Commerce - The Gaelic Nations - 1330s and Beyond
Feb 23, 2010 21:03:49 GMT -6
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Post by King Adam Aberdeen I on Feb 23, 2010 21:03:49 GMT -6
The romantic images of knights in shining armor, magnificent castles, and glorious cathedrals, and to many people, wrongly suggests a cultural intermission between the classical period of the Greek and Roman civilizations and the Renaissance. On the contrary, it was a dynamic period that shaped the Gaelic Nations identity and development, stimulated in part by their interactions with other cultures in Europe, Eurasia, and the Mediterranean. Many of the basic social and political patterns and institutions were formed during this era. Clear political boundaries and cultural identities emerged and a chain reaction of developments in economy, society, and political life contributed to new trends in religion, scholarship, literature, and other arts—trends that shaped the Gaelic culture.
Territorial expansion, innovations in agriculture, and the development of cities and trade brought rapid economic change to the Nations. Changes in the availability and consumption of material goods and in population distribution radically altered social relations and political organization. These changes created new, more independent classes. These classes competed against and balanced each other so that no one group gained absolute power.
Migration and expansion of frontiers stretched the boundaries of Skye and the Gaelic Nations in the Mediterranean, Europe, and North Africa. Much of this migration and expansion was led by warrior groups, such warrior groups were the Viking-descended Normans in France, who went to Sicily; the Teutonic Knights, who moved German peasants eastward into Slavic territories; the Crusaders rescuing the Holy Land from the Muslim Turks; and the Christian "Reconquista."
The clearing of land and new techniques in agriculture led to higher food production, a rise in population, and greater economic freedom. Agricultural tools, such as the heavy plow, along with new methods for harnessing animal power, such as the horse collar, enabled farmers to work the rich, dense soil of northern Europe using less labor. The three-field system replaced two-field crop rotation, allowing farmers to cultivate two-thirds, instead of half, of their land at once, while leaving one-third to rest and build nutrients. Energy-producing devices such as the windmill and tidal mill for grinding grain also increased productivity. Consequently, Europeans began eating better; they lived longer and grew in number. An improved diet with iron-rich legumes increased women’s life span and helped them survive childbearing. Europe's population almost doubled; in some regions, it tripled. Surplus food and population meant that more people could devote their energies to new crafts and trade instead of to subsistence agriculture.
This increase in productivity led to urbanization, or the growth of market towns and cities. Townspeople bought foodstuffs and raw supplies from rural areas, and sold crafts made by local artisans as well as items imported from other regions. Towns and townspeople became independent of the landholding aristocracy and were able to regulate their own businesses through charters granted by kings. Coins became a convenient medium of exchange, and a money-based economy, complete with banking, investing, and lending activities, emerged. Merchants and investors formed competing trade networks. The merchants brought luxury goods from the east and from North African ports in exchange for Europe's raw materials. A group of northern German towns formed the Hanseatic League. The league monopolized the trade routes that transported raw goods, such as timber, furs, and metals, along the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and major rivers. In doing so, they linked the Gaelic Nations, Germany, Scandinavia, and eastern European countries. Although the majority of people still lived in rural areas, towns increasingly dominated the landscape.
The economic changes brought about by increased trade and the emergence of cities created new tensions in society. These tensions permeated the boundaries of class, gender, ethnicity, and religion. The interaction between rural and urban classes led to the establishment of new political organizations and laws designed to balance the needs of competing classes.
As towns emerged, new social classes—such as merchants and artisans—disrupted the established social patterns of society. According to the traditional view, three orders worked together in the rural community: the warrior aristocracy, or people who fight; the peasantry, or people who work; and the clergy, or people who pray. These traditional communities were organized in a hierarchy and bound together like a family, with the noble acting as a father figure over his household and the village inhabitants. Townspeople, who earned their living through crafts or commerce, broke from these rural obligations and familial ties, so they created new social networks through associations called Guilds. Merchant guilds protected the town's interests by regulating trade with outsiders and providing benefits for members. Craft guilds organized by tanners, butchers, and weavers set wage and price controls and established rules for apprenticeship and membership. To some, the urban freedoms of the newly chartered towns seemed to undermine the traditional hierarchical order of society. Others thought merchants were worldly and materialistic because they did no work of their own but rather profited from others' labor by buying and selling goods. Contrary to this opinion, guilds spread their wealth by giving alms to the poor and building churches to visibly demonstrate their members’ collective piety.
The choices made by women in the patriarchal society illustrate the new and increased variety of social classes. Women's roles usually were defined in relation to men, with marriage and childbearing as women’s main social and political functions. Nevertheless, women were active and influential throughout society. Royal and aristocratic women wielded authority at court and managed complex households. Townswomen operated brewing and weaving businesses and even briefly formed their own guilds. Peasant women engaged in intensive manual labor, producing food and sustaining their households. Some women left such circumstances to become household servants in the manor or in towns, where their rights were minimal. Religious women chose to exchange the material life of marriage and family for a spiritual and intellectual life in a cloister. While women could not become priests, they did influence society as visionaries, spiritual advisors, and writers. Women frequently spoke out on the religious, political, and social issues.
In both the hierarchical and communal order, everyone had a place and knew it. One’s identity was linked to kinship, class, and faith; ignoring these boundaries threatened the order of society. In response to the perceived threat of non-Christian peoples, such as Jews, Muslims, Gypsies, and religious heretics, discriminatory laws placed those groups on the margins of society. However, despite the discrimination and fear that oftentimes restricted their businesses and social contacts, Jewish communities maintained a strong internal network through family, synogogue, and contacts with Jews across and outside Europe. In fact, Jews played an integral role in medieval society by influencing medieval scholarship.
In the midst of the economic growth and social turmoil, the people witnessed the stabilization of Skye’s political boundaries and the growth of a centralized government throughout the Nations. Building on the economic strength of towns and trade, the Mo’rs Triath and Okesula developed competent bureaucracies to govern their domain, as is evident in the increased use of written legal documents. The power of these new rulers was limited, however, by pressure from competing social groups and political organizations, such as the aristocracy, townspeople, and the Church.
The growing communities in Skye developed stable political identities under a central ruler. Skye and the Gaelic Nations did not have an absolute power; rather their competence lay in developing strategic relationships with the aristocracy, the towns, and the Church. Even while the Aberdeens were centralizing their power, new representative assemblies laid down the roots of government by consent of the people. Often conflicts between these competing sources of authority gave rise to new political theories and laws.
Creative tensions in society and politics led to new ideas, such as those exchanged in the debates over faith and reason in the new universities. They also led to the rise of new religious orders and forms of spirituality. New ideas emerged in popular religion during the struggle between orthodox Christianity and numerous heresies. The influence of Jewish and Muslim scholarship, the rise of an educated class of career scholars, and the growth of an urban reading public also contributed to this cultural and intellectual ferment in Skye.
Universities arose in Skye, as well as the major European cities. These universities met the demand for education in the seven liberal arts—grammar, rhetoric, logic, astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, and music—education that became a significant path to career advancement. Universities specializing in the higher disciplines—law, medicine, theology and philosophy — all becoming centers for intellectual debate. Scholars debated how humans can know truth—whether knowledge of truth occurs through faith, through human reason and investigation, or through some combination of both means. Although none of these scholars denied Christian truth as it was revealed in the Bible, some placed faith before reason. Others put reason first. Some produced a brilliant synthesis of faith and reason, while a group of philosophers called nominalists questioned whether human language could accurately describe reality. These inquiries into the nature of knowledge contributed to scientific inquiry, evident in the experimental theories.
Growth in urban society, intellectual innovations, and the tension between spirituality and order in the Church all contributed to the development of new creative styles in literature, the visual arts, architecture, and music. Trade and the money-based economy of Skye supported this creativity, as was evident in the importation of styles and materials from abroad, in aristocratic patronage of the arts, and in the craft and merchant guilds’ contributions for the construction of monumental churches in their towns.
