Read the text carefully and note the most important information.

Merchants

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Ilustracja przedstawiająca średniowiecznych kupców. Na stołach znajdują się sprzedawane przez nich produkty, na przykład tkaniny, narzędzia, naczynia. Kupcy prezentują swoje produkty klientom podchodzącym do ich stoiska. Wersja alternatywna polecenia: Na podstawie różnych źródeł informacji przygotuj prezentację ustną dotyczącą najbardziej charakterystycznych profesji mieszkańców średniowiecznych miast.

MerchantsmerchantMerchants were amongst the richest inhabitants of medieval cities. They lived in beautiful and richly decorated tenement houses, they dressed in expensive clothes. They had an impact on the city governance because they were members of the city council. They lived off trade in goods, which they often imported from faraway lands. They sold their goods mainly at municipal markets or in cloth hall. There were many small merchantsmerchantmerchants in cities, who carried the sold goods with them on their backs and reached the townspeople's houses directly.

MerchantsmerchantMerchants carrying goods could use the designated roads. If the roads led to a city/town which had a so‑called staple right, they had to stop there and display all their goods.

On Polish roads, there was a law called a road mir. According to it, the ruler, through his people, was supposed to ensure the safety of the travellers. Anyone who attacked others on the road had to face serious punishment. However, the road mir was often violated.

Craftsmen

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Ilustracja przedstawiająca kartę ze średniowiecznego kalendarza prezentującą miesiąc grudzień. Na karcie znajduje się ilustracja piekarz podczas prac. Mężczyzna wkłada chleb do pieca.

The most numerous group of inhabitants were craftsmencraftsmencraftsmen. These included bakers, butchers, tailors, shoemakers, potters and weavers. In the Middle Ages, unlike today, most of the goods were produced in small workshops and in small quantities. The inhabitants of the cities needed the goods produced by the craftsmencraftsmencraftsmen. Craft workshops were located on the ground floors of the tenement houses. Rich craftsmencraftsmencraftsmen occupied dwellings above their workshops, poor ones lived in attics.

From the 13th century craftsmencraftsmencraftsmen, with the support of the city authorities, started to establish their own organizations, called guildsguildsguilds. The guildguildsguild consisted of craftsmencraftsmencraftsmen of one or more related specialties. The guildsguildsguilds took care of high quality of manufactured goods, protected their members against unfair competition, set salaries and working hours (for example, forbade night work). In the event of a breach of the regulations, the craftsman was brought before the guildguildsguild court. The guildguildsguild members also took care of the families of deceased craftsmencraftsmencraftsmen who were in need.

From student to master

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Ilustracja przedstawiająca średniowiecznego krawca ze swoimi uczniami.

In order to be granted craftsmanship rights and to be able to run one's own workshop, one had to become a master. It took a long time to gain the title of a master, even several years. First, under the supervision of an experienced craftsman, the student learned basic skills. Then he/she became a journeymanjourneymanjourneyman. In order to become a master, the journeymanjourneymanjourneyman had to make an item related to the type of his/her craftsmanship, for example, a tailor had to sew a dress, a shoemaker had to make shoes. The quality of such work, called masterworkmasterworkmasterwork, was assessed by guildguildsguild masters. Well done work confirmed the acquired skills. After accepting the masterwork, the journeymanjourneymanjourneyman could become a master.

Others

Inhabitants of medieval cities are called townspeople. These were mainly merchantsmerchantmerchants and craftsmencraftsmencraftsmen. The cities were also inhabited by priests who served in churches and monks (for example, Franciscans and Dominicans) who founded their monasteries within the city walls. The city also attracted numerous beggars and vagrants.

Read an extract of a document that lists the rights of guildsguildsguilds such as: needlers, tinkers, button makers, tin casters, and rosary makers, and then do an exercise.