Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/275

GUILD 261 (Brentano). Thes3 were the small and numerous societies that sprung up all over the country in every village, in small or large towns, at different times as the need arose, or for good neighbourhood s sake. Their objects included "not only devotions and orisons, but also every exercise of Christian charity, and therefore, above all things, mutual assistance of the gild-brothers in every exigency, especially iu old age, in sickness, in cases of impoverishment, if not brought on by their own folly, and of wrongful imprison ment, in losses by fire, water, or shipwreck, aid by loans, provision of work, and lastly, the burial of the dead. It included further the assistance of the poor and sick, and the visitation and comfort of prisoners not belonging to the gild" (Brentano). These societies were composed of men and women of all ranks, and when, as in some instances, they grew into wealth and popularity, kings and princes did not disdain to become guild-brethren. Henry IV. and Henry VI. were members of the guild of the Trinity at Coventry ; Henry VIII. and his queen were members of the guild of St Barbara, of St Katharine s church next the Tower, London. Another prince belonged to the famous guild of St George at Norwich. One guild, however, who s:iid they were " of the rank of common and middling folks," would not admit even a mayor or a bailiff. Each member took an oath, and paid an admission fee and yearly contribution; they held regular business meet ings or " morn-speech," and had an annual "guild-day." Every guild had its livery, which the members were expected to wear at funerals, feasts, &c. ; and they had strict rules fjr good life a-id behaviour. The little parochial guilds met in a room or in members houses; if the guild was rich enough it had a hall or "guild-house;" legacies and gifts were made to them, and they lent out of their stock to poor members, or devoted it to some public or charitable object. Schools and churches were founded or helped by thesa private guilds, as some of the colleges at Cambridge, schools at Coventry, Worcester, Brayles, Sleaford, Ludlow, Bristol, and elsewhere ; forty guilds of Bodmiu (of which only five were craft guilds) joined in the repair of the church there. Bridges and town-walls were repaired, both in England and in France in which latter country M. Giry finds some relics of these social guilds. The perform ing of miracle and other plays, setting out of pageants, and providing of minstrels were undertaken by many of the social as well as by the craft guilds, and in many towns formed an important adjunct to the municipal proceedings, as at Coventry, York, Durham, Norwich, fcc. ; the Lord Mayor s show of London owes its origin to this custom. 1 These local social guilds were very numerous in England and in the Teutonic countries ; it is believed that they were so in France, but little is known of them elsewhere. There were 50 such guilds in the county of Cambridge, 909 in Norfolk, 42 in Bodmin, 80 in Cologne, 70 at Liibeck, &c. At the time of the Reformation these guilds were abolished in Protestant countries, under pretence of their being superstitious foundations; in Denmark and North Germany their property was devoted to public service, but in England it was handed over to the king and his courtiers, their guild-halls became poor-houses, their pageants were laid aside. A very few of these societies escaped ; St George s guild at Norwich continued to live on many years. Wickliffe, in the 14th century, had complained of the abuses among the guilds, including those of trades. In 1389 returns were made into Chancery of the social and other guilds in England ; these, though imperfect, give a valuable body of details, and draw the distinction between the two 1 Probably the numerous societies in France and Flanders of the 12th and 13th centuries for keeping the poetic and musical foundation of Le Fe-stt de Pui belonged to the class of social guilds. One of them was set up in London (lliley s Liber Custinnarum). great classes of social and trade guilds. The trade guilds have in all countries attracted more attention than the rest, on account of their wealth and importance; they are of two orders, guilds-merchant and craft-guilds. The guild- merchant arose in this way ; the same men who in the growth of towns became citizens by reason of possessing town-land, frequently were also traders ; the uncertain state of society in earty times naturally caused them to unite for protection of their trade interests in a gilda mercatoria, which made internal laws akin to those of other guilds ; the success of these private interests enlarged their import ance ; and when the towns and boroughs obtained confirma tion of their municipal life by charter, they took care to have it included that the men of the place should also have their guild merchant. 2 Thus these guilds obtained the recognition of the state; in their origin they had been as other guilds, partaking especially of the character of peace-guilds, but now " the citizens and the guild became identical, and what was guild-law" often became the law of the town. In great cities, such as London and Florence, we do not hear of merchant guilds (Norton) ; there the separate occupations or crafts early asserted their associating power and independence, and the craft-guilds gradually took a place in the organization of the town government. Many craft-guilds, the heads of which were concerned in the government of the commune, are found in Italy between the 9th and the 12th centuries (Ferrens, Hist, de Florence"). But in England and the north of Europe the guilds-merchant during this period, having grown rich and tyrannical, excluded the landless men of the handicrafts; these then uniting among themselves, there arose everywhere by the side of the guilds-merchant the craft-guilds, which gained the upper hand on the Continent in the struggle for liberty in the 13th and 14th centuries. In England these companies usually existed side by side with the old town or merchant guild ; until at length their increasing importance caused the decay of the old guilds, and the adoption of these crafts as part of the constitution of the towns (13th to 15th century). The separation of the richer and perhaps the older from the poorer of the com panies occurred, and thus arose the paramount influence of a few, as the twelve great Companies of London, the Arti Majori of Florence, and others. The constitution of the trade-guilds was formed on the model of other guilds ; they appointed a master or alderman and other officers, made ordinances, including provisions for religious observance, mutual help, and burial; the town ordinances yet remaining of many places, as of Berwick, Southampton, and Worcester, show traces of the trade laws of the old guilds-merchant. As their principal objects, " the craft-gildmen provided for the maintenance of the customs of their craft, framed further ordinances for its regulation, (including care against fraudulent workman ship), saw these ordinances properly executed, and punished the gild -brothers who infringed them." "Though the craft- gilds, as voluntary associations, did not need confirmation by the authorities at their birth, yet this confirmation be came afterwards of the greatest importance, when these gilds wanted to be recognized as special and independent associations, which were thenceforth to regulate the trade instead of the authorities of the town" (Brentano). Hence obtained the practice of procuring a charter in confirmation and recognition of their laws, in return for which certain taxes were paid to the king or other authority. It is therefore erroneous to state, as is sometimes clone, that these companies owe their origin to royal charter, or that they required a licence. Few important towns in Great Britain have been with- 2 There are numerous examples of this among the borough records

of England and Scotland.