1 00:00:02,350 --> 00:00:05,469 The life of a commoner in the High Middle Ages wasn't easy. 2 00:00:06,650 --> 00:00:12,130 By High Middle Ages, we are referring to a period of time that spans from around the 11th century to the 13th century. 3 00:00:13,269 --> 00:00:15,890 In Western Europe, feudalism was a system of government. 4 00:00:16,870 --> 00:00:22,109 This means the higher classes were royals and nobles who owned land and the lower classes were those who worked on the land. 5 00:00:22,789 --> 00:00:26,309 The landowners were expected to be unquestioningly loyal to the king. 6 00:00:26,589 --> 00:00:31,850 In exchange, the noble was granted control over his land and the peasants who lived and worked on it. 7 00:00:32,350 --> 00:00:36,350 Peasants worked to maintain the land and pay taxes and rent to their lord. 8 00:00:36,350 --> 00:00:43,350 Feudalism was not very beneficial to the lower classes, and there was little chance a peasant would ever move up in the social ranks. 9 00:00:43,350 --> 00:00:48,350 In the High Middle Ages, taxes grew along with an increase in trade and foreign military campaigns. 10 00:00:48,350 --> 00:00:56,350 No single peasant had much of a say about the oppression, but a group of peasants with a common voice was more readily heard. 11 00:00:56,350 --> 00:01:02,689 As peasants, who shared commonality in the product they sold or made, formed into an organized group they became known as guilds. 12 00:01:03,310 --> 00:01:06,590 Guilds created standards for their products and regulations for sale. 13 00:01:07,510 --> 00:01:10,950 Guilds provided a means for a person to move higher in the social class system. 14 00:01:11,310 --> 00:01:17,069 The guild set standards for the products of its members and also for the means by which they were compensated. 15 00:01:18,150 --> 00:01:23,209 Guilds could grant protection to their members against high taxes or rent forced upon them by their lords. 16 00:01:23,209 --> 00:01:31,519 A guild could fix the price of a product and prevent any advertisement or price reductions to stop competition among craftsmen and merchants. 17 00:01:31,519 --> 00:01:37,519 In doing so, the guild not only provided protection to its members, but also to consumers. 18 00:01:37,519 --> 00:01:42,519 Quality standards of the products offered also ensured consumers would not be taken advantage of. 19 00:01:42,519 --> 00:01:47,519 Craftsmen and merchants weren't allowed to trade products with people who were not members. 20 00:01:47,519 --> 00:01:52,519 Guilds also provided care for members who became sick and protected them while they traveled. 21 00:01:52,519 --> 00:01:59,519 Similar to modern unions, they also petitioned for good working conditions and reasonable working hours. 22 00:01:59,519 --> 00:02:06,519 Guilds also helped with the cost of funerals for its members and helped provide care for orphans and workers who became disabled. 23 00:02:06,519 --> 00:02:10,520 Some supported education for its members as well. 24 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:16,520 At the time, most of the schools were held in monasteries and were only used to educate clergy. 25 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:21,520 As trade increased and the demand for literacy and commoners for record-keeping grew, 26 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:25,520 church schools could no longer handle the educational needs of the people. 27 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:29,520 Some of the earliest secular schools were supported by guilds. 28 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,520 In addition to caring for the sick and disabled, 29 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:36,520 guilds also helped build buildings and protected barriers around villages and towns. 30 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:42,520 They provided military assistance against any foreign invaders and monitored the town for criminal activity. 31 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,520 The members were thought to have high ethical and moral standards 32 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,599 standards and expected to avoid any corruptive behavior. 33 00:02:49,599 --> 00:02:51,960 Each guild had its own official charter. 34 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,340 The charter was the legislative grant written by the government that identified the group 35 00:02:55,340 --> 00:02:57,400 as a guild. 36 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:01,639 In having official status, guilds were able to enforce rules on their members. 37 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:04,960 Merchant guilds controlled the way trade was conducted in a town. 38 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,879 They enforced rules like bans on trading with non-members. 39 00:03:08,879 --> 00:03:12,599 Some merchant guilds became very powerful, and their members were able to obtain higher 40 00:03:12,599 --> 00:03:15,259 social positions in their towns. 41 00:03:15,259 --> 00:03:19,139 Some held office within their cities while also representing their guild. 42 00:03:19,139 --> 00:03:23,699 As members could climb to the hierarchical ranks in a guild to help their social status, 43 00:03:23,699 --> 00:03:26,520 membership consistently increased. 