Essay about The Importance of Merchants in Medieval Times

During the Medieval Times, merchants were just as important and wealthy as the lords and nobles. The way they would go about their wealth was getting an education to learn how to think, count, information about the world, interest rates, exchange rates, and many more information that relates to dealing with money and trade. Education has always been important to create opportunities to have successful jobs and it was interesting to read that in Medieval Times education was considered more of a hobby, but to be a merchant it became less of a hobby and more of an opportunity to be well-educated people and gave them a chance to be successful business men. Merchants were big contributors to their countries’ economy. They would buy raw†¦show more content†¦The masters were the people who were professionals in a specific craft. The apprentices were usually the Master’s sons who learned their specific craft for a certain amount of years. After all the time that is spe nt learning the craft, they gained more skill and experience. Once they’ve finished their experience as an apprentice and learning everything they needed to know, they would work as Journeymen. They would then work and save up all of the money that they earned to one day open up a store of their own. It was interesting to learn that women also took part in guild. Unfortunately, they were not treated as well as the men. They were treated as second-class workers and second-class members. Women worked as servants, petty retailers, spinsters, midwives, prostitutes, and any occupation that didn’t involve any skills. Most women were arranged to marry Guild Masters. Some of the crafts they worked on were silk pinning and embroidery. Even though they were involved in some production of goods, they were completely controlled by the men. Some merchants became wealthy and some weren’t so lucky. Wealth did not depend on status or hierarchy; it depended on your success in bu siness. Some merchants even made their way up to nobles because of how good they were as businessmen. In the 13th and 14th centuries, Church’s looked down upon those who made their living as merchants. An occupation that involvedShow MoreRelatedHumanism: Renaissance and Merchant Class1743 Words   |  7 Pagesgradual, inconsistent, and variable from place to place. The Renaissance had its origins in Italy because a powerful merchant class arose in its cities that replaced the landed aristocracy and clergy as the leaders of society. This new class, along with many aristocrats and clergy, embraced humanist ideals. Generally speaking, humanism was a new worldly ideal to replace the medieval focus on eternal life. 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