Meet the Middle Ages
BackTrade-guilds
Just as the craftsmen had their associations, the craft-guilds, the merchants had their trade-guilds. The trade-guilds could help in different situations. They could for example help a widow whose husband had died at sea or a guild member who had fallen ill. The first guilds were formed as early as in the 12th and 13th century. They were common in the towns throughout the Middle Ages.
The trade guilds controlled the trade in the medieval towns. The guilds were at first organised after which towns or districts the merchants sailed to. In Lübeck there were, for example, a Greenland trader guild, a Gotland trader guild and a Bergen trader guild for the merchants who sailed to these places. When the merchants no longer travelled around themselves, guilds were formed according to which merchandise they dealt in. In Kalmar, there was for example a prosperous cloth-merchant´s guild called St. Christoffers Guild after its Patron Saint.
The guilds were often prosperous and built large houses where they entertained and held celebrations. In Lübeck such a house from the 16th century is still standing. It is the Skippers’ House.
The leading men of the guilds were often Town Council members as well. Wealth and political influence went hand in hand.