The Study On The Change Of English Guild In The Late Middle Ages

The outstanding performance of Medieval Western Europe in the economy is the revival of the city, with the city rising, the guild has become the most important one of socioeconomic structure that time, as the particular feudal product of the city.Britain is a representative country in the feudal commercial societies of the west,whose guild emerged in the urban revitalization of the 12th-century and extended to the British bourgeois revolution. It’s significance is obvious. British economic development of middle ages always falls behind in other European countries. With the development of commodity economy, and the emergence of capital concentration and free labor, the British economy quickly enter into the path of transition. As the upper most production and business organization of the city, the British guild is developing,and changing constantly. During the process of guild’s transition, the British guild gradually produces capitalist production relations. The change of the British guild had the bigger influence on the whole Western Europe society, so as to the Unitized Kingdom.The thesis consists of three parts: The preface, the text and the conclusion. The preface summarizes the reason of my choice and the research present situation at home and abroad, and discusses the significance and innovation, thus leads to the argument on this article.The main body includes three aspects. The first chapter mainly discusses the historical background of the British guild’s transition in the later medieval. Before the14th-century, the British economy was self-sufficient feudal economy which took up the leading role, so as to protect petty commodities to develop smoothly. After the14 th and 15 th century, with the development of agricultural and industrial-merchant,the countries advancement of the British social productivity led to the development of commodity economy. Guild was regarded the production of the feudal economy, has not adapted to the development of social production at that time. By the way, the change of social economy was the basic background of guild’s transition.The second chapter describes the evolution of the British guild in the late middle age. With the advancement of the British social productivity, guild gradually obstructed the development of the city economy, as the most important social economic organization in the city. Facing the historical choice, guild had to seek the transitional pathway because of exploring the survival and development. In the courseof transformation the productive relations interior the guild began to change, and the relationship between the members has also changed.The third chapter analyzes the historical influence of the change of the British guild. The most important thing is to stimulate the emergence of the productive relations of British capitalism, and commercial capital starts to posers the functions of the industrial capital and then the capital accelerate sharply, which lead to the increasing of the industrial progress. Although in order to survival for revolution,nonetheless all kinds of limiting rules still existed, this change of the guild exited the historical illumination.The end of the whole is the summary. Guild’s self-adjustment, to some extent, propel to the development of social economy, after all it was established on the basis of the feudal production-made, whose feudal right was obvious. With the development of the British capitalists, it wasn’t adapt to the trend of historical development any longer, by the end of gradually seceded from the historical stage.