Cloth Merchants vs Weavers: Imposed Top-Down Solutions to a Permanent Dispute (based on examples from Polish cities and their East German analogues in the late Middle Ages)

Abstract

From the second half of the thirteenth century, economic privileges of cloth merchants became almost a norm in the cities of Central Europe, including Poland. The same entrepreneurs constituted at the same time a group that exercised power in their cities. From the fourteenth century, the aspirations of local textile manufacturers became apparent, they demanding the right to free retail sales of their products. The resulting conflict with merchants was permanent. However, it was not connected with the demands of gaining access to power in the town, although at the same time the weavers were involved in struggles of a political nature. This state of affairs is the starting point for an examination of the characteristics of the course of the aforementioned conflict in Polish cities and a consideration of its possible causes.