THE CRAFT GILDS.

We have seen how the Merchant Gild consisted of all the traders whose business lay in the town. Such an association, though nominally open to all whether landowners or not who could afford to pay the requisite fees, was in essence oligarchical, and this feature became in course of time its most apparent characteristic. We saw, also, how there grew up a large class extraneous to the privileged Merchant Gild. This body of outsiders became continually larger and more important. The Welsh ravages in the exposed country would induce numbers to seek the friendly shelter of the town, which by this continuous infusion of fresh blood, found its trade become more and more flourishing, and consequently its attractions to “foreigners” more and more powerful. Each branch of industry was also incessantly receiving large accessions of strength in the shape of fugitive villains from the country-side, who, by residence during a year and a day were released from fear of a reclaim to serfdom. These new settlers, some of whom the advance of time found making considerable strides towards prosperity, seeing themselves shut out from the Town Gild both by the exclusive spirit of that body and by the fact that they themselves were not owners of land within the town[50], but (even in the case of the wealthiest of them) only renters of their shops, were naturally drawn, by the spirit of the times, towards amalgamation[51].

It was natural that men working at the same trade,—living probably in the same neighbourhood[52], and during intervals of rest exchanging gossip from adjacent door-steps,—meeting one another in all the actions of daily life and with thoughts and language running in similar grooves,—should also desire to be not separated in worship. Likewise, in time of trouble, when death brought gloom to the house of a fellow-workman, or when through accident or misfortune he failed to appear at his accustomed place in yard or workshop, it was by the ordinary promptings of nature that his brother craftsmen came to offer their sympathy and help. And so we find the men of the various trades forming themselves into fraternities, in order to pour united supplications for Divine assistance and to offer thanks in common for Divine favour[53]. The Tailors and Shoemakers had their chantries in St Chad’s Church, where the Weavers also had their especial altar, maintaining in addition a light before the shrine of St Winifred in the Abbey of the Holy Cross. The Drapers of the town early became drawn together in a religious brotherhood, the chapel of which in the collegiate church of Our Lady was the object of frequent and solicitous care when the fraternity of the Holy Trinity was definitively changed into the Worshipful Company of the Drapers. In the church of St Juliana the altar of the Shearmen stood in the north aisle, where a chaplain said their special mass for a yearly stipend of £4[54].

It was the pride of the Gilds to expend the best efforts of their wealth and skill on the embellishment and maintenance of their chapel upon which they were able to look as their own. Their worldly possessions at no one time reached a figure high enough for them to provide a large endowment for church or chantry, but the thankofferings of the years sufficed for all current expenses. The fixed stipend was small, but the fabric, raised and adorned as funds allowed, was commodious and beautiful[55].

It was to this ever-present desire to consecrate some portion of the yearly profits of trade to the honour of Him who had given the increase, that the annual pageant owed its pomp. The Corpus Christi procession was an occasion of especial prominence at Shrewsbury, where the Gild charters and records are full of minute regulations for its order.

The associations of fellow workmen for the purposes of religion also took the form of clubs for mutual benefit and assistance. The Drapers were maintaining their school and schoolmaster in 1492[56]; their almshouses were only rivalled by those of the Mercers. The maintenance of poor and decayed members was always one of the most prominent of the objects of association. Attendance at the last offices by the grave of a deceased brother, and remembrance of him in prayer, were likewise universal duties of brethren. Edward VI.’s confiscation of Gild property broke down in all the towns a great system of poor-relief which had hitherto freed the government of that most difficult problem. Nor did the Gilds wait until a brother was completely crushed before they came to his assistance. Fluctuations of trade then as now sometimes brought occasions of temporary embarrassment. But “the false and abominable contract of Usury ... which the more subtily to deceive the people they call ‘exchange’ or ‘chevisance,’ whereas it might more truly be called ‘mescheaunce,’” ... was rightly looked upon as unworthy of fellow-workers for the common good, “seeing that it ruins the honour and soul of the agent, and sweeps away the goods and property of him who appears to be accommodated, and destroys all manner of right and lawful traffick[57].” The common chest of the Gild was therefore at the service of the brethren[58], not, as in the days of degeneracy, to aid the capitalist in grinding down his workmen, but to keep the craftsman from the clutches of the usurer.

