194. CIVIC INDUSTRY: THE GUILDS
FORMATION OF GUILDS
The Anglo-Saxon word "guild," which means "to pay," came to be applied to a club or society whose members made contributions for some common purpose. This form Of association is very old. Some of the guilds in imperial Rome had been established in the age of the kings, while not a few of those which flourish to-day in China and India were founded before the Christian era. Guilds existed in Continental Europe as early as the time of Charlemagne, but they did not become prominent till after the crusades.
MERCHANT GUILDS
A guild of merchants grew up when those who bought and sold goods in any place united to protect their own interests. The membership included many artisans, as well as professional traders, for in medieval times a man often sold in the front room of his shop the goods which he made in the back rooms. He was often both shopkeeper and workman in one.
COMMERCIAL MONOPOLY
The chief duty of a merchant guild was to preserve to its own members the monopoly of trade within a town. Strangers and non-guildsmen could not buy or sell there except under the conditions imposed by the guild. They must pay the town tolls, confine their dealings to guildsmen, and as a rule sell only at wholesale. They were forbidden to purchase wares which the townspeople wanted for themselves or to set up shops for retail trade. They enjoyed more freedom at fairs, which were intended to attract outsiders.
[Illustration: HOUSE OF THE BUTCHERS' GUILD, HILDESHEIM, GERMANY Hildesheim, near Hanover, is perhaps the richest of all German towns in fine wooden-framed houses. The house of the Butchers' Guild has recently been restored, with all its original coloring carefully reproduced.]
CRAFT GUILDS
After a time the traders and artisans engaged in a particular occupation began to form an association of their own. Thus arose the craft guilds, composed of weavers, shoemakers, bakers, tailors, carpenters, and so on, until almost every form of industry had its separate organization. The names of the various occupations came to be used as the surnames of those engaged in them, so that to-day we have such common family names as Smith, Cooper, Fuller, Potter, Chandler, and many others. The number of craft guilds in an important city might be very large. London and Paris at one time each had more than one hundred, and Cologne in Germany had as many as eighty. The members of a particular guild usually lived in the same street or quarter of the city, not only for companionship but also for better supervision of their labor. [12]