule based on facts, not lofty ideals…🧵
So what is realpolitik?
Realpolitik, as it is understood today, is the approach of making political or diplomatic decisions based on the given circumstances of a matter, not on moral or ethical considerations.
It’s political pragmatism to the nth degree.
The 19th century German writer Ludwig von Rochau first coined the term. He described it as the implementation of the idea that “the law of power governs the world of states just as the law of gravity governs the physical world.”