中世纪的西欧工匠是一个非常重要的劳动者群体。他们包括自由人和不自由人,后者在中世纪较早摆脱了奴役,成为半自由人和自由人;他们的人口比例不断上升,中世纪中晚期城乡工匠大约占到总人口的10%—20%,平均在15%左右,构成非农业人口的主体;他们主要以工业生产为生,随着中世纪中期和晚期工业品价格和工资从缓慢增长到快速上升,工匠收入的购买力也相应经历了从下降到提高的过程,15世纪时工匠的生活水平得到明显改善。 Medieval Western artisans were a very important group of workers. They included both free men and non-libertarians, who escaped from enslavement earlier in the Middle Ages and became semi-free and free men. Their proportion of the population was on the rise. Urban and rural artisans in the late Middle Ages accounted for about 10% of the total population %, Averaging around 15%, constitute the main body of the non-agricultural population; they mainly depend on industrial production. As the prices and wages of industrial products rose from slow to rapid rise in the middle and late Middle ages, the purchasing power of craftsmen’s income also went through Decline to improve the process, 15th century artisans living standards have been significantly improved.