Medieval Guilds and Trade Fairs

The Crusades focused people's attention on religion, but they ended up having a powerful impact on Medieval Life in another way. They helped introduce people in Europe to new products from other countries, like spices, scented soaps, colorful rugs, and more. As people wanted to have these and other products, new trade routes opened and people from many countries began transporting their goods by land and by sea. Along some of the main routes, trade fairs were set up so merchants could sell their goods. Go to this web site and read more: http://medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/tradefairs.html.

Medieval Guilds

Knights and nobles weren't the only ones who used coats-of-arms. Medieval Guilds would often display a coat-of-arms in their guild hall. A guild was a group of skilled craftsmen who did the same job. So, a group of shoemakers living in the same town would have formed a guild to make sure shoes were made to a certain standard of quality, to make sure that they sold for a fair price, and to make sure that their members had specific skills. To become a guildsman, a person had to go through three steps: apprentice, journeyman, and finally, a master. The two shields above represent the blacksmith guild and the shoemaker guild.

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Heralds record coats-of-arms in books called Rolls of Arms

Coats of Arms are more than just interesting colorful symbols placed on "awesome" shields. A Coat of Arms tells us about people and families that lived hundreds of years ago. In the middle ages it was a herald's job to know which coat of arms belonged to which knight or nobleman. Heralds often kept a record of coats of arms by drawing or painting them on a roll of parchment. It sometimes stayed in the form of a roll and other times it was made into a book. This record-keeping format became known as a

Roll of Arms and it generally included rows of painted shields along with the name of the person who owned the coat of arms. Roll of Arms are important primary documents that preserve information about many generations of knights and families dating back to the 1200s and are still being made by 21^st century heralds today.

The above picture is of a page from the Hyghalmen Roll, Germany, dating back to 1485.