D, around 10 centuries ago, the exchange of services or goods in return for money was becoming very popular. People loved money and wanted more of it. Due to this immense growth in commerce, organizations called guilds started to form. A guild is an association of people with similar interests in a craft, business or profession. The merchants, who can easily be compared with today's resellers and businessmen, were supposedly the first to form a guild my encyclopedia stated. Groups of merchants from the same city would often form groups and elect a leader. The small groups created rules to which all members of the guild pledged to obey. In time the merchant guild gained a monopoly over the entire industry and commerce of the city. The guild granted its members with many special privileges such as freedom from municipal taxes. People not in the guild were forced to pay these, which is probably an important reason why the monopoly was so easily formed. .
This development of economic control continued until it was slowly eliminated by the craft guilds 400 years later. Cities all over western Europe started forming their own groups of artisans; some even purchased the rights to control its branch of industry from the government, forcing artisans from that city to join their guild. The craft guilds introduced journeymen, masters, and apprentices into the work force. Back then the apprentices and journeymen would live together with their masters but that has clearly changed in today's world. An apprentice is a young artisan who is just beginning to practice a certain craft. The master will train the apprentice until he/she has acquired the necessary skills and knowledge to work individually. The apprentice is now a journeyman on the way to becoming a master. The masters were the craftspeople with the most knowledge and respect, since they had learned their trade for many years and had built up their reputations of being the best.
