How would prospective members join a medieval European guild?

Question

On related lines, 1) How would a young person (young man) have selected a master with whom to apprentice? How did the matching up process work? 2) What motivated a master/practitioner to take on an apprentice? 3) I realize that people usually lived and died quite close to home, but how would someone go about joining a guild or taking up a trade in a new city/place if they did move?

Answer 1

During the High Middle Ages, people began moving into cities, because the opportunities are located inside. Medieval people felt that they have identities and purpose inside the city. Although towns and farmlands surround the medieval cities of Europe, these are meant primarily to supply food and resources to the city-dwellers. Farmers sold their produce to the people inside the city. And, there is security inside the city, with its walls and guards keeping order and stability. In rural areas, there are bandits ready to steal and harm people walking on the roads.

Inside the medieval city, a castle and/or church serve as the nucleus or nuclei, with houses and shops surrounding the center in concentric patterns. Artisans' shops provide supplies and services to the lords, nobles, castle-dwellers like knights and servants, and to the inhabitants of the city, in general. Young men would join guilds as apprentices to learn the crafts of their choice in order for them to earn a living into adulthood. Masters, in turn, need apprentices to help them meet supply orders, like blacksmiths providing armor and gear for knights, and shoes for horses, among others. It may take years for apprentices to master the craft in the guilds, but the experiences are important to become competent artisans. Later, they grow and start their own shops. Nevertheless, the quality of goods and services they provide were of top quality due to the training received.