Out of these religious fraternities and social clubs developed what we may more correctly term Craft Gilds; or to speak more strictly we should perhaps rather say that many of these societies began to add to their social and religious objects an additional one, namely trade regulation[59]. They would be encouraged in this direction by the action of the Merchant Gild, or its successor the municipal authority, which, as the expansion of trade necessitated specialisation, was glad to depute its powers to such associations[60].

The earliest mention of Craft Gilds is in the reign of Henry I., when notice is found of the Weavers of London, Oxford, Winchester, Lincoln and Huntingdon, the Cordwainers of Oxford and the Fullers of Winchester[61]. They became more common and more influential as the development of industry was fostered by the central government. This was especially the policy of Edward I. and Edward III. By the end of the 14th century the Craft Gilds become numerous. As they took over the duties and functions of the Merchant Gild the existence of the latter was rendered to a considerable extent superfluous, and the merging of the Gilda Mercatoria into the Communa became not only inevitable but convenient and natural. During the 14th and 15th centuries, when the Craft Gilds attained their highest power, the decay of the Merchant Gilds became very marked.

In some places where this happened the name of the Merchant Gild wholly disappeared. In others where the expression continued in use the institution changed its character and became simply a religious fraternity. In a few instances the select corporation alone inherited the name: in some the whole body of freemen did so. Again, there are examples of a survival of the expression as applied to the whole body of tradesmen, that is the whole of the members of the various Gilds[62]. A Patent of Queen Elizabeth, dated 1586, thus alludes to the aggregate of unions under the collective name of “the Gild of Burgesses of Shrewsbury.” In the same way we read of “the several companies belonging to the guild merchant of Reading,” “the Guild of Merchants in Andever, which Guild is divided into three several Fellowships,” etc. Just as the Merchant Gild differentiated itself into Craft Gilds, the Craft Gilds afterwards again in the aggregate took the name and style of the Merchant Gild.

If such additional proof were needed this action on their part might be adduced in support of the assertion, which cannot be too strongly emphasised or too often repeated, that in England there was no conflict between the Merchant Gild and the Craft Gilds. Though these latter associations had grown up in vindication, as it might seem, of the principle of free amalgamation in opposition to oligarchical exclusiveness, and although it was evident that as they increased the Merchant Gild must decline, yet there was at no time any idea of antagonism between the two kinds of authority within the town. On the contrary internal police was very materially assisted by the Gilds[63]. They carried on the good work which the Merchant Gild had inaugurated. Not only were dissensions among combrethren to be brought before the Wardens and Stewards instead of forming the occasion of unseemly brawls and disturbances, but one of the objects for which the associations existed is expressly stated to be “for the weale, rest and tranquilitie of the same towne, and for good rule to be kept there[64].” With this object in view the composition of the Tailors and Skinners (1478) contains several articles which show how materially the officers of the Gild assisted the bailiffs of the town[65].

The Gild officers, though freely elected by the combrethren took their oaths of office before the bailiffs of the town, who also secured, if necessary, the enforcement of the ordinances of the Gilds[66]. The town authorities exercised, too, a general supervision: it seems to have been the rule for the compositions to be annually (or periodically) inspected; and for new regulations to be subject to municipal approval[67].

One consequence of this authorisation by the town officials was that the latter ceased to take cognisance of trade affairs except indirectly through the Gilds; another was that the Gilds were supported by the town authorities. In order to carry out the rules of the Gilds it was imperative that all men of a trade should belong to the particular Gild of that craft. For there might come men carrying on trade in the town unwilling to submit to the rules framed for ensuring good work and protecting the interests of the craft. These it would be impossible to check until the Gild had been recognised and authorised by the crown or the corporation, and so had obtained power to enforce its ordinances in a legitimate way. It was in this manner that the necessity arose for obtaining a charter[68]. The Fraternities, which in their earlier stages had existed as voluntary associations, now received authoritative recognition, by virtue of charters obtained from the king by the aid of the corporation. The composition of the Tailors and Skinners (1478) shows the company and the corporation in the closest connection; that of the Mercers, granted by Edward Prince of Wales, Son of Edward IV., in 1480-81, is countersigned by the bailiffs.

