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Meritocracies In The High Middle Ages

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While the early Middle Ages were a time of isolation, the High Middle Ages saw the return of trade. As population increased, more people were able to move into urban centers; the port cities in Italy flourished in particular. The First Crusade was ordered by Pope Urban II in 1095 and the initial purpose was to rescue the Holy Land from Muslim control but instead the Crusades “stimulated new trade between western Europe and the East” (“The Western Heritage”, lxxiii). This influx of trade resulted in the birth of a new social class, the bourgeois. The bourgeois were merchants whose new wealth was seen as a threat, by the nobles, to political and social order. The creation of the bourgeois saw the beginning of meritocracy in western European society because finally people could improve their status through hard …show more content…

The bourgeois also were responsible for the fragmentation of the traditional feudal society. The laws imposed by lords often restricted trade so “wherever merchants settled, they lobbied for the freedom necessary to pursue successful commerce” (“The Western Heritage, lxx). To protect merchants and later artisans from the damaging policies of the lords, guilds were formed. The guild worked to further commerce and improve the lives of members. For example, as a member of a guild, a merchant or craftsman were guaranteed that “should [they] fall into poverty or misery, all the members of the guild [would] assist him out of the treasury of the guild or out of their own pockets” (The Merchant Guild of Lynn Regis). These associational organizations were yet another seed of modern society that was planted by the bourgeois. As a result of the disagreements concerning trade between the townspeople and the lords, towns began to ally themselves with kings which contributed to the rise of national

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