Essay about The Importance of Merchants in Medieval Times

The following paper, through the mind and words of a fictionalized character, examines the crucial issues and various changes the imperial relationship between Great Britain and its North American colonies underwent in the mid-to-late eighteenth century. Drawing upon various historical events and enactments, the story of Gerald Gardner, a Bostonian merchant, will try to synthesize these events and provide a reflection upon the American Revolution from the point-of-view of those who shared his line of work. While the following opinions expressed display the feelings and attitudes of one man, the same cannot be applied historically to all of the merchant class. The characters and

Households were strictly patriarchal in which the man of the house made all the important decisions. Women's jobs at the time were mostly relegated to domestic service and occasional work at harvest time. The jobs were always of low pay, low status, and required little training. In addition to this females were not legally permitted to inherit land or property. This was the bleak life of a woman, with little hope or power, and always the subordinate of men.

During the Post-Classical Era merchants played an incredible role in shaping the course of different

The merchant claims that he knows nothing of long-suffering wives. Rather, if his wife were to marry the devil, she would overmatch even him. The Merchant claims that there is a great difference between Griselde's exceptional obedience and his wife's more common cruelty. The Merchant has been married two months and has loathed every minute of it. The Host asks the Merchant to tell a tale of his horrid wife.

A woman had a busy domestic life. A woman played the role of wife, mother, teacher and manager. She had to please her husband, bear and raise children, educate her children, and manage all daily household activities. In the home, the woman was the jack of all trades. Part of the role of the female was to take raw goods, and turn them into useful items, such as food, candles, and clothing. Women had to clean, butcher and prepare all game brought home to the family. A woman was a household factory. Many items in the home were created by women. All clothing was made by spinning, weaving and stitching. All cloth was washed by hand without the aid of any machines. Candles were made at home by weaving a wick and pouring hot wax into a mold. A woman had to be educated enough to teach her sons and daughters the skills of life. Women spent the majority of their time performing daily tasks, but still were able to have leisure activities such as painting, embroidery, and charity work. Women had very few legal rights. In the majority of colonies, women had no legal control over their lives. It was the consensus among society that

The common life of a NYC merchant in 1860 was that of a well-rounded diplomat. One who was able to make deals with both the Southern plantation owner, who sold him the cotton from which the merchant made his money, and the European who the merchant sold this cotton to.

Between 70 CE and 1500 CE, Christians and Muslims changed in their opinion of merchants, but stayed the same in their view of equitable transactions between people. Matthew, in the New Testament, records Jesus commenting on how hard it is for rich people to have their hearts in the right place, but he doesn't condemn the people for having money [D1]. Christians didn't specifically revile merchants specifically at this point in 70 CE. The "honest, truthful Muslim merchant" was praised for his reputable work, even being compared to martyrs in the Qur'an [D2]. As time went on, educated Christian and Muslim scholars began to voice why they both believed

In early New England textile mills, women and child labor contributed a huge effort to the production of textiles (Foner, The “Mill” Girls 264.). Accepting women in the work place was a huge breakthrough in the progression of women’s rights. In The kingdom Of Matthias, Matthias reacted to how women are getting the rights to work as to give them tasks in the household limiting them still. Matthias believed women should only do what they are permitted to do by their husbands.

The Merchant portrays himself to be a financial expert in order to hide his poverty: “ This estimable Merchant so had set his wits to work, none knew he was in debt...” (104, 289-290). Although the Merchant gives plenty of opinions on finances, he is a prime example of hypocrisy in that he gives advice that he cannot follow.

“Most girls were trained from childhood for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for clothing. If a woman worked outside of her home, her job usually grew out of her household

Merchants and bankers were the most socially mobile group in the renaissance. The often started from humble beginnings- as peddlers or craftsmen, for example- and exploited new commercial opportunities to become very wealthy. Once they were rich, they tried to behave like the nobility. Many became patrons and leaders of society (“Social Order” pp.58).

The Commerce Tavern was a popular restaurant located in Merchants Square, Colonial Williamsburg. H. Franklin Nilson established The Commerce in 1982, and he has been operating this restaurant very well. Recently, Nilson had a conversation with Anne Hamlet from The Virginia Merchants Bank about the acceptance of credit card consumption at The Commerce Tavern. VMB was willing to give The Commerce authorization of the use of MasterCard and Visa cards at the tavern. However, the general payment method of The Commerce was cash-only, Nilson was not sure if this traditional method could always working well for his business in a long term, and if he should make some changes on the cash-only policy. In

The Middle Ages, often referred to as the Dark Ages, was regarded to be a time of despair, disease, and death. Just as the name the “Dark Ages” suggests, this period of European history seemed to be surrounded by darkness and hopelessness. Unfortunately, the majority of people only see this side of the Middle Ages when, in fact, the Middle Ages was a much more important era. Especially during the late Middle Ages, one can find a change in orthodox social structure, political instability mostly concerned with succession to the throne, and economic changes and how those changes went hand in hand with the change in society. After certain demographical changes and turning points such as the Hundred Years’ War, Europe began to transform

A cross section of medieval society: feudal (the knight), ecclesiastical (pardoner, priest, nun), urban (lawyer, doctor, merchant). And Chaucer's interest in middle class characters, such as a cook, carpenter, miller, lawyer, merchant, clerk, physician reflects the rise of the middle class in the fourteenth century (Collin 1).

Despite the actual terms of “wealth,” “income,” or “money” seldom being used in the prologue, each character did in many ways give hints of their financial standings by the way in which they led their lives. For example, the Prioress seemed to live a comfortable middle class life based on descriptions such as “speaking French fluently,” “had meat on which to dine,” and “she was so charitable” (Chaucer 124-143). Based on simple assumptions, it seems fair to say that the prioress made modest wages to fund her style of living. While she may not have been bathed in riches like the nobility, she certainly had the resources to be educated (literate), eat meat for dinner, and donate to the poor who certainly did not have what she had.