The necessity for this authoritative recognition is clearly seen in the continually recurring ordinance calling upon all men of the craft to join the Gild. If the Gild had not been supported by royal and municipal authority it would have been impossible for it to have carried out its aims; as it was the task was sufficiently difficult.

The unity of interests of the Gilds and the corporation is further shown by the words of the oaths. The wardens’ oath of the company of Glovers ran as follows.

The oaths of the other officers, and of the Freemen, contained like promises[69].

In the composition of the Trade Gilds there was no attempt to erect a monopoly. All workers of the Craft except such as could make separate terms with the corporation[70] were not only permitted to join the Gild, but were compelled to do so. The members included Apprentices and Journeymen as well as Masters[71]. Women too were not debarred from joining[72], though they, like the Apprentices and Journeymen[73], took no part in the business of administration[74]. The charter of the Drapers[75] speaks of both brethren and sistren, and the list of members as given on the occasions of “cessments” shows women-members, both wives of combrethren, independent tradeswomen, and widows of deceased brothers.

In the election of their officers the English Gilds differed materially from similar associations on the continent. In England the choice appears to have been always unrestricted[76]. Refusal to accept office when elected exposed the reluctant brother to a money fine. The oaths of the officers, as we have seen, contained declarations of loyalty to the crown and municipal authority, and in this way we may account for the absence of Masters among the officials of the Shrewsbury Gilds. The place of the Master seems to have been filled, in some sort at least, by the bailiffs of the town. At any rate none of the many Gilds of Shrewsbury ever had a Master at the head of their officers.

The Wardens were uniformly two in number, freely elected by all the brethren from such as were “the most worthiest and discreetest and which will and best can[77].” That it was not altogether a needless precaution to order that the elected wardens should be members of the Gild appears from the later abuses which arose, wardens being sometimes chosen from without the number of the combrethren[78]. The functions of these, the principal officers, were generally to carry into effect the objects of the Gild. To do this they possessed the right of search for inadequate materials or unsuitable tools, and a general supervision over workmen to secure competency. The composing of quarrels among combrethren was a prominent part of their duties.

The Board of Assistants which exercised so harmful an influence over the companies in later days is found at Shrewsbury at an early date[79]. The composition of the Tailors and Skinners, 1478 A.D., speaks of the “Fower men ordeigned to the said Wardens to be assistant in counsel in good counsel giving.” They reappear in 1563 as the Four Assistants “for advising them [the Wardens] in the Government of the Gild[80].” In this particular as in so many others the Gilds of Shrewsbury seem to have been distinguished by a greater desire to widen the area of the governing body than was the case with the great companies of London and elsewhere. For the language of some bye-laws of the corporation passed in 18 Edward IV., seems to imply that the “Four Men” were common to all the companies. In the Gilds of most provincial towns such Assistants no doubt shared in the government from early years.

The Stewards were two in number. At a later date they were nominated by the Wardens[81], though in earlier times probably elective. Their particular duties nowhere very clearly appear. They seem to have assisted the Wardens and Four Men in hearing and examining of “all manner of matters, causes and controv’sies which shall happen amongst the brethren[82].”

The Beadle summoned members to meetings and officiated in whatever of formality was observed in them. He would keep the door of the Hall, and see that none but brethren were admitted within the privileged chamber. His was the duty of providing that due order and regularity was observed in the proceedings, and, if necessary, of carrying into effect the decisions of the assembly against refractory members. In the annual Procession we can well imagine that the Beadles of the respective companies would bear themselves with no common pride. Their duties also included the summoning of members to weddings and funerals of brethren.

The Mercers’ composition of 1424 carefully details the duties of the Searcher. He, as also the Beadle, was usually nominated by the Wardens, Four Men and Stewards jointly, and, as his name implied, was charged with bringing to the notice of the Gild anything contrary to its rules or prejudicial to its interests.

A Clerk is also mentioned, who drew up indentures of apprenticeship and kept the Gild registers. At a later period the office of Treasurer was introduced and became of considerable importance.