Literacy increased, especially among the urban lay populations, who had more time to read. While most books were written in Latin, which was considered the dominant language of learning, more books were being produced in languages, such as English, French, and German. From this vernacular literature, new styles and genres evolved. At the courts, troubadours wrote and performed lyric poetry celebrating the love between knights and ladies. Epic tales of warrior heroism gave way to romances celebrating courtly love and knightly chivalry. The popular fabliaux, or animal fables, often emphasized the virtues and cleverness of working people over those traits of the higher classes. Some poked fun at all societal classes. Religious books—sermons, biographies of saints, and stories of miracles—provided enlightening literature for pious readers, increasingly women. Books were handwritten manuscripts, laboriously copied by scribes using quill or reed pens to write on animal skin parchment. Expensive manuscripts were decorated with illustrations painted in gold and brilliant colors— full page portraits of Christ and other saints or intricately drawn vines, plants, and fantastic beasts intertwined down the margins. Soon all that would change when books could be produced on a massive scale.
Stylistic changes also occurred in visual arts, such as painting, sculpture, metalwork, stained glass, and architecture, and in performing arts, such as music and drama. New engineering innovations emphasized greater emotional expression. Engineers were allowed to build higher and lighter walls, while stained glass windows gave the interior a sense of heavenly illumination.
Skye and the Gaelic Nations were marked by the diversification and growth of economy and society and by the subsequent social tension and political and religious conflict. These developments also led to creative new approaches in artistic expression, legal theory, and philosophy. The dynamic, lively culture that emerged from economy, society, politics, religion, scholarship, and the arts brought the people of Skye and the Nations onto a world stage.
Democratic values and institutions did not arise as a direct contradiction of authoritarian forms of governance. Rather they emerged by a gradual change in the principles that governed the distribution of power in society. An oligarchy of military strength, divine right, aristocratic lineage and land gradually gave way to an oligopoly of wealthy merchants. The parliaments of the first stage were congresses of feudal lords. The parliaments of the second were assemblies of rich traders. The idea of universe human rights and freedoms which we now identify as the essence of democracy was at first cited as a justification for redistribution of power to the commercial class and only much later as a principle for extending rights and privileges to all citizens. This shift continues today in countries around the world and may not yet have reached its peak in any country.
Centuries of relative physical security and stability under the feudal system led to the re-emergence of long suppressed human energies and aspirations. The feudal system maintained a delicate balance between the rights and power of feudal lords and those of the central monarch.
The growth of guild crafts and trade created new centers of wealth and power concentrated in cities. The rise of city-states undermined the power of rural, land-based feudal kingdoms and created an alternative source of support for the monarch. The merchant class that rose to power in these city-states utilized the power of their new found wealth to leverage greater economic freedom and political independence from the monarch in exchange for financial support. The bishops lost control to self-governing communes, whose members were appointed by their citizens. The commercially active cities enjoyed a considerable degree of political freedom. Local independence created a rivalry in the fields of art, literature and philosophy. In their attempt to bring themselves to the forefront, aristocrats and princes took over the patronage of literature and art from the Pope. Academies were founded by patron princes. Through these academies the influence of new learning infiltrated society. The new humanistic education and economic prosperity brought into greater prominence the role of the individual in social advancement.
The growth of commerce spurred the rise of money as a new center of wealth. The shift from a land-based to a money-based social system laid the economic foundation for the emergence of individualism by according status and privileges to those who acquired wealth by effort and merit rather than restricting it to a hereditary aristocracy. It undermined the power of the feudal lords and transferred power to a new merchant class. The organization of agriculture also underwent tremendous changes. It was found that free laborers who paid rent or worked for wages produced more crops and generated more profits than enserfed laborers. The shift to a new system of wage payments for agricultural labor not only increased agricultural productivity, but also freed peasants from permanent ties to their feudal rulers. The decline of feudalism that resulted led to an increase in individual economic freedom.
This new economic freedom became the breeding ground for ideas. It was the wealth gathered from commerce that financed the Gaelic Renaissance. Skye cities became fertile soil for the spread of humanistic thought, social aspirations and individual enterprise, leading to the rebirth of classical learning and literature. The rise of vernacular languages acted as a channel for the spread of humanistic ideas to all sections of the society. Humanism tried to free intellect from the control of religion. The new humanism transformed the ideal of a man with a sword to that of individual attaining worth by absorbing the culture. Study of the Classics was no longer confined to the clergy and aristocracy. Humanism opened the gates of secular learning to layman. The hereditary base of social privilege began to give way.
The new economic, political and intellectual environment contributed to religious reformation. The Reformation was a direct attack on the suppression of individualism by a despotic church organization. The Reformation transmitted new humanistic ideas to all parts of Skye, into the Gaelic Nations and even to Europe. It shifted authority in the sphere of religion from the institution of the church to the individual. It sowed the seeds of freedom that later sprouted in the economic, political and social spheres.
Custom ruled a large share of the industrial life of the Nations and Europe. Political and economic interests were not clearly divided. By custom, land was the all-important kind of wealth. Military and other public services were performed by the vassal, who thus at the same time paid his taxes and the rent of the land. The landlord was at once the ruler, the receiver of rents, and the collector of taxes. The rent, however, was not a competitive price, but consisted of the dues and services the forefathers had been accustomed to pay. This limited slavery, like all other slavery, was wasteful, as it did not give to the individual the strongest motive to increase the quantity and to improve the quality of his service. Trade became limited in almost every direction. Crafts and guilds arrogated to themselves the right of employment in their industries. No matter what talent the son of a peasant might show, he usually found it impossible and always found it difficult to follow the occupation of his choice. Privilege pervaded all the life of the period before the Aberdeens. In such conditions economic friction was great. Men were kept in trades below their ability, while others gain monopolistic and unearned returns.
Then the Aberdeens came to power and sought freedoms not given before. The call for a Gaelic Renaissance resonated throughout the land and even infiltrated all of Europe. Wars were fooguth for these unseen freedoms and with their victory came a new era. Yet through all this ran the forces of competition. The inefficiency of customary services was a constant invitation to competitors. Men were striving to break over the barriers of custom and prejudice. The strife for freedom was the vital economic force. Industrial history is largely the story of the struggle of the forces of competition against the bounds of custom. Customs were being broken by the Griffin reign of power and so were the boundaries of economic freedoms.
Economic freedom is a term used in economic and policy debates all over the world. As with freedom generally, there are various definitions, but no universally accepted concept of economic freedom. One major approach to economic freedom comes from the libertarian tradition emphasizing free markets and private property, while another extends the welfare economics study of individual choice, with greater economic freedom coming from a "larger" (in some technical sense) set of possible choices. Another more philosophical perspective emphasizes its context in distributive justice and basic freedoms of all individuals. Economic freedom exists when men's goods or their own services may be exchanged as they choose, without hindrance. Competition is but another expression for economic freedom. Where men are free to exchange their goods and to get the best price they can, and actually do so, they are said to compete. The action of men in the mass follows pretty regular lines, corresponding to certain abiding motives. If one man dictated all industry, a very fragmentary science of economics would be possible; but the mass of men act according to some rule and are free so to act. When men are free to bring their goods to a market and get the best price possible,
Out of this came a transformed category. A merchant, actually a businessperson, (by the laws of the Gaelic Nations, a man or woman), is someone who is employed at usually a profit-oriented enterprise. A business, company, enterprise or firm, is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods and/or services to clients. Businesses are predominant in Skye, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners and grow the business itself. The owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for work and acceptance of risk. From this class came wealth to the Government thru taxes.
While peasants worked the fields and the lords and ladies of the castle feasted, merchants were sailing the seas around Europe and the Mediterranean. They traded in food, raw materials, and luxuries: wool from the Gaelic Nations, furs from Russia, wood from Scandinavia, salt and wine from France, horses from Spain, cloth and tapestries from Flanders, glass from Italy, and silks and spices from Asia.
Trade made the merchants rich, and it also brought wealth to the rulers of the lands in which the trading took place. Many of the rulers would demand a fee or a gift to them for allowing the foreigners to trade in their land, and they also taxed all traded goods. Numerous wars were fought over trade, because of the great profit it brought to the land. Despite the overwhelming pressures of religion, the Crusades were not just holy wars, but they also aimed to take one of the largest trading centers and routes in the world.
As trade developed, towns along the trade routes became richer and richer. Some developed into great cities, such as Turas Lan, Paris, London, Florence, and Alexandria. This increase in wealth and riches lead to the increased prosperity of the local merchants, and also of the farmers in the area. There was more of a need for their services, and more and more money to be made each day. Many wealthy trading towns became virtually independent states, and they soon became exempt from the reigning feudal systems.
