When we study the social structure of the Middle Ages, we usually come across that classical definition of the three forms of activity among medieval men, that is, the speakers, you warriors and the farmers. This structure is generally associated with the feudal system and the social ties created by that system.
However, as medieval cities began to organize themselves, other figures began to appear, such as the artisans, linked to the corporationsinCraft. However, the most intriguing of these new characters was the merchant.
Medieval cities began to develop other functions from the so-called Commercial and urban renaissance, occurred in the centuries of LowAgeAverage, that is, from the 11th century onwards. Cities that functioned basically as fortresses started to receive people from other regions of the world interested in buying and selling goods. The port cities of the Mediterranean and the North Seas, such as Genoa,Venice,Amsterdam and Antwerp, they became major commercial hubs during this period.
The figure of the merchant became the most adaptable to this context. Contrary to the social fixity of feudal society, the climate in cities, permeated by the atmosphere of the bourgeoisie in formation (bourgeoisie comes from villages, cities), enabled an expansion of cultural, technical, scientific and commercial horizons. Merchants had as their main function to travel to very different regions and bring from those places what was most necessary and most interesting.
Thus, each merchant needed to develop a series of skills and make use of them all. For example, the merchant needed nautical knowledge, mastery of compasses, astrolabes, astronomical guidance, etc. At the same time, to handle business in foreign lands, the merchant needed to learn new languages and articulate well with merchants from Asia Minor and the Far East. Not to mention the acquisition of knowledge about currencies and forms of economic exchange with these peoples. A notable example of a merchant was MarchPole, which was known, among many other things, for bringing the noodle.
To merchants, some historians still attribute glimpses of what would become the humanism from the 15th and 16th centuries. The cosmopolitanism provided by the practice of navigation and the technical and scientific knowledge associated with this practice would develop interest in new discoveries and inventions. A notable example of a historical humanist personality linked to the universe of merchants is that of christopherColumbus, born in Genoa and one of the greatest sea navigators of modernity.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes