Feudalism had made timid appearances in the first half of the eighth century, and now it is resurfacing with all its vigour at the beginning of the tenth century. At that time, the feudal vassal system predominated in Germany, England and much of France. A rigid system in which the peasant, serf of the glen, had to submit to the yoke of the earth. At the top reigned the great feudal lords, owners of immense territories and to whom other less well-off owners, the vassals, had to submit. Feudalism is a very local system that is almost independent of the outside world. The lords ensure the protection of the vassals because the roads are no longer very safe. As a result, the 10th century was the darkest period in the history of Europe. The roads were emptied of their travellers, only the troops of soldiers walked along them, during inevitable warlike incursions. The cities and towns left abandoned, then looked like stone ghosts. Rome, which, a century before our era, had housed half a million people, according to the least optimistic calculations, had not counted in the 10th century more than fifty thousand souls, subjected to all kinds of acts of violence and humiliations on the part of a greedy nobility.
Nevertheless, from the middle of the 11th century onwards, commercial activity began to give new life signs. The Santiago road, which led to the northeastern borders of Spain, where, according to legend, the remains of the apostle James the Great rested, became the busiest road in Europe. Pilgrims leaving France crossed the Pyrenees to visit the tomb of the holy apostle. The Way of Compostela or "French Way" was effectively monitored by the famous military order of the Knights Templar, and its knights had the task of clearing the path of looters and criminals, highwaymen and crooks of all kinds who haunted it. In fact, this zeal was sometimes confused with a few excesses, to such an extent that on two occasions the Pope had to put a stop to the excessive fervour of some knights. In addition to the pilgrims, who usually travelled on foot and in small groups, many other travellers in transit took the French path: monsters, actors, itinerants, bambocheurs , women of light morals, toothpullers, barbers, draperies, wine merchants, wood merchants, water vendors, relic sellers (all certainly false); all kinds of priests and brothers, members of minor orders such as the beggar brothers.
The High Middle Ages: It extends from the 5th century to the middle of the 11th century. It is a chaotic time when the depopulation of cities and towns is increasing. An eminently rural period during which the trading system is based on barter.
The Late Middle Ages: This period saw the flourishing of trade and merchants, thus a form of capitalism was to emerge that would assert itself over time. Guilds and Hanses come from this second part of the Middle Ages. Originally, they were religious brotherhoods, which flourished during the Carolingian Empire and gave rise to the corporations.
Despite a respectable ideology "traditionally pious and charitable association under the protection of a patron saint", some of the brotherhoods attracted many critics for their life disorders. In 852, Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, harshly criticized the customs of groups capable of transforming the feasts of sanctification to the glory of God into the most lavish banquets. It then became difficult to distinguish brotherhoods and corporations, as religion and profession were then closely united. Despite a so-called Carolingian Renaissance, Europe remained a rural society with few cities and towns. From the economic boom at the end of the 10th century, cities and towns began to count in the still dispersed environment of rural society, and craftsmen grouped themselves into fields of activity: murderers, goldsmiths, water merchants, draperies, grocers, painters, musicians... The corporations defended the interests of their members and also served the municipal authorities to control the quality of products and set taxes. Merchants played a major role in the 11th century. Trade is growing: goods are transported from one point in Europe to another by land or along the Mediterranean coast. The risks incurred throughout the journey were multiple: banditry, excessive tolls, etc. The need to protect mutual interests was therefore obvious and merchants would join in guilds: from the city, the exchange then extended to the city.
