Guilds flourished in Europe between the 11th and 16th centuries and were a fundamental part of the economic and social fabric. There were two types of guilds: merchant guilds and craft guilds. Merchant guilds were comprised of retailers and wholesalers of goods. Craft guilds were comprised of artisans and craftsmen who held a particular area of expertise or industry. Weavers, dyers, and wool merchants were grouped together in one guild: architects, masons, and carpenters were in another. Individual guilds were also comprised of metalworkers, butchers, bakers, fishmongers, painters, and more.
The purpose of both types of guilds was to serve society by developing skills and fostering the trade of goods. This was accomplished by setting standards, promoting trade, and providing education and training. Additionally, by employing the skills of its members, guilds could provide services and offer aid to their members.
While their function proved valuable in building early functioning economies, guilds controlled membership.This afforded them enormous power. Guilds controlled not only the types of goods allowed to be sold in the region but what price could be set. Guilds thus ensured economic security for its members by limiting membership and ensuring prices were set high enough to provide for an adequate living.
Guilds also adjudicated disputes between members, ruled on workmanship complaints, addressed unfair competition, and levied fines to ensure that the guild rules and regulations were upheld. Guild leaders were active in local government, and played an important role in providing charitable and economic support to their members in sickness and old age.
Craft guilds also offered young people (mostly boys) a career path through the apprentice system:
The guild tended to be an extremely hierarchical body structured based on the apprenticeship system. In this structure, the members of a guild were divided into a hierarchy of masters , journeymen, and apprentices. The master was an established craftsman of recognized abilities who took on apprentices; these were boys in late childhood or adolescence who boarded with the master’s family and were trained by him in the elements of his trade. The apprentices were provided with food, clothing, shelter, and an education by the master, and in return they worked for him without payment. After completing a fixed term of service of from five to nine years, an apprentice became a journeyman, i.e., a craftsman who could work for one or another master and was paid with wages for his labour. A journeyman who could provide proof of his technical competence (the “masterpiece”) might rise in the guild to the status of a master, whereupon he could set up his own workshop and hire and train apprentices.1
A few guilds – such as butchers, ironmongers, shoemakers, hot-food sellers, bookbinders, and goldsmiths – allowed girls to join as apprentices. The young girls were trained by the wife of the master. And while they could learn the trade or craft for which they apprenticed, they were not allowed to participate in the guild’s social activities. Some of the guilds involving domestic activities – spinning, brewing, and silk making – were available only to women. If a woman was widowed, she was allowed to practice the trade of her deceased husband and could also become a master if particularly qualified.
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