Final answer:
Guild members were skilled professionals and artisans such as creative painters, craft manufacturers, and merchants, and were organized into collective entities that enforced professional standards across a range of trades and crafts. The correct option is (a).
Step-by-step explanation:
The members of the guilds were various skilled professionals including creative painters like those in the art market of the Netherlands and the craft manufacturers and merchants as seen in the urban classes of central Mexico's craft production. Guilds were not solely limited to the rich and powerful or priests; they were collectives for all skilled workers to enforce high professional standards, often backed by significant urban or trade power.
For example, the Benin City in the 1400s was known for its guilds under the direction of a master guild leader, and in the Medieval European social order, guilds could include members such as laborers who were skilled in a particular trade.