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THE MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION exercise of their profession, and was the outward representative of their interests. Fellow-feeling, obedience, and scrupulous observance of all prescriptions and ordinances made the basis of the importance of these organizations. The guild looked after the welfare of the community, it exercised a severe control over the granting of licences, and on those who disobeyed it had power to impose fines or bodily punishments; these were dealt out with a scourge of thongs. Refractory persons were taken to the town hall prison, and there judged by the City Court. For journeymen there was another punishment, called "driving," which consisted in the prohibition to receive them, issued not to Cracow masters merely, but also to those of other towns.

From the sixteenth century onward frequent differences arose between employers and journeymen about advance of wages, duration of the day's work, Monday rest ("Crispin's holiday"), and the like; these causes of discontent often occasioned strikes, which were sometimes only settled by intercession of the municipal authorities.

The prices of manufactures were regulated by ordinances of the waywode and the town council (in the usual medieval way—best described in the first chapter of J. A. Froude's great work); thus e.g., the saddler had the price of a Turkish or a plain Italian saddle which he made fixed beforehand; so had the tailor for a lady's satin robe à l' Italienne, or a brocade one with lacework trimmings and tight sleeves. This circumstance of course would have no favourable influence on the quality of what was produced for the appointed price.

The life of craft guilds, their organization and history, are illustrated by the beautiful requisites and insignia preserved in the National Museum, the Communal Archives, and the halls of the several guilds. Numerous books and documents throw much interesting light on their professional ability and productiveness. The guild's moneys and important documents were kept in a safe—called the guild's chest—usually under double lock. There also the old seals of the guild were preserved, which bore inscriptions in German, Latin, or Polish, and, in the middle,