Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

stones, silks, perfumes, drugs, spices, and porcelain from the Orient afterward, gave a tremendous impulse to commercial and industrial activity. The people of Europe began to think of what articles others outside their own little groups might want in exchange for these luxuries, and to strive to produce such commodities. They also undertook themselves to make some of the new articles, such as light and gauzy cotton and linen fabrics, silks, velvets, and tapestries. Thus the means of communication between the European states was greatly facilitated, new commercial routes and new regions were opened, geographical knowledge was increased, navigation was developed, maritime and mercantile affairs were organized, manufactures and industries were enlarged, currency was increased, and forms of credit were improved. All this tended toward a larger intellectual view and a partial dissipation of provincialism and intolerance.

Development of Cities and the Burgher Class.-The most noteworthy consequence of this industrial and commercial awakening was the growth of towns and Contributed to the growth of cities. There was little town life in Western Europe cities, during the Middle Ages before the twelfth century, as the old Roman towns had, through the invasions of the Germans, largely disintegrated, and but few new organizations had sprung up in their place. While some towns still existed in Italy and Southern France, most of the people of Europe lived in the country upon feudal es

tates.

These little communities were largely isolated and independent of the rest of the world. They produced among themselves all that their members needed, and little or no money was necessary for their crude

forms of exchange. Their life was unbroken in its monotony, there was little opportunity for them to better their condition, and their industries were carried on in a perfunctory and wasteful fashion. But with the growth of commerce and population, these serfs began to find it more profitable to work in the towns and compensate the lord of the manor with money rather than work, and the lords, in turn, found it of advantage to accept money in lieu of services, especially as many of them had been impoverished by the Crusades. Great bodies of serfs flocked to the towns, and new centers sprang up around the manorial estates and monasteries as manufactures, trades, and commerce increased.

Feudalism thus began to be threatened as early as the twelfth century, and within a hundred years the extinction of serfdom was assured. The people soon rebelled against the rule of their lords and either expelled them altogether or secured from them for a monetary consideration a charter conferring more liberal rights and privileges. By these charters, the lord agreed to recognize the gild of merchants, and to permit the people to govern themselves. As industries, trade, and comand to the de- merce continued to develop, the craftsmen and merburgher class. chants grew rapidly in wealth and importance. They were soon enabled to rival the clergy in education, and the nobility in the luxury of their dwellings and living. They began to read, and books were written or adapted for their needs. The 'burgher class' came to have a recognized position by the side of the clergy and nobility; and the king, in order to retain their support, was forced to take counsel with them. This development of industry and commerce, growth of town and city life, and rise

velopment of a

of a 'third estate' is one of the most noteworthy changes of the late Middle Ages.

The Gilds and Industrial Education.-Such a new social attitude naturally gave rise to new forms of education. An informal type of training soon sprang up in connection with the development of 'gilds.' Besides the original gild of merchants, through which the town had presented a united front and gained its privileges, separate gilds for the various crafts had been established in each town. These craft gilds were the sole repositories of the traditional lore of the vocations, and became the chief channel for transmitting it. While their number and variety differed in each town, all the gilds sought to prevent anyone who had not been regularly approved and admitted to the corporation from practicing the trade he represented. In consequence of this attempt at regulation, industrial training in the craft of each gild grew up through an apprenticeship system. This was provided upon a domestic basis. The 'apprentice' entered the household of his 'master,' and learned the craft under his direction (Fig. 15). The time necessary for this varied greatly in different crafts. For example, in Paris it took two years to learn to become a cook, eight years an embroiderer, and ten years a goldsmith. While the ap- Stages of prentice received no wages during this period, he was

man, and

under the protection of the gild, and might appeal to the (1) apprentice, organization against ill-treatment or defective training. At the end of his apprenticeship, he became a 'journey- (2) journeyman' and could earn wages, but only by working for a master, and not through direct service for the public. After an examination by the gild, which might include the presentation of a 'masterpiece,' or sample of his

(3) master.

work, the journeyman eventually became a master. In other ways, the organization regulated and protected its craft. In order that journeymen and masters might not become too numerous, all masters, save those on the governing board of the gild, were forbidden to take more than one apprentice. The methods of practicing each trade and the hours to be devoted to it each day were specified, and the handiwork of each man carefully scrutinized. In many instances, the gild put its own stamp upon good work, and might often seize products that it considered defective.

Gild Schools. In this way there grew up a species of industrial education, with three definite stages in its organization and with inspection at every point. A more formal Before long, too, the gilds developed a more formal means of education. The existing ecclesiastical schools through priests did not altogether meet the needs of the gilds, and they of the gilds and undertook the establishment of additional institutions

means of edu

cation was

instituted

endowments.

for this purpose. Where the gilds had retained one or more priests to perform the necessary religious offices for their members, before long they also utilized these functionaries to keep a school for the benefit of their own and sometimes other children in the town. Later, endowments were furnished especially for a priest to teach school, or an amount sufficient for the purpose was paid out of the common funds of the gild. Some of these gild schools, like 'Merchant Taylors" of London, or the Grammar School at Stratford-on-Avon, where Shakespeare was educated (Fig. 16), still survive as secondary institutions. Many instances, too, are recorded where the members of a certain gild were appointed trustees of a school established by an individual, and were granted

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

Fig. 15. Apprenticeship training in a gild. (The master bootmaker and his wife, two journeymen, and an apprentice.)

[graphic][ocr errors]

Fig. 16.-Gild school and church at Stratford-on-Avon. (In this 'grammar' school Shakespeare learned 'little Latin and less Greek.')

« ForrigeFortsæt »