Elsewhere, outside of the Gaelic Nations, the merchants and the leading figures in a town often struggled with the lord of the manor, whose land they were making such a great profit upon. So that they could be free and rule themselves, town leaders might arrange to buy a charter from the lord, or from the king himself. In return for their hefty payment, the town became a "free borough," ruled by its own council and led by a democratically elected mayor.
Skilled craftsmen were of vast importance to the cities, towns, and castles. They helped to mend metalwork, mill crops, build houses, and do many other important things. Without their expertise in the making of goods, most of the cities and towns would not have survived because individual families could not have produced all the necessary goods to sustain life in the village. Also, the carrying on of the family profession was an honor, and many families were famous in their profession.
There were many professions which the children could choose to take-up, and all were equally important in the society. All parts of the town depended on the craftsmen's goods. Millers ground the grain that the farmer's provided them. They were integral part of the society and were also the richest of craftsmen. They were also the most disliked. They paid the lord to operate his mill and everyone was required to use his mill. Blacksmiths made the tools which most of the other workers needed to do their job. They also had an agreement with the lord. In return for charcoal, they performed all of the castle's metal working needs. Bakers were responsible for providing food made out of bread to those who were not farmers. The farmers grew many of the necessary items to feed the town's hunger. Shoemakers and seamstresses kept the town's clothes in descent shape. Candlemakers helped keep the homes lit. Thatchers helped to make thatch roofs for barns and other buildings. Carpenters repaired wooden objects like buildings and carts. As you can see, if any one part of the town failed, the entire structure suffered along with them.
Guilds are one of the most influential organizations of the time. They flourish because of the main reasons they were formed: to protect the business from the merchants, to ensure high standards and a high quality of work, and to look after the old and sick members of the guild. The regular town merchants need protection from the merchants who came for a provided cheap labor. The people of the town always wanted the job to be done right the first time, with as little money spent as possible. The guilds help ensure that the job would be done right by having training requirements for their workers. Also, when the workers become ill, or become too old to work any longer, the guild supports them and their families. They usually have a central shop which was elaborately decorated and showed their wealth.
There were many concerns on the part of towns and the rulers of those towns concerning the detrimental effects that trading had on the towns. Many of the local merchants were often run out of business because they could not compete with the selection and the quick service of the traveling guilds of merchants. Also, some towns left their former suppliers for these new, cheaper services that the merchants could supply, and many towns fell into ruin because of the foreigners. Also, as the sheer number of people were attracted to these wealthy capitals of the world, crime and overcrowding became major concerns. Disease spread easily and quickly through these towns, usually killing thousands instead of the usual hundred or so in the smaller towns. Hence is why the Mo’r Triath formed the Physician’s Guild and called for advances in medical research.
The guilds were an important part of city and town life. Guilds were exclusive, regimented organizations, created in part to preserve the rights and privileges of their members, and were separate and distinct from the civic governments, but since the functions and purposes of guild and civic government overlapped, it was not always easy to tell them apart, especially since many well-to-do guildsmen were prominent in civic government.
Economic Freedom, along with the enhancement of civil liberties, seem to explode in the Gaelic Nations. Formerly, there were two kinds of guilds that were especially important to civic life--merchant guilds and craft guilds. But entrepreneurs felt this was a restriction on economic freedom. Within a year, the two guilds merged to form the Merchant Guild. Not only could one be a craftsman, but he could own his own business.
Merchant Guild
The merchant guilds were a society of entrepreneurs; Merchants were any who engage in commercial activity be it by participation and/or selling of craft or skill items or by monetary trade and investment of the same.
Arts and Craft Guilds
Under the Merchants Guild were the arts and craft guilds, associations of skilled artisans or craftsmen. The craft guilds furthered the specialization of an industry. The purpose of the craft guilds was to enhance learning a particular craft or skill. This gave the consumer and worker a sort of protection against less than desirable quality. Many craft regulations prevented poor workmanship. Each article had to be examined by a board of the guild and stamped as approved. All prices were regulated. Craftsmen could take work outside where it could be seen. Price-gouging was strictly forbidden in Skye.
Services Performed by the Merchant Guild
The Merchants Guild performed other services for their members as well. They provided funeral expenses for poorer members and aid to survivors; provided dowries for poor girls; covered members with a type of health insurance and provisions for care of the sick; built chapels; donated windows to local churches or cathedrals; frequently helped in the actual construction of the churches; watched over the morals of the members who indulged in gambling and usury; and were important for their contribution to emergence of lay education. In earlier times, the only schools in existence had been the monastic or cathedral schools.
Guilds and Community Interrelationships
The members of the Merchants Guild were called confraternities, brothers and sisters helping one another. From the political viewpoint, the Guild was neither sovereign nor unrelated to society outside the guild and town organization. As a collective unit, the guild might be a vassal to a bishop, lord or king, as in Paris, or the Mo’r Triath in the Gaelic Nations. The extent of vassalage depended on the degree of independence of the town where it was located. There was a close connection between the Guild and the city authorities. The Mo’r Triath could intervene in event of trouble in the Guild. For instance, he established the hours of work, fixed prices, established weights and measures, and standardized currency. Guild officials were frequently appointed to serve in civic government because the Guild usually voted as a unit, raised funding for troops, and paid taxes as a group.
The Guild was required to perform public services. They took turns policing the streets and constructed public buildings, among other civic duties established by the Mo’r Triath and walls to defend the town or city.
Guild membership
A perceived higher social status could be achieved through guild membership. To become a guild member one had to go through 4 stages: lowest was novice, next was apprentice, next was journeyman, and top-ranking stage was master.
Novice - a person admitted to probationary membership in a merchant community. As the people of the Gaelic Nations became more educated than the norm, a form of mentoring began to take place place in the trade environments between an older more experienced merchants and their friends or connections. Most new entrants in the trades were picked for their sensibility, confidence, social status and reliability. These new people could enter into a trade of their choice or be selected by older merchants. The novice stage allowed a person to select a field or be selected… The novice is usually a teenager who went to live with a master and his family; his/her parents paid to have him taken on. (s)He probably occupied the attic of their 3 story home or a dormitory established by the guild: The shop where (s)he would learn his trade was located on the ground floor; The second story was the masters' living area; The third story housed the journeyman who was there to learn also. The apprentice was subject to the master. During the novice stage, (s)he was not allowed to marry.
Apprentice -- The apprentice was subject to the master. During his/her apprenticeship (s)he was not allowed to marry. This learning period might vary from 2-7 years depending on the craft. His/Her training included the rudiments of the trade. The apprentice then progressed to journeyman.
Journeyman or day worker -- entitled to earn a salary. The next hurdle was to produce a masterpiece that would satisfy the master of the guild so that (s)he could assume the title of master craftsmen and would thus get membership in the guild. This was not easy to accomplish because: The journeyman had to work on his/her own time to produce this masterpiece -- Sunday was the only day he did not work sun-up to sun-down; (s)He must use his own tools and raw materials which required a capital outlay that he might not have been able to accomplish as a wage earner; Then if (s)he did produce the required work, the state of the economy guided the vote of acceptance -- it was not desirable to have too many masters in a guild and when the economy was tight. The masters would not admit anyone to their ranks to strain the economy.
Master -- Once the masterpiece was completed and the guild voted to accept the journeyman as a master, (s)he could become one.
The following lists many occupations that prevailed.
• Almoners: ensured the poor received alms.
• Atilliator: skilled castle worker who made crossbows.
• Baliff: in charge of allotting jobs to the peasants, building repair, and repair of tools used by the peasants.
• Barber: someone who cut hair. Also served as dentists, surgeons and blood-letters.
• Blacksmith: forged and sharpened tools and weapons, beat out dents in armor, made hinges for doors, and window grills. Also referred to as Smiths.
• Bottler: in charge of the buttery or bottlery.
• Butler: cared for the cellar and was in charge of large butts and little butts (bottles) of wine and beer. Under him a staff of people might consist of brewers, tapsters, cellarers, dispensers, cupbearers and dapifer.
• Carder: someone who brushed cloth during its manufacture.
• Carpenter: built flooring, roofing, siege engines, furniture, panelling for rooms, and scaffoling for building.
• Carters: workmen who brought wood and stone to the site of a castle under construction.
• Castellan: resident owner or person in charge of a castle (custodian).
