guilds
guilds
orgilds,
economic and social associations of persons engaging in the same business or craft, typical of Western Europe in the Middle Ages. Membership was by profession or craft, and the primary function was to establish local control over that profession or craft by setting standards of workmanship and price, by protecting the business from competition, and by establishing status in society for members of the guild. In the Western world today the term guild is used for certain associations that have little connection with the medieval institution. Some of the great professional associations (e.g., in medicine and law) fulfill some of the functions of the old guilds but are rarely given that name.Medieval European Guilds
By the 11th cent. in Europe, associations of merchants had begun to form for the protection of commerce against the feudal governments. Those merchant guilds became extremely powerful as trade in the Mediterranean and across Europe increased. Some of the Italian merchant guilds, such as those in Genoa and Florence, became dominant in local government. In England and in Germany the merchant guilds also exercised enormous power in the growing towns. Commerce was becoming less and less a local affair, and the guilds in some cases developed into intercity leagues for the promotion and protection of trade. The most striking example was the Hanseatic LeagueHanseatic League
, mercantile league of medieval German towns. It was amorphous in character; its origin cannot be dated exactly. Originally a Hansa was a company of merchants trading with foreign lands.
..... Click the link for more information. of N Europe, which established and controlled some of its own trading cities. The merchant guilds had vast influence in the development of commerce during that period.
No less important were the craft guilds, the associations of artisans of a particular industry, e.g., the weavers guild. These grew with great rapidity as towns developed in the 12th cent. and tended to share power with the merchants or even, in some cases, to supplant them in power. Generally the members were divided into masters, apprentices, and journeymen. The masters were the owners of the shops and instructors of the apprentices. The apprentices were bound to the masters; they were accepted for a stipulated sum paid to the masters for training and were given a subsistence wage for a number of years; the amount paid and the length of time varied from one craft to another and one place to another. The apprentices were strictly under the control of the masters, but the conditions of control were set by guild regulation. The journeymen were men who had finished their training as apprentices but could not attain the status of masters, the number of masters being limited.
The guild reflected a predilection for ordering society. Each guild set the terms of its craft: the forms of labor, standard of product, and methods of sale. With the rise of nationalism in the West, those things were increasingly subject to royal and national law. The relationship of the feudal ruler to the guilds was ideally one of cooperation. Actually the wealthy guilds were able to gain some immunity from interference by noble or king either by paying them large sums of money or by intimidating them. Sometimes, as in the weaving towns of Flanders, the guilds led revolts against feudal authority (e.g., in BrugesBruges
or Brugge
, city (1991 pop. 117,063), capital of West Flanders prov., NW Belgium, connected by canal with Zeebrugge (on the North Sea), its outer port. It is a rail junction as well as a commercial, industrial, and tourist center.
..... Click the link for more information. and GhentGhent
, Du. Gent, Fr. Gand, city (1991 pop. 230,246), capital of East Flanders prov., W Belgium, at the confluence of the Scheldt and Leie rivers. Connected with the North Sea by the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal and by a network of other canals, Ghent is a major port and
..... Click the link for more information. ). The tendency in the industrial towns was for the guilds to assume dominance in municipal government, and traces of that control have persisted in the local governments of Western Europe. The guilds of London (see livery companieslivery companies,
London trade guilds incorporated by royal charter, deriving their name from the assumption of distinctive dress (livery) by their members. Edward III granted the first charters in the 14th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ) had wide social obligations and prominence in the city government.
The strengthening of the power of nations in the 15th and 16th cent. tended to increase royal power, and the king in some instances was able to reduce the guilds to subservience. The improvement of communications, the expansion of trade, with the introduction of foreign-made goods, and finally the appearance of the capitalist and the entrepreneur hastened the end of the guild system. The guilds, with their rigorous controls and emphasis on stability and quality, were not equipped to cope with the expanding production of a more capitalistic age. They tended to guard their monopolies jealously and to oppose change.
As time went on, the guild system became increasingly rigid, and the trend toward hereditary membership grew very marked. Thus the development of new trade and industry fell to the capitalists, who adapted themselves to new demands in an age of exploration and expansion. By the 17th cent. the power of the guilds had withered in England, and their privileges were officially abolished in 1835. In France the guilds were abolished (1791) in the French Revolution. The German and Austrian guilds were abolished in the 19th cent. as were those in the Italian cities. In Eastern Europe guilds grew numerous in the great market cities, and the power of some long persisted, notably in Novgorod and Kraków.
Other Guilds
Guildlike organizations of merchants and artisans have been known at various times in many parts of the world. Greek merchants' associations were of considerable significance in both the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Under the Roman Empire each provincial city had, as did Rome, its various collegia (some of which were clubs as well as economic guilds); Constantinople later had its efficiently organized corpora. Those guilds were continued in the East and in some of the cities of Italy, where they persisted at least until the 10th cent. Their effect on the creation of medieval guilds is debatable. Some scholars have found the origin of guilds in the old tribal or religious guilds of the Germans.
