Crafts And Guilds
Artisans make handmade jewelry which is prized for its uniqueness, variety and often unsurpassed beauty.
System
In Europe during the Middle Ages artisans usually organized into guilds. Guilds were associations of master artisans that were granted charters by the local authority. The guilds controlled all ways of production and distribution to ensure quality and to prevent competition from outside markets. Along with merchants, artisans occupied the middle of the European and Indian social hierarchy, below the land owning aristocrats and above the agricultural workers.
To become an artisan in the guilds, a person worked under a master artisan as an unpaid apprentice at a young age. If the apprentice completed the training, the appentice became a paid journeyman. For a journeyman to become a master artisan, he would have to produce a masterpiece that met the standards of the guild.
Advantages & Disadvantages
Start out as an unpaid apprentice, and you have to have completed the training, for the appentice to become a paid journeyman.
Traits Of Artisans
An artisan, also called a craftsman, is a skilled manual worker who uses tools and machinery in a particular craft such as wood working, or pottery.