Oh, welcome to Medieval Madness, where we try and shed some light on the dark ages of human history. In many games, you frequently encounter something called a guild. Mostly there are guilds for warriors, archers, thieves, or pretty much every class or playstyle you could choose in the respective game. But what exactly was a guild in the Middle Ages? Well, generally it was an organization for several people who shared the same profession, so for example, you'd usually find a carpenter's guild. What? No, just come on, spatsr. What? Yeah, just go ahead and find the dragon's slayer guild. I'm just tired of arguing. Just go ahead and do it, okay. Dear audience, never get a cat who's interested in dragons. Or dragon's slaying. Or anything regarding other mythical creatures that will be slain. Thank you. Okay, so originally the first guilds were formed to commemorate members not to slay dragons by the way. To commemorate members who had passed away and pray for their salvation, as well as supporting the widows and orphans, so a pretty social idea, right? However, soon they began to also use the organization to combine their economical potentials. And thus, a typical medieval guild was born. By the way, that happened during the 12th century, approximately, totally depending on exactly where you were geographically. Most books speak of two main types of guilds. Mage guilds and thieves guilds, and they were extremely... Just watch my book, idiot, that's the Skyrim game guide. What the... No? No, I did the research with this one. This can't be wrong. It's... Wait, let me... Let me check it. Shit. I mean... Just a joke. I mean, craft guilds and merchant guilds, right? Okay. Okay, let's continue. Both normally were on control of everything regarding their profession inside the city. This means that they, for example, controlled the market prices for their products and also decided about quality standards within the city. Every member had to guarantee a set level of quality for both the resources they used as well as for the goods they crafted. In some cities, it was impossible to practice a profession without being in the respective guild, and they also controlled the choosing of new apprentices. Therefore, they controlled the total number of craftsmen in the city. Something which games mostly get right is that guilds often had fancy guild halls, which they used to host feasts and to impress business partners, or to host feasts in order to impress business partners. Not just later, Agnes. On top of that, they also guarded the secrets of their profession, and they were dedicated to honor the traditional production methods. This last point led to various disagreements in the late Middle Ages, because new technology threatened to take over in some professions, and the guilds, well, they just feared might destroy their traditions. But surprisingly, even though the guilds had such an influence, some cities just remained guild free. Like not in guild free. Maybe some of them were guilty, but guild free, right? Okay. Well, and with that, that's pretty much it for now. So I do hope you enjoyed this video. If you have a question about the Middle Ages or any kind of medieval topic that don't hesitate to leave a comment or visit my Facebook page and leave a message on my timeline. Also, if you want to help me furthering this series, then you could check out the Patreon page that is set up for this project. Thank you so much for your time, and until next time.