• Chamberlain: responsible for the great chamber and for the personal finances of the castellan.
• Chaplain: provided spirtual welfare for laborers and the castle garrison. The duties might also include supervising building operations, clerk, and keeping accounts. He also tended to the chapel.
• Clerk: a person who checked material costs, wages, and kept accounts.
• Constable: a person who took care (the governor or warden) of a castle in the absence of the owner. This was sometimes bestowed upon a great baron as an honor and some royal castles had hereditary constables.
• Cook: roasted, broiled, and baked food in the fireplaces and ovens.
• Cottars: the lowest of the peasantry. Worked as swine-herds, prison guards, and did odd jobs.
• Ditcher: worker who dug moats, vaults, foundations and mines.
• Dyer: someone who dyed cloth in huge heated vats during its manufacture.
• Ewerer: worker who brought and heated water for the nobles.
• Falconer: highly skilled expert responsible for the care and training of hawks for the sport of falconry.
• Fuller: worker who shrinks & thickens cloth fibers through wetting & beating the material.
• Glaziers: a person who cut and shaped glass.
• Gong Farmer: a latrine pit emptier.
• Hayward: someone who tended the hedges.
• Herald: knights assistant and an expert advisor on heraldry.
• Keeper of the Wardrobe: in charge of the tailors and laundress.
• Knight: a professional soldier. This was achieved only after long and arduous training which began in infancy.
• Laird: minor baron or small landlord.
• Marshal: officer in charge of a household's horses, carts, wagons, and containers. His staff included farriers, grooms, carters, smiths and clerks. He also oversaw the transporting of goods.
• Master Mason: responsible for the designing and overseeing the building of a structure.
• Messengers: servants of the lord who carried receipts, letters, and commodities.
• Miner: skilled professional who dug tunnels for the purpose of undermining a castle.
• Minstrels: part of of the castle staff who provided entertainment in the form of singing and playing musical instruments.
• Porter: took care of the doors (janitor), particularly the main entrance. Responsible for the guardrooms. The person also insured that no one entered or left the castle withour permission. Also known as the door-ward.
• Reeve: supervised the work on lord's property. He checked that everyone began and stopped work on time, and insured nothing was stolen. Senior officer of a borough.
• Sapper: an unskilled person who dug a mine or approach tunnel.
• Scullions: responsible for washing and cleaning in the kitchen.
• Shearmen: a person who trimmed the cloth during its manufacture.
• Shoemaker: a craftsman who made shoes. Known also as Cordwainers.
• Spinster: a name given to a woman who earned her living spinning yarn. Later this was expanded and any unmarried woman was called a spinster.
• Steward: took care of the estate and domestic administration. Supervised the household and events in the great hall. Also referred to as a Seneschal.
• Squire: attained at the age of 14 while training as a knight. He would be assigned to a knight to carry and care for the weapons and horse.
• Watchmen: an official at the castle responsible for security. Assited by lookouts (the garrison).
• Weaver: someone who cleaned and compacted cloth, in association with the Walker and Fuller.
• Woodworkers: tradesmen called Board-hewers who worked in the forest, producing joists and beams.
Other included:
tanners, soap makers, cask makers, cloth makers, candle makers (chandlers), gold and silver smiths, laundresses, bakers, grooms, pages, huntsmen, doctors, painters, plasterers, and painters, potters, brick and tile makers, glass makers, shipwrights, sailors, butchers, fishmongers, farmers, herdsmen, millers, the clergy, parish priests, members of the monastic orders, innkeepers, roadmenders, woodwards (for the forests), slingers.
Other Domestic jobs inside a castle or manor:
Personal attendants- ladies-in-waiting, chamber maids, doctor.
The myriad of people involved in the preparation and serving of meals- brewers, poulterer, fruiterers, slaughterers, dispensers, cooks and the cupbearers (who had the dubious privilege of tasting drinks for impurities!).
The most important factor in the expansion of trade and commerce in Italy and Europe were the Crusades. The Crusades, which had facilitated the relations with Eastern countries, developed a taste in the West for their indigenous productions, gave a fresh vigor to this foreign commerce and trade, and rendered it more productive by removing the stumbling blocks which had arrested its progress. The conquest of Palestine by the Crusaders had first opened all the towns and harbors of this wealthy region of Italy to Western traders, and many of them were able permanently to establish themselves there, with all sorts of privileges and exemptions from taxes. The Eastern commerce furnished the first elements of that trading activity with Italy which showed itself on the borders of the Mediterranean and the emergence of the republics of Amalfi, Venice, Genoa, and Pisa becoming the rich depots of all maritime trade in Italy.
The navigators imported spices, groceries, linen, Egyptian paper, pearls, perfumes, and a thousand other rare and choice articles to Italy and Europe. In exchange they offered chiefly the precious metals in bars rather than coined, and they also exported iron, wines, oil, and wax. England prospered due to the commerce and trade in the wool which was brought from England.
Many new products were introduced to Europe via Italy which came from the Eastern lands which the Crusaders travelled through to reach Jerusalem. Trade and Commerce changed to include different products, especially spices, from Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Damascus in Syria, Baghdad & Mosul in Iraq and other great cities which became important commerce and trading centers because of their strategic location, astride the trade routes to India, Persia and the Mediterranean, especially Italy. The products were then carried across the Mediterranean to the seaports of Italy and then on to the major towns and cities of Europe.
The bad state of the roads, the little security they offered to travelers, the extortions of all kinds to which foreign merchants were subjected, and the system of fines and tolls which each landowner thought right to exact, before letting merchandise pass through his domains, all created obstacles to the development of trade and commerce.
Improvements to trade and commerce were made by improving the roads and security. Security was an important issue and one of the reasons for the emergence of Guilds. Post the Freedom War of Skye, commerce and trade became safer and more general; the coasts of Skye and Italy were protected from piratical incursions; lighthouses were erected at dangerous points to prevent shipwrecks; and treaties of commerce with foreign nations, including even the most distant, guaranteed the liberty and security of traders abroad. The Gaelic Nations capitalized on the opportunity of developing and becoming wealthy. Trade in Skye flourished.
The call of the Mo’r Triath to a Gaelic Renaissance in the arts and crafts, the research for new technologies, focusing on the navy and its improvements, brought forth new knowledge that would enhance the avenues of trade and commerce. The compass, known in Italy as early as the 12th century but little used since, was now enhanced and more accurate, enabled the mercantile navy to discover new routes, and it was thus that true maritime trade and commerce may be said regularly to have begun. The sailors of the Mediterranean, with the help of the compass dared to pass the Straits of Gibraltar, and to venture on the ocean. From that moment, trade and commercial intercourse, which had previously only existed by land, and that with great difficulty, was permanently established between the northern and southern harbors of Europe. Bristol in England, Turas Lan and Stornoway in the Isles were central ports for merchant vessels, which arrived in great numbers from the Mediterranean and the Baltic.
The waterways were now the new roads to the world with its own advantages and disadvantages. Europeans were desperate to get spices from Asia. Spices were used to preserve foods and keep them from spoiling. Spices, however, were expensive and dangerous to get. Traders had to travel parts of the dangerous Silk Road (a land route from Europe to Asia) to get them. Because the Silk Road was frequently closed due to various wars, European rulers began to pay for explorations to find a sea route to Asia so they could get spices more easily and for cheaper. Skye and the Gaelic Nations would soon experience the Revolution of Commerce.
The Commercial Revolution began with an explosion of distance trade. Its culmination was the rise of manufacturing on a large scale.
One example of Skye’s industries ripped from the clutches of the world’s guild was: Textile Manufacturing
• The most important manufactured product: CLOTH
• LINEN, made from flax (a plant that grew in the marshy regions of the Netherlands) was the first fabric made fine enough for distance trade. Fine, but expensive (underwear, table cloths, bed sheets for the rich.
• SILK, imported from China since Roman times, was produced in Europe in Lucca, Venice, Florence, Bologna, and Milan. A greater luxury than flax was soon imported by Skye.
• The humblest fabric brought the greatest profits, the most sophisticated industrial development, and the greatest power: WOOL. Sheared from Gaelic Nations and Spanish sheep, wool was processed and refined in Scottish, Flemish and Italian workshops. The processing of wool into cloth involved a complicated series of operations, each performed by a different guild or unit of unorganized workers: cleaning -> combing->spinning-> weaving -> fulling -> dyeing -> finishing. The list is grossly simplified, with 30 separate steps in the making of woolen cloth. In the Gaelic Nations, the Mo’r Triath sought to expand the wool production to other than Guild production. He knew this outsourcing within Skye would make wool production more affordable.
