Question

What is a guild? What did Medieval guilds do?

Answer 1

A guild is a group or association of traders or craftsman. Every guild focused on a particular trade in particular area e.g potters guild etc.

The Medieval guilds controlled prices, working hours, standard of products and used to define trade rules and regulations. They had their own courts to resolve their matters. Besides they used to play an important role in society.

Answer 2

The medieval guilds were generally one of two types: merchant guilds or craft guilds. merchant guilds were associations of all or most of the merchants in a particular town or city; these men might be local or long-distance traders, wholesale or retail sellers, and might deal in various categories of goods.