The election of officers was the principle item of business at the great annual meeting of the Gild. This was held on the festival of the Saint in whose name the Gild was dedicated. It was preceded by Mass in the Parish Church whither the brethren and sistren went in procession wearing their distinctive hoods and liveries, and bearing lights in their hands. To add to the dignity of the occasion a play or mystery was sometimes performed, but more usually such representations were reserved for the great common feast of Corpus Christi.

At the meeting, which from its most general name of “mornspeche” appears to have followed soon after Mass, great solemnity was observed. The double-locked box[83] was opened by the two Wardens[84] amidst a reverential silence, and the composition or charter preserved in it rehearsed to the assembled brethren. Business was then proceeded with:—election of officers, admittance of new brethren, authorisation of indentures. Then if necessary regulations were passed for the government of the Gild and ordinances made for the due protection of trade, such as summonses to Intruders to enter the union. The ordinary penalties which the companies might inflict were fines of money or of wax, (in which king and corporation shared and which they were consequently willing to enforce,) and, in extreme cases total expulsion from the Gild, which of course meant exclusion from trade within the town.

After the “mornspeche” came the mutual feast. The brethren had begun the day by union for worship, they ended it with union for social and convivial festivity. In later times the business portion of the meeting was transacted in the Hall of the Gild and the brethren afterwards adjourned to some convenient tavern. Several of the Halls were standing until quite recent times. Such were those of the Mercers, Tailors, and Weavers[85]. That of the Shearmen is now used as an Auction Mart, but the Drapers’ Hall still retains its former dignity.

It will be necessary to attempt some estimation of the extent and value of the influence which the Gilds exercised on contemporary life and thought. In doing this, and indeed in dealing with the whole subject of trade regulation in the Middle Ages, it is necessary to bear continually in mind that not only were the conditions of trade then very materially different from those under which we now live, but that Economic Theory was still more at variance with modern views. It is necessary therefore to take a historical attitude, and to try to appreciate both the difference of social conditions, and the difference of objects in view. These objects may be considered firstly as individual and perhaps selfish; and, secondly, as general and for the common good.

1. If we consider the charters from the first point of view we see that the trade regulations were dictated by the desire to secure to all the brethren their means of livelihood: “no broder” was to “induce or tyce any other Mastres Accostom,” or to employ the servants of another combrother, or otherwise to act in a spirit of unbrotherly and dishonourable competition. The charters are full of such regulations. No member might obtrude wares before passers in the open street, or erect booths “for to have better sale than eny of the combrethren[86].”

2. Similarly also if we view the compositions in light of what we have described as the second of their objects. The excellent motive of mediÆval regulation of industry was to secure the prosperity of trade by ensuring skilled workmanship and proper materials. In consequence it was forbidden for workmen whose capacity was unknown to work in the town until their efficiency had been proved. The Barbers’ composition of 1432 ordered that “no man’ p’sone sette up nother holde no shoppe in Privite ny apperte ny shave as a Maistre withinne the saide Tow’ ny Franchise in to the Tyme that ev’y such p’sone have the Wille and Assent of the Stywardes and Maistres of the saide Crafte.” It was the desire to ensure the public being well served that prompted the articles in the composition of the Mercers (1480-1) which ordered the Searcher “to make serche uppon all the occupyers of the saide Craftes ... that non of theym occupie eny false Balaunce Weight or Mesures belongeing to the sayde Craftes or eny of theym, wherebie the Kyngs People in eny wyse myght be hurt or dysseyved.” It was also part of the same officer’s duties to “oversee that any thyng app’tenyng to the saide Craftes or eny of theym to be boght and solde in the saide Towne and Frauncheses be able suffyceant and lawfull and that noe dyssayte nor gyle to the Kyngs liege people therbye be had.” No indentures were to be drawn for less than “seven years at the least,” so that adequate training should be secured.

We thus perceive how the Craft Gilds differed, on the one hand from the Frith Gilds of more ancient times, and on the other from the Commercial Companies of later days. The former were associations in which every member was responsible for the actions of each of his fellows; in the Craft Gilds each member bound himself to abide by the regulations of the rest. The essence of the later Commercial Companies is union for mere pecuniary gain; the Gilds set in the forefront of the objects of their association the material benefit of the community and the religious and moral good of the individual. The resemblance between Trades Unions and the MediÆval Gilds is not entirely fanciful; but no two documents can be more widely different than the Prospectus of a Limited Liability Company and a Gild Charter of the Middle Ages.

