employment and labor: The Islamic World 395 cities imported wine from southern France and northern Italy For cities and towns located near bodies of water, watermen and ferrymen transported people and goods—usually operating in very strictly regulated guilds that fiercely saw off any opposition Carters did the same for land transport As in villages, blacksmiths and ironmongers worked throughout a city, along with builders and carpenters In cities there was also more use of glass, which increased dramatically during the Middle Ages; glaziers were working in every city by the end of the medieval period Within houses candles were the only method of illumination at night, and some cities, such as London, had rival guilds of tallow chandlers and wax chandlers Bowyers made bows, a particularly important occupation in England, which heavily relied upon them in battle Armorers had workshops throughout medieval Europe, and the best craftsmen usually were located around the palaces of kings and other rulers, whom they supplied with armor Although cutlers could produce knives, they tended to specialize in the making of cutlery; the fork was first used in Byzantium in the 10th century Many women made clothes for the family at home, so there were relatively few clothes shops Shops tended to sell lengths of cloth to be made into clothing, and cloth workers, drapers, and dyers often were situated close to each other At the higher end of the market were haberdashers (dealers specializing in men’s clothing), merchant tailors, and mercers (dealers in expensive, high-quality fabric such as silk) Some of these guilds, such as that of the mercers in London, became extremely powerful; Mercer’s Hall became a center of city intrigue The mercers required an apprenticeship of nine years, and there were many famous members of their guild, including Sir Richard Whittington (d 1423)—the “Dick Whittington” of children’s stories—who was Lord Mayor of London on three occasions Such was the wealth of some of these guilds that the haberdashers’, merchant tailors’ and mercers’ guilds in London were all wealthy enough to found their own schools The four most specialized occupations were those of goldsmiths, barber-surgeons, apothecaries (people who sold drugs and medicinal preparations), and lawyers Many of the medical associations and law societies in Europe today have their origin in guilds that operated in medieval times The making of spectacles was concentrated in Antwerp from the mid-14th century on and led to the formation of a guild there that also jealously guarded entry to the profession With each of these guilds closely shielding access to membership, it was not long before people came to realize that membership of a particular guild could be an easy path of personal enrichment The Islamic World by Kirk H Beetz Employment and labor were very complex social issues in the medieval Islamic world, as the spread of Islam incorporated many different cultures with different employment and labor practices into the Islamic sphere New rulers in conquered territories faced two problems One was the occasional shortage of labor, as war sometimes resulted in the deaths of laborers or in their flight to escape the Muslim invasion The other problem was that of determining how to apply Islamic laws to local employment and labor practices Throughout the medieval era matters of employment and labor generally were resolved through markets and the balanced application of state laws and regulations; the maintaining of this balance allowed for the development of the most prosperous economic era the world had known until then, often called the “golden age” of Islam Labor shortages seem to have been most acute in two regions: the western Near East, particularly the Levant, and northern India In the case of the western Near East, the Arab invasions resulted in the loss of farmers and the fleeing from cities of Greeks and others who took along their wealth and skills In India the burning of cities and the occasional wholesale slaughter of locals resulted in the loss of craftspeople and their employees, with many people likewise escaping from the conquered lands and taking along their skills and labor In general, once Islamic rule was imposed, the new rulers engaged the local populations in work and tolerated local employment and labor practices This was probably a practical matter, because making sweeping changes in local labor practices could have created unmanageable chaos in local economies Further, Islamic laws were perhaps difficult to apply specifically to employment practices In rural areas farmers often were allowed to pursue their work as they wished Muslim leaders usually focused their efforts to control and organize labor in the cities The conquests of Islam typically resulted in the growth of cities, with laborers leaving the countryside to find work in the many building projects and other enterprises sponsored by Islamic governments Rural populations were often heavily taxed—though generally less so than under previous rulers—making employment in the city seem a preferable avenue toward earning a living A chronic problem in the cities of the early Islamic world was the general unrest of unskilled laborers Islamic cities tended to be slightly different in layout from modern cities The urban area itself was defined by its marketplaces, mosques, shops, and houses At the edges the city was surrounded by gardens, where many laborers living in the city went to work during the day, producing fruits and vegetables for the city’s markets The gardens eventually blended into