44 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:30,280 As the number of members in merchant guilds grew, so did the number of guilds. 45 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:34,759 The merchant guilds became so powerful that they started to create regulations over unrepresented 46 00:03:34,759 --> 00:03:38,120 individual craftsmen and traders. 47 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:43,699 The regulations created a need for the craftsmen to create their own guilds to protect themselves. 48 00:03:43,699 --> 00:03:49,099 Both guilds were created to protect craftsmen and traders against merchant guilds. 49 00:03:49,099 --> 00:03:52,819 They worked much in the way of the merchant guilds, shielding members from excessive taxes 50 00:03:52,819 --> 00:03:56,379 and providing care and protection for its members. 51 00:03:56,379 --> 00:04:00,139 Guilds were formed by people who produced the same type of product. 52 00:04:00,139 --> 00:04:07,539 Some of the guilds formed at this time include the following, bakers, masons, painters, apothecaries, 53 00:04:07,539 --> 00:04:11,939 Handlemakers, Clothers, Tanners, and Cobblers. 54 00:04:13,580 --> 00:04:19,420 Although craft guilds attempted to regulate the number of members, the guilds grew in number and size very quickly. 55 00:04:20,220 --> 00:04:22,360 A hierarchy developed to regulate members. 56 00:04:23,379 --> 00:04:25,740 The newest members of a guild were known as Apprentices. 57 00:04:26,639 --> 00:04:30,519 Apprentices were developing skills within their craft and learning the ways of business. 58 00:04:31,620 --> 00:04:34,399 They were given training by the guild along with food and shelter. 59 00:04:34,399 --> 00:04:41,480 If an apprentice was successful, he would then reach the second level of the craft guild and be known as a journeyman. 60 00:04:42,339 --> 00:04:47,079 Journeymen were paid a small wage while they got better food and a slightly higher quality of shelter. 61 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:52,680 If a journeyman met with success, he could reach the highest level of the hierarchy, the master. 62 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,759 In order to become a master, a journeyman's work had to be examined by other masters. 63 00:04:58,300 --> 00:05:02,060 If the masters approved of the journeyman's work, he could have his own shop. 64 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:04,740 This would give him the level of master in his guild. 65 00:05:05,579 --> 00:05:10,879 As we briefly learned before, the educational structure was changing in Western Europe in the High Middle Ages. 66 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:18,980 Crusaders who were fighting a holy war in the Near East returned from battle with manuscripts written by famous Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Plato. 67 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:25,800 These texts were normally only available to monks who copied them for preservation rather than for education. 68 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:34,800 Now that secular schools were developing, these classical documents were used to teach many people how to reason and debate ideas with each other. 69 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:40,800 Education advanced quickly under the classical structure and masters began to form their own guilds. 70 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:48,800 These guilds were known as universitas, which was a Latin term that meant a group of people associated into one body. 71 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,800 You might think of these as scholastic guilds. 72 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:56,920 guilds. These groups enforced educational standards on their students and teachers. 73 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:03,480 This was the beginning of the modern university. Feudalism in the high middle ages created 74 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:09,139 an unending oppression for peasants. In order to have a better voice and stop unfair treatment, 75 00:06:09,139 --> 00:06:13,879 craftsmen and tradesmen banded together to organize guilds. Guilds offered a means by 76 00:06:13,879 --> 00:06:18,240 which a commoner could increase his place in the social hierarchy. Merchant guilds were 77 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:23,600 formed to protect its members and regulate trade. As merchant guilds grew bigger and more powerful, 78 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:28,399 they began to take advantage of individual craftsmen. The craftsmen then began to form 79 00:06:28,399 --> 00:06:33,120 their own guilds called craft guilds. Craft guilds worked to protect its members from 80 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:38,720 over-regulation and to set standards for the products produced. Additionally, scholars began 81 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:43,839 to form guilds to regulate educational standards and protect students and teachers. These skills 82 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:49,279 were referred to as universitas and led to the creation of modern universities.