Industrial privilege pervaded the life of that time.
Yet through all the Middle Ages ran the forces of competition.

The inefficiency of customary services and the high prices charged by selfish privilege were constant invitations to men to become competitors.

Men strove to break over the barriers of custom and of prejudice.

Their efforts to attain freedom to compete was the vital force of the time.

The industrial history of the Middle Ages was largely the story of the struggle of the forces of competition against the bonds of custom and privilege.
Sec.12.