The Gild system may be considered from various points of view. Regarded in its social aspect its importance can hardly be exaggerated. It has been pointed out how the work of the Gilds prevented the difficulty of poor relief becoming acute, and also how valuable their influence was in the maintenance of order, through the respect they evinced for the established law. The immense weight they must have had on the side of morality, by the importance they attached to the moral character of their members must not be overlooked. “The rules of the Gilds which have come down to us, quaint and homely as they sound, breathe a spirit as elevated as it is simple, and although we must probably make the usual allowance for the difference between men’s acts and their words, we cannot but believe that the generations which formed such grand conceptions and which so persistently strove to realise them, had a better side than posterity has discovered[87].”

The extent, too, to which they operated in linking class to class was very great. There was no impassable barrier between commerce and birth. In the lists of apprentices which have been preserved to us the entries of names belonging to county families are frequent. It was the ordinary custom for the younger sons to be put to business in the town. The social value of such a habit must have been great. Within the craft, too, the distinctions were only caused by differences in the degrees of wealth. By industry and perseverance the meanest apprentice might look forward to attainment of the highest honours his Gild could bestow, and even, by success in trade, to nobility. As in Athelstan’s time the merchant who fared thrice beyond the sea at his own cost became of thegn-right worthy[88], so it was all through the Middle Ages: even in the 17th century Harrison says “our merchants do often change estate with gentlemen, as gentlemen do with them, by a mutual conversion of the one into the other[89].”

The education obtained by the framing of their own ordinances was also no slight gain to the townsmen. They provided for their peculiar needs in their own peculiar way, not always we may say in the best way, but in that which they, who knew the special requirements of the case, considered the best. Each who took part in drawing up those regulations would feel that a certain share of responsibility rested with him to see that they were kept. The constitutional importance also of this training, in imparting an appreciation of the responsibilities and duties which devolve on those who frame regulations was not unimportant.

The services which the Gilds rendered to the cause of liberty by the feeling of strong cohesion which they produced among the townsmen would be less difficult to estimate if the burgesses had played a more distinctive part in the work of Parliament[90]. It is easier to point out how, if they may have interfered to some extent with family life on the one hand, they on the other increased the tendency to narrowness and localism which was otherwise sufficiently strong throughout the Middle Ages, and indeed through considerably later times. Everything was antagonistic to the widening of the townsman’s sympathies. He found his trade, his ambition, almost his whole life, satisfied within the walls of the borough in which he dwelt; and the Craft Gilds crystallised, as it were, this tendency towards insularity.

It may be noticed how a special interest attaches at the present time to the history of the Gilds and to the study of their influence and development.

The condition of the working classes must always be a point of vital importance to the welfare of the state. It is peculiarly so to-day. Anything therefore which can assist us to understand how the present degradation of the craftsman has been brought about, and which may help towards his amelioration, will be valuable and of practical usefulness.

Five hundred years ago the working man differed very widely from his modern representative; how widely may be gathered from a single illustration. The architects of the Churches and other buildings which the Middle Ages have bequeathed to us in such large numbers and of such exquisite beauty are, in the vast majority of cases, unknown to-day even by name. They were not less unknown to contemporaries. For they were men of like nature with their fellows: ancestors of our modern artisans. How great a change has grown up in the generations which have intervened.

Five centuries ago the workman was intelligent and skilled, he is now untrained and degraded: he was then able and accustomed to take a proper pride in his work, he is now careless and indifferent: he used to be provident and thrifty, now he is usually reckless and wasteful.

It is not too much to say that a great reason of this vast difference is to be found in the influence which the Gilds exercised. In their character as Benefit Clubs they taught their members to be thrifty: by insisting on a careful and systematic training during seven years of apprenticeship they made them skilled and capable workmen, and as such able to take an interest in, and to derive pleasure from their work. It has been pointed out that the Gilds prevented extreme poverty from ever becoming at all normal. Uncertainty of employment and demoralising fluctuations of wages are among the most crying evils of our modern social rÉgime. The Craft Gilds did much to secure regularity of work and to steady the price of labour.Thus it is evident how great and peculiar an interest attaches to the whole subject of the Gilds at the present day. It is a subject which does not merely offer attractions to the antiquary or provide valuable materials for the student of constitutional and municipal development. It has a far wider and more human significance. A study of the extent and nature of the influence which the Gilds exercised on the condition and skill of the working man in the past will help to solve the problem of his improvement in the present and in the future.

