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Guilds were communities of craftsmen and merchants
meant to assist the economic interests of their members
and grant security.
Guilds in medieval Europe can be separated into two types:
Craft guilds included craftsmen and artisans in a particular profession, like hatters, bakers, blacksmiths, and weavers. Many craft guilds emerged because the expanding population in cities and towns led to increases in specialization and division of labour. Merchant guilds held most merchants in a town or city and were involved in regional and long-distance trade. Merchant guilds were also influential in local governments, and numerous leaders of merchant guilds were wealthy
and dominant citizens. The functions of craft and merchant guilds sometimes overlapped
when merchant guilds opened shops or craft guilds engaged in trade.
Guilds served a wide variety of economic, social, and religious functions. They:
by encouraging prayer for the living and dead members, church attendance,
and righteous behaviour.
Guilds functioned as monopolies. In the classic
monopolistic style, they aimed to raise wages
through increased profits by limiting the
number of goods and services produced and controlling prices. Guild membership was restricted so as not to flood markets with products and cause prices to fall.
Guilds usually had a great deal of influence over governments. Guild leaders, particularly those from powerful merchant guilds, were often government
officials. This situation enabled guilds to have legislation passed in their
favour.
An apprentice was a young person,
usually male, who learned a trade
by working for a guild master.
Apprenticeships often began at age 12 and typically lasted from two to seven years. They were often extended for as long as possible because of the temptation of free labor, but they usually lasted around 7 years depending on the trade. A cook for example might only need around 2 years of training, while a goldsmith apprenticeship might last 10 years.
Usually, a master who took on an apprentice
also took on the role of parent, providing all
their needs and moral guidance, while the
apprentice had to be obedient to their master in all matters. An apprentice was not usually paid but did receive their food, lodgings and clothing.
There were many cases of apprentices running away so the rules were that the master and the apprentice's father had to spend one day each looking for the missing youth. There were time limits of one year, after which a master didn't have to take the escapee back under apprenticeship.
After completing an apprenticeship, the worker could become a
journeyman. Journeymen were usually paid daily wages while
working in the trade, so they are comparable to day labourers
today.
An apprentice typically qualified by producing a masterpiece that
showed off his acquired skills. Earning the title of master cost
money, though, and a competent apprentice who could not afford
their place of business was known as a journeyman as they usually
traveled around and found work with a master with premises wherever they could. To become a master, journeymen frequently had to produce a “masterpiece” to demonstrate their skill in their trade. If a masterpiece was accepted by guild members, they could vote to accept the journeyman as a master.
There were few guilds specifically for or managed by
women, and most apprentices and their masters were
male. However, there was a significant minority of women
involved in some trades. Especially widows were as present in business as they could. If they didn't have a close male relative and remained single, they usually ran their dead husband's company. There were some constraints, though; for example, women couldn't train an apprentice themselves. Some industries like the poulterers permitted any woman with the means to own businesses. In other trades like silk or veil production, women workers were dominant. There are records of many different establishments, managed by women from lace-makers to butchers.
The decline of guilds after the sixteenth century took
place for economic and religious reasons. Industrialization
and the existence of new markets significantly weakened
the control of craft guilds. As cultures shifted from feudalism to capitalism, the monopolistic rules of guilds and the hereditary design of many apprenticeships became outmoded. With industrialization, the structure and control of guilds were tough to maintain. In addition, the Reformation resulted in the suppression of guilds in Protestant nations because of their religious functions. Despite their overall demise, many characteristics of medieval European guilds persist today. Some labour unions use the apprentice/journeyman/master progression of skills and status. Labour unions today perform many of the same functions that guilds did in the past, and like guilds, seek to engage members in cooperation to better the interests of the members. The study of medieval guilds in Europe provides a lens to the lives and economic system in medieval Europe, with remnants of the system still
evident today.
https://www.worldhistory.org/Medieval_Trades/
https://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/publications/articles/se_77021364.pdf
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