Elsewhere in the world associations of merchants and of artisans developed and followed a pattern similar to that of the medieval European guilds, flourishing as protective devices or as regulatory instruments of the state. The guilds of the Muslim Middle East developed in the 9th cent. and persisted into the 20th cent., although they never attained the political influence equivalent of those of medieval Europe. In India guilds were highly developed before the time of the Maurya empire, and they continued in existence long after British control was established. The history of the Indian guilds was closely tied in with the caste system. The guilds in Japan were opposed and weakened by the stronger medieval rulers, but they were later used as powerful regulatory devices; they were swept away in the Meiji restoration in 1868. Chinese guilds of unknown antiquity persisted as powerful bodies into the 20th cent.
Bibliography
See C. Gross, The Gild Merchant (1890, repr. 1964); L. F. Salzman, English Industries of the Middle Ages (new ed. 1964); H. Sée, Economic and Social Conditions in France during the Eighteenth Century (tr. 1927, repr. 1968); S. Kramer, The English Craft Gilds (1927); H. B. Morse, The Gilds of China (2d ed. 1932, repr. 1967); G. Unwin, Gilds and Companies of London (4th ed. 1963); G. Clune, The Medieval Gild System (1943); R. Mackenney, Tradesmen and Traders: The World of the Guilds in Venice and Europe (1987).
Guilds
in the broad sense, various associations (such as religious, political, and mutual-assistance associations) in Western Europe, especially during the early Middle Ages. In the narrow sense, a union of merchants (in England, unions of craftsmen were also called guilds).
In Western Europe the early guilds, still genetically linked with the customs and institutions of the preclass tribal system, are first mentioned in sources of the seventh and eighth centuries. The rise of guilds as merchant corporations dates from the late 11th and early 12th centuries (in England, Germany, Flanders, and France) and was prompted primarily by the developing intercity and international trade. In a guild that united the merchants of a city, the members collectively protected transport goods and secured a profitable market for goods by creating trading areas at fairs and other trade centers (for example, in ports) and by obtaining legal privileges and especially customs privileges. Guilds were often made up of merchants trading in one particular kind of goods, for example, cloth or wine. The guild participants were united in common armed defense and mutual aid in cases of shipwreck, attacks by robbers, ransom of members who fell into captivity, and the like. In their native cities, the guilds guaranteed that the sale of imported goods would be profitable to themselves by strengthening their monopoly of retail sales, which were the most profitable. The monopoly rights of the guilds were harmful to the consumer interests of the city itself. Guilds were usually headed by elders, several assistants, and an elected council. With time, admission to guilds became more limited. In the late Middle Ages, the guild as a corporate association characteristic of the Middle Ages was largely supplanted by another form of merchant association—trading companies.
In Russia, merchant corporations are known to have existed as early as the 12th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries there existed privileged corporations of the richest merchants (gosti), clothiers (torgovye liudi sykonnoi sotni), and companies of traveling traders (gostinye sotni). Within the corporations, merchants were divided according to property into three ranks—first, middle, and third. The term “guild” is first mentioned in 1719 in the regulations of the Commerce Board. In the 1721 regulations of the Chief Magistracy, the creation of guilds in all cities was declared compulsory. The population of the posad (merchants’ and artisans’ quarter) was to be divided into “regular” and “irregular” citizens. The first group in turn was divided into two guilds: the first included bankers, “notable” merchants, doctors, pharmacists, and several categories of craftsmen (such as gold and silver masters). The second included petty tradesmen and craftsmen (with the formation of shops in 1722, some of the craftsmen were not included in the guild division). The remaining population, including unskilled workmen and those for hire, was included among the “irregular” citizens.
In practice, from the 1720’s to the 1770’s, the posad population designated as merchants continued to be divided according to property into three ranks or guilds, among which there was no substantial difference in class character. The situation changed in the 1770’s and 1780’s. By the manifesto of March 17, 1775, the merchants were divided into the privileged guild merchants (three guilds) and the meshchane (lower urban groups). The privileged guild included merchants having capital of 500 rubles or more, the three guilds of which were, according to the edict of May 25, 1775, the third guild (500-1,000 rubles of capital), the second (from 1,000 to 10,000); and the first (10,000 and above). The remaining citizens were classified as meshchane. The guild merchants were freed from poll-tax payments and from service obligations, which were replaced by a monetary payment. The rights and obligations of the guild merchant class were defined in the Charter of Cities of 1785. At that time, the largest merchants (with capital of over 50,000 rubles), bankers (capital of 100,000-200,000), and various other urban dwellers were designated as “distinguished citizens.” Merchants of the first guild and distinguished citizens received the preferential right to carry on foreign trade. Distinguished citizens and merchants of the first two guilds were exempted from corporal punishment.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, there was a gradual decay of the guild merchants. A major reason for this was the widespread competition of serfs engaged in commerce. With the development of capitalism, the role of the guilds declined. In 1863 the third guild was abolished. After 1898 guild licenses were acquired voluntarily only by persons who wanted merchant-class rights.
REFERENCES
Iakovtsevskii, V. N. Kupecheskii kapital v feodal’no-krepostnicheskoi Rossi. Moscow, 1953.Ryndziunskii, P. G. Gorodskoe grazhdanstvo doreformennoi Rossii. Moscow, 1958.