Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/99

 GUILDS

69

GUILDS

wealth of the cities, the large number of artisans, and their organization into military brotherhoods (con- freries militaires) which formed a regular militia, ca- pable of holding its own against the feudal armies, as was illustrated many times in the history of Flanders and Liege.

As this article has to deal mainly with the guilds in the Middle Ages, but little can be said of the corpora- tions of artists, which, in France and the Low Coun- tries, w^ere few and had not much importance before the sixteenth century. The explanation of this tardy growth is found, at least partly, m the fact that, during the greater part of the Middle Ages, the fine arts re- mained within the Church or under its supervision; even in the thirteenth century the number of laymen engaged in these professions was still very small, as is shown in " Le Livre des metiers de Paris", or book of the statutes of the Paris craft guilds, drawn up by Etienne Boileau under the direction of St. Louis. Two other classes of guilds which deserve a special mention are the basoches (see Vol. VI, p. 193) and the tempo- rary or permanent corporations for the exhibition of religious and other plays. The best known of the latter class of guilds is "La Confrerie de la Passion", established in 1402. Its Myslires form the link which unites the French tragedy of the seventeenth century with the dramatic literature of the Middle Ages.

After the end of the fifteenth century, under the despotic rule of the French kings, the guilds ceased to be a means of protection for a majority of their mem- bers — the journeymen — who formed associations of their own, regardless of all professional and even re- hgious distinctions. Their privileges became a means of filling the royal coffers at the expense of the em- ployers; the latter retaliated on the public, all the more readily that they had no competition to fear. By the middle of the eighteenth century the outcry against the guilds was general in France. In 1776 Turgot, then prime minister, planned their suppres- sion, but his fall gave them some respite. In 1791 they were abolished by the (Jonstituent Assembly. But remnants of these corporations are still found in many French and Belgian customs, as, for instance, the fees to be paid by notaries, solicitors, sheriff's officers, when they enter office. In the first half of the nineteenth century, several attempts were made in France to partially restore the craft guilds, but without success. During the last thirty years, how- ever, there has been a Catholic movement in France and Belgium to counteract tlie evil effects of sociaUsm by forming associations of employers and employed.

Saint- Leon, Hisioire dcs corporations de metiers depuis leurs origines jusqu a leur suppression en 1791 (Paris, 1S87); Valle- Roux, Les eorporations d' arts et mrtiers et les syndicais profession- nets en France et a t'etrnTiger (Paris, 1885); Levasseur, Histoire des classes ouvrii^res en France depuis la conquete de Jules Cesar jusqu'a la Revolution (Paris, 1859); Pycke, Mi'moire sur les cor- porations connues sous le nom de metiers (Bruxelles, 1827); Brouwer Ancher, De Gilden (The Hague, 1895) : Depping, Introduction aux rcglements sur les arts et metiers de Paris, redigcs au XIII'^^^ sicele et connus sous le nom de Livre des metiers d' Etienne Boileau (Paris, 1837); Gdibert, Les anciennes cor- porations de rnitiers en Limousin (Limoges. l.SS;i): Chauvignio. Histoire des corporations d'arts et metiers de Touraine (Tours. 1.885); Du BouRG, Les corporations ouvrilres de la ville de Tou- louse du Xin*^ au XV'^^ silclc (Toulouse, 1884); Lacroix, Histoire des anciennes corporations d'arts et metiers et des con- freries religieuses de la capitate de la Normandie (Rouen, 1850) ; DE .Marolles, Considerations historiques sur les bienfaits du regime corporatif in Annates internationales d'histoire (Paris, 1902); Blanc, Bibliographic des corporations ouvrilres avant J7S.9 (Paris, 1885); Cheruel, Dictionnaire histxsriquc des institu- tions, mmurs et coutumes de la France (Paris, 1884) ; Mimoires de la Socii'te des antiquaires (Paris, 1850); Thierry, Recueil de monuments incdits de Vhistoire du Tiers-Etat (Paris, 1.S50-70); Vanderkindere, Liberie et proprivte en FUlndre du IX^^^ au XlT*'^ siicle in Bulletin de V Academic royale de Belgique (Brus- sels, 1906); DE Lettenhove, Histoire de Flandre (Brussels, 1847-50) ; GuizoT, Hisioire de la civilisation en Europe depuis la chute de Vempire romain jusqu'a la Revolution francaise (Paris, 1873).