NOTE I.

INDENTURE OF APPRENTICESHIP FROM THE MERCERS’ COMPANY’S RECORDS. A.D. 1414.

HÆc indentura testatur etc. inter Johannem Hyndlee de Northampton, Brasyer, et Gulielmum filium ThomÆ Spragge de Salopia, quod predictus Gulielmus posuit semetipsum apprenticium dicto Johanni Hyndlee, usque ad finem octo annorum, ad artem vocatam brasyer’s craft, qu dictus Johannes utitur, medio tempore humiliter erudiendum. Infra quem quidem terminum prÆfatus Gulielmus concilia dicti Johannis Hyndlee magistri sui celanda celabit. Dampnum eidem Johanni nullo modo faciet nec fieri videbit, quin illud cito impediet aut dictum magistrum suum statim inde premuniet. A servicio suo seipsum illicite non absentabit. Bona et catalla dicti Johannis absque ejus licenti nulli accomodabit. Tabernam, scortum, talos, aleas, et joca similia non frequentabit, in dispendium magistri sui. Fornicationem nec adulterium cum aliqua muliere de domo et familia dicti Johannis nullo modo committet, neque uxorem ducet, absque licentia magistri sui. PrÆcepta et mandata licita et racionabilia magistri sui ubique pro fideli posse ipsius Gulielmi, diligenter adimplebit et eisdem mandatis libenter obediet. Et si prÆdictus Gulielmus de aliqua convencione sua vel articulo prÆscripto defecerit, tunc idem Gulielmus juxta modum et quantitatem delicti sui magistro suo satisfaciet emendam aut terminum apprenticiatus sui duplicabit. Et prÆfatus Johannes et assignati sui apprenticium suum in arte prÆdicta meliori modo quo idem Johannes sciverit ac poterit tractabunt docebunt et informabunt, seu ipsum informari facient sufficienter, debito modo castigando, et non aliter. PrÆterea dictus Johannes concedit ad docendum et informandum dictum Gulielmum in arte vocata Peuterer’s Craft adeo bene sicut sciverit seu poterit ultra convencionem suam prÆmissam. Et idem Johannes nullam partem artium prÆdictarum ab apprenticio suo concelabit. Invenient insuper Johannes et assignati sui dicto Gulielmo omnia sibi necessaria, viz. victum suum et vestitum, lineum, laneum, lectum, hospicium, calceamenta et cÆtera sibi competencia annuatim sufficienter, prout Ætas et status ipsius Gulielmi exigerint. In cujus rei testimonium etc. 1414.

NOTE II.

OATH TO BE TAKEN BY THE FREEMEN OF THE MERCERS’ COMPANY.

In the Company’s records this oath occurs immediately after a curious calendar, written in 15th century hand, and before a list of “Brethren received and incorporated in the time of Rici Attynchin and John Cutlere wardens” in 3 Henry VI., (1424-5).

FIDELITAS.

I shall trewe man be to God o’r Lady Seynt Marie Seynt Mychell th’archangell patrone of the Gylde and to the Fraternite of the Mercers Yremongers and Goldsmythes & Cappers w’in the Towne and Fraunches of Shrowesbury I shall also Trewe man be to the king our liege lorde and to his heyres kyngys and his lawes and mynystars of the same Truly obs’ve and obey And ov’ this I shall be obedyent to my wardens and their sumpneys obey and kepe I shall be trewe and ffeythfull to the Combrethern of the Gylde aforeseyd and ther co’ncell kepe All lawdable and lefull actes and composic’ons made or to be made w^tin the Seide Gylde truly obeye p’forme and kepe aft’ my reason and power I shall be contributare bere yelde and paye all man’ ordynare charges cestes and contribucons aftur my power as any other master occupyer or combrother of the seid Gylde shall happen to doe and bere: Soe helpe me God and halidame and by the Boke.

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