Which two main types of guild existed?

Merchant guilds and craft guilds

Medieval Guilds Quiz: Apprentices, Journeymen and Masters

Bakers, weavers and goldsmiths organized themselves into powerful associations that controlled training and trade, and this medieval guilds quiz explains how. Play 10 interactive questions on merchant and craft guilds, apprenticeships, journeymen, the masterpiece, guild halls, quality rules, patron saints, the Hanseatic League, London's livery companies and the German journeyman tradition.

Start Medieval Guilds Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Purpose
What were medieval guilds?
Types
Which two main types of guild existed?
Apprentice
How long did apprenticeships often last?
Living
Where did apprentices usually live?
Journeyman
Where does the word journeyman come from?
Master
What did a journeyman submit to become a master?
Rules
What did guilds regulate?
Saints
What did many guilds adopt for protection and identity?
Hansa
Which network linked merchant towns around the Baltic and North Sea?
Today
Which London organizations descend from guilds?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What were medieval guilds?
Answer: Associations of merchants or craftsmen
They regulated trades in towns.
Q2: Which two main types of guild existed?
Answer: Merchant guilds and craft guilds
Craft guilds covered specific trades.
Q3: How long did apprenticeships often last?
Answer: Around seven years
Terms varied by trade and town.
Q4: Where did apprentices usually live?
Answer: In the master's household
Masters fed and housed them.
Q5: Where does the word journeyman come from?
Answer: French journee, a day's work
They were paid by the day.
Q6: What did a journeyman submit to become a master?
Answer: A masterpiece
Guild members judged its quality.
Q7: What did guilds regulate?
Answer: Prices, quality and training
They protected members' interests.
Q8: What did many guilds adopt for protection and identity?
Answer: Patron saints
Feasts honored them.
Q9: Which network linked merchant towns around the Baltic and North Sea?
Answer: The Hanseatic League
Lubeck was a leading city.
Q10: Which London organizations descend from guilds?
Answer: Livery companies
Many are called Worshipful Companies.

Medieval Guilds Quiz – Apprentices, Journeymen and Masters

Medieval guilds were associations of merchants or craftsmen in European towns. Merchant guilds controlled trade, while craft guilds covered trades such as baking, weaving and metalwork, regulating prices, quality and training.

Young apprentices often trained for around seven years, living in the master's household. They then became journeymen, from the French journee, paid by the day. To become a master, a journeyman submitted a masterpiece for the guild to judge.

Guilds built halls, honored patron saints and supported members' families. The Hanseatic League linked merchant towns across northern Europe. London's livery companies still exist, and German journeymen keep a centuries-old travel tradition called the Walz.

What This Quiz Teaches

History fans will enjoy these questions.

What guilds were
How training worked
Where words come from
What guilds controlled
How they survive today

Did You Know?

Guilds often limited the number of masters.
Members paid dues to the guild.
Guild halls still stand in many European cities.
Some guilds staged mystery plays.
Guild power declined with industrialization.