In Germany. — ^The first well-known German guild is that of the watermen of Worms, its charter {Zunft- brief) dating from 1106; the shoemakers of Wiirzburg

received theirs in 1112; the weavers of Cologne, in 1149, the shoemakers of Magdeburg, in 115S. But it was not until the thirteenth century that the German guilds became numerous and important. Zun/t, In- nung, Genossenschnft, Briklerschaft, Gesellschaft, are the terms used in Germany to designate these associa- tions. Here, as in Italy and the Low Countries, the most conspicuous guilds were those connected with the manufacture of linen and wool. In Ulm, for in- stance, towards the end of the fifteenth century, there were so many linen-weavers that the numljer of pieces of linen prepared in one year amounted at one time to 200,000. _ In the year 1466 there were 743 master weavers in Augsljurg (Herberger, "Augsburg, und seine friihere Industrie", p. 46). In the large cities, the linen- and the wool-weavers formed two distinct corporations, and the wool-weavers again were di- videtl into two classes: the makers of fine Flemish or Italian goods, and the makers of the coarser homespun materials.

Other important guUds were those of the tanners and the furriers ; the latter included the shoemakers, the tai- lors, the glove-makers, and the stocking-knitters. In the shoemaker's trade there was a sharp distinction between the Neumcister, who made new shoes, the colibler, and the slipper maker. The most striking example of an elaliorate classification according to craft is found in the metal-workers: the farriers, knife-makers, locksmiths, chain-forgers, nail-makers, often formed separate and distinct corporations; the armourers were divided into helmet-makers, escutch- eon-makers, harness-makers, harness-polishers, etc. Sometimes they went so far as to have special guilds for each separate article of a suit of armour. This accounts for the remarkable skill and finish seen in the simplest details.

A class of brotherhoods which deserves special mention is that of the guilds of the mining trades, which from an early date were very important in Saxony and Bohemia. " No politician or socialist of motlern times", says H. Achenljach (Gemeines Deutsches Bergreeht, I, 69, 109), " can suggest a labour organization which will better accomplish the object of helping the labourer, elevating his position, and maintaining fair relations between the employer and the employed than that of the mining works centuries ago. " The statutes of these mining guilds show, indeed, a remarkable care for the well-being of the laliourer and the protection of his interests. Hygi- enic conditions in the mines, ventilation of the pits, precautions against accident, bathing houses, time of labour (eight hours daily — sometimes less), supply of the necessaries of life at fair prices, scale of wages, care of the sick and disabled, etc. — no detail seems to have been lost sight of.

.\s to their organization, government, and relations with the public or the civil authorities, the German guilds did not substantially differ from those in other European countries. The members were divided into apprentices, journeymen, and masters. At the head of the corporation was a director assisted by several officers. He was the sworn and responsible power of the guild, called the meetings, presided at them, had the right of final decision, managed the property of the guild, led it in case of war. Each guild had its fully equipped court of justice and enjoyed complete inde- pendence in all private concerns, but all the guilds were subject to the town council and town authorities, and were obliged to submit their statutes and ordi- nances to them. In the event of quarrels, either within or between the guilds, the civil authorities ex- ercised the rights of a commercial judge; in conjunc- tion with the guild, they also made regulations for the markets and police arrangements, fixed the prices of wares, organized the supervision of traffic and the pro- tection from fraud or dishonest dealing.

The purchase of raw material was managed by the