GUILDS

1
GUILDS

• Guilds were business groups formed by members of
  a certain craft who lived and worked in the same
  European town. These people were merchants,
  artisans, and workers. Many guilds came into
  being around the 1100s and were created to
  protect workers by making sure that their members
  were treated equally.
• The Guilds of the late middle ages could be
  thought of as an early union. However, there are
  some differences.
• 1. Unlike modern trade
• unions that are organizations
• of workers only guilds included
• employers, masters, and workers.
• Craft guilds also had religious
• ties and their own patron saints.
• 2. Medieval guilds controlled all
• the business in a town, establishing
• rules on prices, wages, and
• unemployment.
• In the U.S. today, laws prohibit price fixing
  and
• monopolies. In addition, the Taft-Hartley
• Act outlaws both hiring only union
• members and forcing employees to
• join unions.

2
Magna Carta

• The English nobles were upset at the king for
  ignoring the law and increasing taxes. They
  wanted certain rights and power and less power
  for the king.
• So in 1215, they forced King John of England to
  sign the Magna Carta in Runnymede Meadow
  (southwest of London), England.
• The Magna Carta was a Great Charter which was a
  document stating the king had less controlling
  power and could not collect taxes unless the
  council agreed. It included many other important
  ideas that lead to democracy.

3
Magna Carta

• 5 things that the Magna Carta did
• 1. It took away some of the Kings power
  increased that of the nobles.
• 2. A king could no longer collect taxes unless
  the Great Council agreed
• 3. Freemen accused of crimes had the right to
  trial by their peers, or equals.
• 4. The Magna Carta was viewed as an important
  step towards democracy.
• 5. It brought to government the new idea that
  even a King is not above the law.
• In 1264, Simon de Montfort came to power. He
  gave people a voice in government by letting them
  have representatives in the Great Council. Eight
  years later, King Edward I requested a meeting of
  representatives in order to give him advice and
  help him make new laws. This gathering became
  known as Parliament. Through Parliament the
  people of England gained a greater share in
  ruling their land.

4
Magna Carta

• The two separate groups of Parliament and who is
  in them are
• 1. Nobles clergy met as the House of Lords
• 2. Knights townspeople met as the House of
  Commons
• The word parliament introduced by Simon de
  Montfort, comes from parler, the French word
  meaning to talk or discuss. Because it set the
  precedent for the holding of future parliaments,
  Edward Is gathering was later called the Model
  Parliament.

5
Joan of Arc

• Joan of Arc, whose real name was Jeanne d Arc
  was a 17 year old French peasant girl who
  believed that she had been told by God through
  heavenly voices that she was to help save France.
• She went to the son of the French King Charles
  VII to ask if she could have an army to save
  France by freeing Orleans. In 1429, Joan of Arc
  led the French army against the English at
  Orleans. She became known as the Maid of
  Orleans.
• She was later captured by the English,
  imprisoned, then burned at the stake, dying at
  the age of 18. Twenty-four years later, a trial
  proved her innocence. Today, Joan of Arc is the
  second patron saint of France.