What role did merchants play in medieval Europe?
There were always merchants in the Middle Ages. The bought and sold goods and had them transported among markets. As time went by, they began to acquire wealth. They formed guilds of merchants, and the guilds sometimes combined forces and took over the governments of towns and cities, making them republican in nature, a form referred to as a medieval commune (the connotation being more like that of commonwealth). In time, great networks of guild cities formed alliances, such as the Hanseatic League, which was as powerful as many nations. This process was called the rise of mercantilism, and was instrumental in improving medieval society.