Territorial expansion, innovations in agriculture, and the development of cities and trade brought rapid economic change to the Nations. Changes in the availability and consumption of material goods and in population distribution radically altered social relations and political organization. These changes created new, more independent classes. These classes competed against and balanced each other so that no one group gained absolute power.
Migration and expansion of frontiers stretched the boundaries of Skye and the Gaelic Nations in the Mediterranean, Europe, and North Africa. Much of this migration and expansion was led by warrior groups, such warrior groups were the Viking-descended Normans in France, who went to Sicily; the Teutonic Knights, who moved German peasants eastward into Slavic territories; the Crusaders rescuing the Holy Land from the Muslim Turks; and the Christian "Reconquista."
The clearing of land and new techniques in agriculture led to higher food production, a rise in population, and greater economic freedom. Agricultural tools, such as the heavy plow, along with new methods for harnessing animal power, such as the horse collar, enabled farmers to work the rich, dense soil of northern Europe using less labor. The three-field system replaced two-field crop rotation, allowing farmers to cultivate two-thirds, instead of half, of their land at once, while leaving one-third to rest and build nutrients. Energy-producing devices such as the windmill and tidal mill for grinding grain also increased productivity. Consequently, Europeans began eating better; they lived longer and grew in number. An improved diet with iron-rich legumes increased women’s life span and helped them survive childbearing. Europe's population almost doubled; in some regions, it tripled. Surplus food and population meant that more people could devote their energies to new crafts and trade instead of to subsistence agriculture.
This increase in productivity led to urbanization, or the growth of market towns and cities. Townspeople bought foodstuffs and raw supplies from rural areas, and sold crafts made by local artisans as well as items imported from other regions. Towns and townspeople became independent of the landholding aristocracy and were able to regulate their own businesses through charters granted by kings. Coins became a convenient medium of exchange, and a money-based economy, complete with banking, investing, and lending activities, emerged. Merchants and investors formed competing trade networks. The merchants brought luxury goods from the east and from North African ports in exchange for Europe's raw materials. A group of northern German towns formed the Hanseatic League. The league monopolized the trade routes that transported raw goods, such as timber, furs, and metals, along the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and major rivers. In doing so, they linked the Gaelic Nations, Germany, Scandinavia, and eastern European countries. Although the majority of people still lived in rural areas, towns increasingly dominated the landscape.
The economic changes brought about by increased trade and the emergence of cities created new tensions in society. These tensions permeated the boundaries of class, gender, ethnicity, and religion. The interaction between rural and urban classes led to the establishment of new political organizations and laws designed to balance the needs of competing classes.
As towns emerged, new social classes—such as merchants and artisans—disrupted the established social patterns of society. According to the traditional view, three orders worked together in the rural community: the warrior aristocracy, or people who fight; the peasantry, or people who work; and the clergy, or people who pray. These traditional communities were organized in a hierarchy and bound together like a family, with the noble acting as a father figure over his household and the village inhabitants. Townspeople, who earned their living through crafts or commerce, broke from these rural obligations and familial ties, so they created new social networks through associations called Guilds. Merchant guilds protected the town's interests by regulating trade with outsiders and providing benefits for members. Craft guilds organized by tanners, butchers, and weavers set wage and price controls and established rules for apprenticeship and membership. To some, the urban freedoms of the newly chartered towns seemed to undermine the traditional hierarchical order of society. Others thought merchants were worldly and materialistic because they did no work of their own but rather profited from others' labor by buying and selling goods. Contrary to this opinion, guilds spread their wealth by giving alms to the poor and building churches to visibly demonstrate their members’ collective piety.
The choices made by women in the patriarchal society illustrate the new and increased variety of social classes. Women's roles usually were defined in relation to men, with marriage and childbearing as women’s main social and political functions. Nevertheless, women were active and influential throughout society. Royal and aristocratic women wielded authority at court and managed complex households. Townswomen operated brewing and weaving businesses and even briefly formed their own guilds. Peasant women engaged in intensive manual labor, producing food and sustaining their households. Some women left such circumstances to become household servants in the manor or in towns, where their rights were minimal. Religious women chose to exchange the material life of marriage and family for a spiritual and intellectual life in a cloister. While women could not become priests, they did influence society as visionaries, spiritual advisors, and writers. Women frequently spoke out on the religious, political, and social issues.
In both the hierarchical and communal order, everyone had a place and knew it. One’s identity was linked to kinship, class, and faith; ignoring these boundaries threatened the order of society. In response to the perceived threat of non-Christian peoples, such as Jews, Muslims, Gypsies, and religious heretics, discriminatory laws placed those groups on the margins of society. However, despite the discrimination and fear that oftentimes restricted their businesses and social contacts, Jewish communities maintained a strong internal network through family, synogogue, and contacts with Jews across and outside Europe. In fact, Jews played an integral role in medieval society by influencing medieval scholarship.
In the midst of the economic growth and social turmoil, the people witnessed the stabilization of Skye’s political boundaries and the growth of a centralized government throughout the Nations. Building on the economic strength of towns and trade, the Mo’rs Triath and Okesula developed competent bureaucracies to govern their domain, as is evident in the increased use of written legal documents. The power of these new rulers was limited, however, by pressure from competing social groups and political organizations, such as the aristocracy, townspeople, and the Church.
The growing communities in Skye developed stable political identities under a central ruler. Skye and the Gaelic Nations did not have an absolute power; rather their competence lay in developing strategic relationships with the aristocracy, the towns, and the Church. Even while the Aberdeens were centralizing their power, new representative assemblies laid down the roots of government by consent of the people. Often conflicts between these competing sources of authority gave rise to new political theories and laws.
Creative tensions in society and politics led to new ideas, such as those exchanged in the debates over faith and reason in the new universities. They also led to the rise of new religious orders and forms of spirituality. New ideas emerged in popular religion during the struggle between orthodox Christianity and numerous heresies. The influence of Jewish and Muslim scholarship, the rise of an educated class of career scholars, and the growth of an urban reading public also contributed to this cultural and intellectual ferment in Skye.
Universities arose in Skye, as well as the major European cities. These universities met the demand for education in the seven liberal arts—grammar, rhetoric, logic, astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, and music—education that became a significant path to career advancement. Universities specializing in the higher disciplines—law, medicine, theology and philosophy — all becoming centers for intellectual debate. Scholars debated how humans can know truth—whether knowledge of truth occurs through faith, through human reason and investigation, or through some combination of both means. Although none of these scholars denied Christian truth as it was revealed in the Bible, some placed faith before reason. Others put reason first. Some produced a brilliant synthesis of faith and reason, while a group of philosophers called nominalists questioned whether human language could accurately describe reality. These inquiries into the nature of knowledge contributed to scientific inquiry, evident in the experimental theories.
Growth in urban society, intellectual innovations, and the tension between spirituality and order in the Church all contributed to the development of new creative styles in literature, the visual arts, architecture, and music. Trade and the money-based economy of Skye supported this creativity, as was evident in the importation of styles and materials from abroad, in aristocratic patronage of the arts, and in the craft and merchant guilds’ contributions for the construction of monumental churches in their towns.
Literacy increased, especially among the urban lay populations, who had more time to read. While most books were written in Latin, which was considered the dominant language of learning, more books were being produced in languages, such as English, French, and German. From this vernacular literature, new styles and genres evolved. At the courts, troubadours wrote and performed lyric poetry celebrating the love between knights and ladies. Epic tales of warrior heroism gave way to romances celebrating courtly love and knightly chivalry. The popular fabliaux, or animal fables, often emphasized the virtues and cleverness of working people over those traits of the higher classes. Some poked fun at all societal classes. Religious books—sermons, biographies of saints, and stories of miracles—provided enlightening literature for pious readers, increasingly women. Books were handwritten manuscripts, laboriously copied by scribes using quill or reed pens to write on animal skin parchment. Expensive manuscripts were decorated with illustrations painted in gold and brilliant colors— full page portraits of Christ and other saints or intricately drawn vines, plants, and fantastic beasts intertwined down the margins. Soon all that would change when books could be produced on a massive scale.
