During the middle of the 13th and 14th centuries merchants started to become more as a daily profession after the fall of Rome. More and more towns seemed to develop each day due to increase of migration and infancy which lead to merchants becoming more popular in rural and urban areas and forcing people to start making more purchases for their necessities.

There were two types on merchants the local merchants who were town’s people and traded their goods in the town. (Jennifer Ruby pg 43). The great merchants who sailed and travel for trade not only did they sail the seas for trade but they also played an important role in guilds.

The local merchants were the merchants who towns people came too if they need to buy food, clothes and other items towns people would need. Trade among local merchants began to sore quickly and increased trading in towns and villages which became more wealthy and stable. During the trading of local merchants the merchants who have a profession for trading started to make guilds for the art of their profession. The guilds merchants put on religious festivals, plays, and looked out for the members and families that were also in their guild. “When a member died, his fellows would bury him and care for his widow and children. When he was sick, they would help; if he became destitute, they would help. Even if he were imprisoned, the guild might come to his aid.”(“Medieval Society” par 3) If the guild did not come to his aid and they were expelled out of the guild it would be impossible to make a living for the guildsman and or his family.

Life as a merchant seemed very manageable and profitable due to the high soaring of trading goods through out towns, villages, kingdoms and over seas trade.

Medieval merchants sailed the seas of Europe and the Mediterranean collecting various items which they traded, some of the items would include food, raw materials, luxuries, wool, furs, wood, salt, wine, horses, glass, silk and spices. “Trade made the merchants rich, and it also brought wealth to the rulers of the land in which the trading took place. Many of the rulers would demand a fee or a gift to them for allowing the foreigners to trade in their land, and they also taxed all traded goods.”(“The Medieval Merchant” par 1) As trading begun to develop, many of the towns around or near the trade routes quickly became rich, such as Paris, France.

During the course of trade many wars were fought over it because of the great profit merchants made. The merchants often were great role leaders, who often struggled with their manor lords due to them having to pay a hefty profit to free themselves. Although trading made merchants very rich many of the local and towns merchants ran out of business because their supplies would not come in very quickly as expected. As numerous people were attracted to wealthy towns to trade and shop crime and overcrowding became major concerns within the trading of goods.