I've deeply studied the apprentice programs in medieval Europe; your claims don't align with guild law, nor the motivations of the guilds themselves (to create

I've deeply studied the apprentice programs in medieval Europe; your claims don't align with guild law, nor the motivations of the guilds themselves (to create protective but longterm market-satisfying services and goods; i.e. to stay in business and prevent cheap knockoffs, at the cost of inhibiting innovation). Apprenticeships certainly weren't more abusive than the typical alternatives: serf labor, or servant jobs. (One of the key differences between servants and apprentices in medieval England, for instance, was that you weren't allowed to beat your apprentices.) Often exploitative? Sure. Most power structures are. But it absolutely was a system that guaranteed rights to the worker, which made it rise far above most employment situations of that time.