Stylistic changes also occurred in visual arts, such as painting, sculpture, metalwork, stained glass, and architecture, and in performing arts, such as music and drama. New engineering innovations emphasized greater emotional expression. Engineers were allowed to build higher and lighter walls, while stained glass windows gave the interior a sense of heavenly illumination.
Skye and the Gaelic Nations were marked by the diversification and growth of economy and society and by the subsequent social tension and political and religious conflict. These developments also led to creative new approaches in artistic expression, legal theory, and philosophy. The dynamic, lively culture that emerged from economy, society, politics, religion, scholarship, and the arts brought the people of Skye and the Nations onto a world stage.
Business and Economic Freedom
in Skye and the Gaelic Nations
in Skye and the Gaelic Nations
Democratic values and institutions did not arise as a direct contradiction of authoritarian forms of governance. Rather they emerged by a gradual change in the principles that governed the distribution of power in society. An oligarchy of military strength, divine right, aristocratic lineage and land gradually gave way to an oligopoly of wealthy merchants. The parliaments of the first stage were congresses of feudal lords. The parliaments of the second were assemblies of rich traders. The idea of universe human rights and freedoms which we now identify as the essence of democracy was at first cited as a justification for redistribution of power to the commercial class and only much later as a principle for extending rights and privileges to all citizens. This shift continues today in countries around the world and may not yet have reached its peak in any country.
Centuries of relative physical security and stability under the feudal system led to the re-emergence of long suppressed human energies and aspirations. The feudal system maintained a delicate balance between the rights and power of feudal lords and those of the central monarch.
The growth of guild crafts and trade created new centers of wealth and power concentrated in cities. The rise of city-states undermined the power of rural, land-based feudal kingdoms and created an alternative source of support for the monarch. The merchant class that rose to power in these city-states utilized the power of their new found wealth to leverage greater economic freedom and political independence from the monarch in exchange for financial support. The bishops lost control to self-governing communes, whose members were appointed by their citizens. The commercially active cities enjoyed a considerable degree of political freedom. Local independence created a rivalry in the fields of art, literature and philosophy. In their attempt to bring themselves to the forefront, aristocrats and princes took over the patronage of literature and art from the Pope. Academies were founded by patron princes. Through these academies the influence of new learning infiltrated society. The new humanistic education and economic prosperity brought into greater prominence the role of the individual in social advancement.
The growth of commerce spurred the rise of money as a new center of wealth. The shift from a land-based to a money-based social system laid the economic foundation for the emergence of individualism by according status and privileges to those who acquired wealth by effort and merit rather than restricting it to a hereditary aristocracy. It undermined the power of the feudal lords and transferred power to a new merchant class. The organization of agriculture also underwent tremendous changes. It was found that free laborers who paid rent or worked for wages produced more crops and generated more profits than enserfed laborers. The shift to a new system of wage payments for agricultural labor not only increased agricultural productivity, but also freed peasants from permanent ties to their feudal rulers. The decline of feudalism that resulted led to an increase in individual economic freedom.
This new economic freedom became the breeding ground for ideas. It was the wealth gathered from commerce that financed the Gaelic Renaissance. Skye cities became fertile soil for the spread of humanistic thought, social aspirations and individual enterprise, leading to the rebirth of classical learning and literature. The rise of vernacular languages acted as a channel for the spread of humanistic ideas to all sections of the society. Humanism tried to free intellect from the control of religion. The new humanism transformed the ideal of a man with a sword to that of individual attaining worth by absorbing the culture. Study of the Classics was no longer confined to the clergy and aristocracy. Humanism opened the gates of secular learning to layman. The hereditary base of social privilege began to give way.
The new economic, political and intellectual environment contributed to religious reformation. The Reformation was a direct attack on the suppression of individualism by a despotic church organization. The Reformation transmitted new humanistic ideas to all parts of Skye, into the Gaelic Nations and even to Europe. It shifted authority in the sphere of religion from the institution of the church to the individual. It sowed the seeds of freedom that later sprouted in the economic, political and social spheres.
Economic Freedom
Custom ruled a large share of the industrial life of the Nations and Europe. Political and economic interests were not clearly divided. By custom, land was the all-important kind of wealth. Military and other public services were performed by the vassal, who thus at the same time paid his taxes and the rent of the land. The landlord was at once the ruler, the receiver of rents, and the collector of taxes. The rent, however, was not a competitive price, but consisted of the dues and services the forefathers had been accustomed to pay. This limited slavery, like all other slavery, was wasteful, as it did not give to the individual the strongest motive to increase the quantity and to improve the quality of his service. Trade became limited in almost every direction. Crafts and guilds arrogated to themselves the right of employment in their industries. No matter what talent the son of a peasant might show, he usually found it impossible and always found it difficult to follow the occupation of his choice. Privilege pervaded all the life of the period before the Aberdeens. In such conditions economic friction was great. Men were kept in trades below their ability, while others gain monopolistic and unearned returns.
Then the Aberdeens came to power and sought freedoms not given before. The call for a Gaelic Renaissance resonated throughout the land and even infiltrated all of Europe. Wars were fooguth for these unseen freedoms and with their victory came a new era. Yet through all this ran the forces of competition. The inefficiency of customary services was a constant invitation to competitors. Men were striving to break over the barriers of custom and prejudice. The strife for freedom was the vital economic force. Industrial history is largely the story of the struggle of the forces of competition against the bounds of custom. Customs were being broken by the Griffin reign of power and so were the boundaries of economic freedoms.
Economic freedom is a term used in economic and policy debates all over the world. As with freedom generally, there are various definitions, but no universally accepted concept of economic freedom. One major approach to economic freedom comes from the libertarian tradition emphasizing free markets and private property, while another extends the welfare economics study of individual choice, with greater economic freedom coming from a "larger" (in some technical sense) set of possible choices. Another more philosophical perspective emphasizes its context in distributive justice and basic freedoms of all individuals. Economic freedom exists when men's goods or their own services may be exchanged as they choose, without hindrance. Competition is but another expression for economic freedom. Where men are free to exchange their goods and to get the best price they can, and actually do so, they are said to compete. The action of men in the mass follows pretty regular lines, corresponding to certain abiding motives. If one man dictated all industry, a very fragmentary science of economics would be possible; but the mass of men act according to some rule and are free so to act. When men are free to bring their goods to a market and get the best price possible,
Merchants, Craftsmen, and Trade
Out of this came a transformed category. A merchant, actually a businessperson, (by the laws of the Gaelic Nations, a man or woman), is someone who is employed at usually a profit-oriented enterprise. A business, company, enterprise or firm, is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods and/or services to clients. Businesses are predominant in Skye, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners and grow the business itself. The owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for work and acceptance of risk. From this class came wealth to the Government thru taxes.
While peasants worked the fields and the lords and ladies of the castle feasted, merchants were sailing the seas around Europe and the Mediterranean. They traded in food, raw materials, and luxuries: wool from the Gaelic Nations, furs from Russia, wood from Scandinavia, salt and wine from France, horses from Spain, cloth and tapestries from Flanders, glass from Italy, and silks and spices from Asia.
Trade made the merchants rich, and it also brought wealth to the rulers of the lands in which the trading took place. Many of the rulers would demand a fee or a gift to them for allowing the foreigners to trade in their land, and they also taxed all traded goods. Numerous wars were fought over trade, because of the great profit it brought to the land. Despite the overwhelming pressures of religion, the Crusades were not just holy wars, but they also aimed to take one of the largest trading centers and routes in the world.
As trade developed, towns along the trade routes became richer and richer. Some developed into great cities, such as Turas Lan, Paris, London, Florence, and Alexandria. This increase in wealth and riches lead to the increased prosperity of the local merchants, and also of the farmers in the area. There was more of a need for their services, and more and more money to be made each day. Many wealthy trading towns became virtually independent states, and they soon became exempt from the reigning feudal systems.
Elsewhere, outside of the Gaelic Nations, the merchants and the leading figures in a town often struggled with the lord of the manor, whose land they were making such a great profit upon. So that they could be free and rule themselves, town leaders might arrange to buy a charter from the lord, or from the king himself. In return for their hefty payment, the town became a "free borough," ruled by its own council and led by a democratically elected mayor.
