Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/314

 306 SHORT NOTICES April older ordinances went on steadily through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and, as the later regulations greatly exceed the earlier in length, perhaps the larger part of these volumes is occupied with the gild organiza- tion of the post-Reformation period. The extremely interesting ordinances of the printers and bookbinders beginning in 1573 fill fifty pages, and include piecework lists, elaborate regvdations for the journeymen and for the holding of the Frankfort book-fair. In regard to the records as a whole, two matters call for special mention. One is the elaborate regulation of social behaviour in the Vrten or club meetings, whose officers and procedure were quite distinct from those of the quarterly Gehot ; and the other is the comparatively large space devoted to the relations between masters and jovirneymen, involving, of course, the question of apprenticeship. Light is cast on this fundamental problem of the gild system from three different sides : by the ordinances of the crafts themselves, by the Gesellenordnungen and by the federal agreements or Bundeshriefe. About one-third of the Gesellen- ordnungen belong to the second half of the fifteenth century, and most of the rest to the period 1550-1612. The former exhibit the journeymen of the locksmiths, bakers, hatters, tailors, shoemakers, and fustian weavers in possession of fraternity organizations by means of which they have successfidly bargained with the masters for right of meeting, both in Schenke (Urte) and in Gehot, and for a share in control over the entrance to their trades enforced by ' blacklisting '. They seek for the authorization of these privileges by the Rath. The later ordinances are mainly granted at the instance of the masters. The journeymen's organization is recognized but subordinated, and the presence of two masters is required at each business meeting. The couple of Gesellenordnungen that belong to the first half of the sixteenth century clearly illustrate the transition from the first of these phases to the second. In this connexion the Bundeshriefe are of great interest. Of these, two-thirds belong to the fifteenth century ; they are primarily concerned with the relations between masters and journeymen, and in most cases are the outcome of an express agreement of the two classes. The agreements of the stonemasons and coppersmiths are sanctioned by an imperial charter and cover all Germany. Dr. Schmidt's introduction gives a very full and lucid account of the structure and working of the Frankfort gilds, their relations with one another and with the municipal authorities, of their social life and their industrial organization. G. U. The title Klein PlaJcJcaatboek van Nederland (Groningen : Woltei-s, 1919) has been well chosen for the useful volume in which Professor de B16court and Dr. Japikse have reprinted fifty of the most important documents of Dutch constitutional and ecclesiastical history. The texts have been carefully prepared, and, although the type is not pleasing to the eye, this book should save the student of Dutch history a good deal of the inconvenience of referring to very large books, most of which can be found in only a few English libraries. The selection covers the whole history of the Dutch republic and includes one document from the fourteenth century, two from the fifteenth, and eleven more before the transference of the * sovereignty ' to William the Silent. K.