Skilled craftsmen were of vast importance to the cities, towns, and castles. They helped to mend metalwork, mill crops, build houses, and do many other important things. Without their expertise in the making of goods, most of the cities and towns would not have survived because individual families could not have produced all the necessary goods to sustain life in the village. Also, the carrying on of the family profession was an honor, and many families were famous in their profession.
Different Types of Craftsmen
There were many professions which the children could choose to take-up, and all were equally important in the society. All parts of the town depended on the craftsmen's goods. Millers ground the grain that the farmer's provided them. They were integral part of the society and were also the richest of craftsmen. They were also the most disliked. They paid the lord to operate his mill and everyone was required to use his mill. Blacksmiths made the tools which most of the other workers needed to do their job. They also had an agreement with the lord. In return for charcoal, they performed all of the castle's metal working needs. Bakers were responsible for providing food made out of bread to those who were not farmers. The farmers grew many of the necessary items to feed the town's hunger. Shoemakers and seamstresses kept the town's clothes in descent shape. Candlemakers helped keep the homes lit. Thatchers helped to make thatch roofs for barns and other buildings. Carpenters repaired wooden objects like buildings and carts. As you can see, if any one part of the town failed, the entire structure suffered along with them.
Guilds
Guilds are one of the most influential organizations of the time. They flourish because of the main reasons they were formed: to protect the business from the merchants, to ensure high standards and a high quality of work, and to look after the old and sick members of the guild. The regular town merchants need protection from the merchants who came for a provided cheap labor. The people of the town always wanted the job to be done right the first time, with as little money spent as possible. The guilds help ensure that the job would be done right by having training requirements for their workers. Also, when the workers become ill, or become too old to work any longer, the guild supports them and their families. They usually have a central shop which was elaborately decorated and showed their wealth.
There were many concerns on the part of towns and the rulers of those towns concerning the detrimental effects that trading had on the towns. Many of the local merchants were often run out of business because they could not compete with the selection and the quick service of the traveling guilds of merchants. Also, some towns left their former suppliers for these new, cheaper services that the merchants could supply, and many towns fell into ruin because of the foreigners. Also, as the sheer number of people were attracted to these wealthy capitals of the world, crime and overcrowding became major concerns. Disease spread easily and quickly through these towns, usually killing thousands instead of the usual hundred or so in the smaller towns. Hence is why the Mo’r Triath formed the Physician’s Guild and called for advances in medical research.
The guilds were an important part of city and town life. Guilds were exclusive, regimented organizations, created in part to preserve the rights and privileges of their members, and were separate and distinct from the civic governments, but since the functions and purposes of guild and civic government overlapped, it was not always easy to tell them apart, especially since many well-to-do guildsmen were prominent in civic government.
Economic Freedom, along with the enhancement of civil liberties, seem to explode in the Gaelic Nations. Formerly, there were two kinds of guilds that were especially important to civic life--merchant guilds and craft guilds. But entrepreneurs felt this was a restriction on economic freedom. Within a year, the two guilds merged to form the Merchant Guild. Not only could one be a craftsman, but he could own his own business.
Merchant Guild
The merchant guilds were a society of entrepreneurs; Merchants were any who engage in commercial activity be it by participation and/or selling of craft or skill items or by monetary trade and investment of the same.
Arts and Craft Guilds
Under the Merchants Guild were the arts and craft guilds, associations of skilled artisans or craftsmen. The craft guilds furthered the specialization of an industry. The purpose of the craft guilds was to enhance learning a particular craft or skill. This gave the consumer and worker a sort of protection against less than desirable quality. Many craft regulations prevented poor workmanship. Each article had to be examined by a board of the guild and stamped as approved. All prices were regulated. Craftsmen could take work outside where it could be seen. Price-gouging was strictly forbidden in Skye.
Services Performed by the Merchant Guild
The Merchants Guild performed other services for their members as well. They provided funeral expenses for poorer members and aid to survivors; provided dowries for poor girls; covered members with a type of health insurance and provisions for care of the sick; built chapels; donated windows to local churches or cathedrals; frequently helped in the actual construction of the churches; watched over the morals of the members who indulged in gambling and usury; and were important for their contribution to emergence of lay education. In earlier times, the only schools in existence had been the monastic or cathedral schools.
Guilds and Community Interrelationships
The members of the Merchants Guild were called confraternities, brothers and sisters helping one another. From the political viewpoint, the Guild was neither sovereign nor unrelated to society outside the guild and town organization. As a collective unit, the guild might be a vassal to a bishop, lord or king, as in Paris, or the Mo’r Triath in the Gaelic Nations. The extent of vassalage depended on the degree of independence of the town where it was located. There was a close connection between the Guild and the city authorities. The Mo’r Triath could intervene in event of trouble in the Guild. For instance, he established the hours of work, fixed prices, established weights and measures, and standardized currency. Guild officials were frequently appointed to serve in civic government because the Guild usually voted as a unit, raised funding for troops, and paid taxes as a group.
The Guild was required to perform public services. They took turns policing the streets and constructed public buildings, among other civic duties established by the Mo’r Triath and walls to defend the town or city.
Guild membership
A perceived higher social status could be achieved through guild membership. To become a guild member one had to go through 4 stages: lowest was novice, next was apprentice, next was journeyman, and top-ranking stage was master.
Novice - a person admitted to probationary membership in a merchant community. As the people of the Gaelic Nations became more educated than the norm, a form of mentoring began to take place place in the trade environments between an older more experienced merchants and their friends or connections. Most new entrants in the trades were picked for their sensibility, confidence, social status and reliability. These new people could enter into a trade of their choice or be selected by older merchants. The novice stage allowed a person to select a field or be selected… The novice is usually a teenager who went to live with a master and his family; his/her parents paid to have him taken on. (s)He probably occupied the attic of their 3 story home or a dormitory established by the guild: The shop where (s)he would learn his trade was located on the ground floor; The second story was the masters' living area; The third story housed the journeyman who was there to learn also. The apprentice was subject to the master. During the novice stage, (s)he was not allowed to marry.
Apprentice -- The apprentice was subject to the master. During his/her apprenticeship (s)he was not allowed to marry. This learning period might vary from 2-7 years depending on the craft. His/Her training included the rudiments of the trade. The apprentice then progressed to journeyman.
Journeyman or day worker -- entitled to earn a salary. The next hurdle was to produce a masterpiece that would satisfy the master of the guild so that (s)he could assume the title of master craftsmen and would thus get membership in the guild. This was not easy to accomplish because: The journeyman had to work on his/her own time to produce this masterpiece -- Sunday was the only day he did not work sun-up to sun-down; (s)He must use his own tools and raw materials which required a capital outlay that he might not have been able to accomplish as a wage earner; Then if (s)he did produce the required work, the state of the economy guided the vote of acceptance -- it was not desirable to have too many masters in a guild and when the economy was tight. The masters would not admit anyone to their ranks to strain the economy.
Master -- Once the masterpiece was completed and the guild voted to accept the journeyman as a master, (s)he could become one.
The following lists many occupations that prevailed.
• Almoners: ensured the poor received alms.
• Atilliator: skilled castle worker who made crossbows.
• Baliff: in charge of allotting jobs to the peasants, building repair, and repair of tools used by the peasants.
• Barber: someone who cut hair. Also served as dentists, surgeons and blood-letters.
• Blacksmith: forged and sharpened tools and weapons, beat out dents in armor, made hinges for doors, and window grills. Also referred to as Smiths.
• Bottler: in charge of the buttery or bottlery.
• Butler: cared for the cellar and was in charge of large butts and little butts (bottles) of wine and beer. Under him a staff of people might consist of brewers, tapsters, cellarers, dispensers, cupbearers and dapifer.
• Carder: someone who brushed cloth during its manufacture.
• Carpenter: built flooring, roofing, siege engines, furniture, panelling for rooms, and scaffoling for building.
• Carters: workmen who brought wood and stone to the site of a castle under construction.
• Castellan: resident owner or person in charge of a castle (custodian).
• Chamberlain: responsible for the great chamber and for the personal finances of the castellan.
• Chaplain: provided spirtual welfare for laborers and the castle garrison. The duties might also include supervising building operations, clerk, and keeping accounts. He also tended to the chapel.
• Clerk: a person who checked material costs, wages, and kept accounts.
• Constable: a person who took care (the governor or warden) of a castle in the absence of the owner. This was sometimes bestowed upon a great baron as an honor and some royal castles had hereditary constables.
• Cook: roasted, broiled, and baked food in the fireplaces and ovens.
• Cottars: the lowest of the peasantry. Worked as swine-herds, prison guards, and did odd jobs.
• Ditcher: worker who dug moats, vaults, foundations and mines.
• Dyer: someone who dyed cloth in huge heated vats during its manufacture.
• Ewerer: worker who brought and heated water for the nobles.
• Falconer: highly skilled expert responsible for the care and training of hawks for the sport of falconry.
• Fuller: worker who shrinks & thickens cloth fibers through wetting & beating the material.
• Glaziers: a person who cut and shaped glass.
• Gong Farmer: a latrine pit emptier.
• Hayward: someone who tended the hedges.
• Herald: knights assistant and an expert advisor on heraldry.
• Keeper of the Wardrobe: in charge of the tailors and laundress.
• Knight: a professional soldier. This was achieved only after long and arduous training which began in infancy.
• Laird: minor baron or small landlord.
• Marshal: officer in charge of a household's horses, carts, wagons, and containers. His staff included farriers, grooms, carters, smiths and clerks. He also oversaw the transporting of goods.
• Master Mason: responsible for the designing and overseeing the building of a structure.
• Messengers: servants of the lord who carried receipts, letters, and commodities.
• Miner: skilled professional who dug tunnels for the purpose of undermining a castle.
• Minstrels: part of of the castle staff who provided entertainment in the form of singing and playing musical instruments.
• Porter: took care of the doors (janitor), particularly the main entrance. Responsible for the guardrooms. The person also insured that no one entered or left the castle withour permission. Also known as the door-ward.
• Reeve: supervised the work on lord's property. He checked that everyone began and stopped work on time, and insured nothing was stolen. Senior officer of a borough.
• Sapper: an unskilled person who dug a mine or approach tunnel.
• Scullions: responsible for washing and cleaning in the kitchen.
• Shearmen: a person who trimmed the cloth during its manufacture.
• Shoemaker: a craftsman who made shoes. Known also as Cordwainers.
• Spinster: a name given to a woman who earned her living spinning yarn. Later this was expanded and any unmarried woman was called a spinster.
• Steward: took care of the estate and domestic administration. Supervised the household and events in the great hall. Also referred to as a Seneschal.
• Squire: attained at the age of 14 while training as a knight. He would be assigned to a knight to carry and care for the weapons and horse.
• Watchmen: an official at the castle responsible for security. Assited by lookouts (the garrison).
• Weaver: someone who cleaned and compacted cloth, in association with the Walker and Fuller.
• Woodworkers: tradesmen called Board-hewers who worked in the forest, producing joists and beams.
Other included:
tanners, soap makers, cask makers, cloth makers, candle makers (chandlers), gold and silver smiths, laundresses, bakers, grooms, pages, huntsmen, doctors, painters, plasterers, and painters, potters, brick and tile makers, glass makers, shipwrights, sailors, butchers, fishmongers, farmers, herdsmen, millers, the clergy, parish priests, members of the monastic orders, innkeepers, roadmenders, woodwards (for the forests), slingers.
Other Domestic jobs inside a castle or manor:
Personal attendants- ladies-in-waiting, chamber maids, doctor.
The myriad of people involved in the preparation and serving of meals- brewers, poulterer, fruiterers, slaughterers, dispensers, cooks and the cupbearers (who had the dubious privilege of tasting drinks for impurities!).
The Commercial Revolution
The most important factor in the expansion of trade and commerce in Italy and Europe were the Crusades. The Crusades, which had facilitated the relations with Eastern countries, developed a taste in the West for their indigenous productions, gave a fresh vigor to this foreign commerce and trade, and rendered it more productive by removing the stumbling blocks which had arrested its progress. The conquest of Palestine by the Crusaders had first opened all the towns and harbors of this wealthy region of Italy to Western traders, and many of them were able permanently to establish themselves there, with all sorts of privileges and exemptions from taxes. The Eastern commerce furnished the first elements of that trading activity with Italy which showed itself on the borders of the Mediterranean and the emergence of the republics of Amalfi, Venice, Genoa, and Pisa becoming the rich depots of all maritime trade in Italy.
The navigators imported spices, groceries, linen, Egyptian paper, pearls, perfumes, and a thousand other rare and choice articles to Italy and Europe. In exchange they offered chiefly the precious metals in bars rather than coined, and they also exported iron, wines, oil, and wax. England prospered due to the commerce and trade in the wool which was brought from England.
Many new products were introduced to Europe via Italy which came from the Eastern lands which the Crusaders travelled through to reach Jerusalem. Trade and Commerce changed to include different products, especially spices, from Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Damascus in Syria, Baghdad & Mosul in Iraq and other great cities which became important commerce and trading centers because of their strategic location, astride the trade routes to India, Persia and the Mediterranean, especially Italy. The products were then carried across the Mediterranean to the seaports of Italy and then on to the major towns and cities of Europe.
The bad state of the roads, the little security they offered to travelers, the extortions of all kinds to which foreign merchants were subjected, and the system of fines and tolls which each landowner thought right to exact, before letting merchandise pass through his domains, all created obstacles to the development of trade and commerce.
Improvements to trade and commerce were made by improving the roads and security. Security was an important issue and one of the reasons for the emergence of Guilds. Post the Freedom War of Skye, commerce and trade became safer and more general; the coasts of Skye and Italy were protected from piratical incursions; lighthouses were erected at dangerous points to prevent shipwrecks; and treaties of commerce with foreign nations, including even the most distant, guaranteed the liberty and security of traders abroad. The Gaelic Nations capitalized on the opportunity of developing and becoming wealthy. Trade in Skye flourished.
The call of the Mo’r Triath to a Gaelic Renaissance in the arts and crafts, the research for new technologies, focusing on the navy and its improvements, brought forth new knowledge that would enhance the avenues of trade and commerce. The compass, known in Italy as early as the 12th century but little used since, was now enhanced and more accurate, enabled the mercantile navy to discover new routes, and it was thus that true maritime trade and commerce may be said regularly to have begun. The sailors of the Mediterranean, with the help of the compass dared to pass the Straits of Gibraltar, and to venture on the ocean. From that moment, trade and commercial intercourse, which had previously only existed by land, and that with great difficulty, was permanently established between the northern and southern harbors of Europe. Bristol in England, Turas Lan and Stornoway in the Isles were central ports for merchant vessels, which arrived in great numbers from the Mediterranean and the Baltic.
The waterways were now the new roads to the world with its own advantages and disadvantages. Europeans were desperate to get spices from Asia. Spices were used to preserve foods and keep them from spoiling. Spices, however, were expensive and dangerous to get. Traders had to travel parts of the dangerous Silk Road (a land route from Europe to Asia) to get them. Because the Silk Road was frequently closed due to various wars, European rulers began to pay for explorations to find a sea route to Asia so they could get spices more easily and for cheaper. Skye and the Gaelic Nations would soon experience the Revolution of Commerce.
The Commercial Revolution began with an explosion of distance trade. Its culmination was the rise of manufacturing on a large scale.
One example of Skye’s industries ripped from the clutches of the world’s guild was: Textile Manufacturing
• The most important manufactured product: CLOTH
• LINEN, made from flax (a plant that grew in the marshy regions of the Netherlands) was the first fabric made fine enough for distance trade. Fine, but expensive (underwear, table cloths, bed sheets for the rich.
• SILK, imported from China since Roman times, was produced in Europe in Lucca, Venice, Florence, Bologna, and Milan. A greater luxury than flax was soon imported by Skye.
• The humblest fabric brought the greatest profits, the most sophisticated industrial development, and the greatest power: WOOL. Sheared from Gaelic Nations and Spanish sheep, wool was processed and refined in Scottish, Flemish and Italian workshops. The processing of wool into cloth involved a complicated series of operations, each performed by a different guild or unit of unorganized workers: cleaning -> combing->spinning-> weaving -> fulling -> dyeing -> finishing. The list is grossly simplified, with 30 separate steps in the making of woolen cloth. In the Gaelic Nations, the Mo’r Triath sought to expand the wool production to other than Guild production. He knew this outsourcing within Skye would make wool production more affordable.
