INDUSTRIAL MONOPOLY
Just as the merchant guild regulated town trade, so the craft guilds had charge of town industry. No one could engage in any craft without becoming a member of the guild which controlled it and submitting to the guild regulations. A man's hours of labor and the prices at which he sold his goods were fixed for him by the guild. He might not work elsewhere than in his shop, because of the difficulty of supervising him, nor might he work by artificial light, lest he turn out badly finished goods. Everything made by him was carefully inspected to see if it contained shoddy materials or showed poor workmanship. Failure to meet the test meant a heavy fine or perhaps expulsion from the guild. Thus the industrial monopoly possessed by the craft guild gave some protection to both producer and consumer.
ORGANIZATION OF CRAFT GUILDS
Full membership in a guild was reached only by degrees. A boy started as an apprentice, that is, a learner. He paid a sum of money to his master and agreed to serve him for a fixed period, usually seven years. The master, in turn, promised to provide the apprentice with food, lodging, and clothing, and to teach him all the secrets of the craft. At the end of the seven years the apprentice had to pass an examination by the guild. If he was found fit, he then became a journeyman and worked for daily wages. As soon as he had saved enough money, he might set up as a master in his own shop. A master was at once workman and employer, laborer and capitalist.
ACTIVITIES OF CRAFT GUILDS
Like the old Roman guilds, those of the Middle Ages had their charitable and religious aspects. Each guild raised large benefit funds for the relief of members or their widows and orphans. Each guild had its private altar in the cathedral, or often its own chapel, where masses were said for the repose of the souls of deceased members, and where on the day of its patron saint religious services were held. The guild was also a social organization, with frequent meetings for a feast in its hall or in some inn. The guilds in some cities entertained the people with an annual play or procession. [13] It is clear that the members of a medieval craft guild had common interests and shared a common life.
DISSOLUTION OF CRAFT GUILDS As the craft guilds prospered and increased in wealth, they tended to become exclusive organizations. Membership fees were raised so high that few could afford to pay them, while the number of apprentices that a master might take was strictly limited. It also became increasingly difficult for journeymen to rise to the station of masters; they often remained wage-earners for life. The mass of workmen could no longer participate in the benefits of the guild system. In the eighteenth century most of the guilds lost their monopoly of industry, and in the nineteenth century they gave way to trade unions.
195. TRADE AND COMMERCE
MARKETS
Nearly every town of any consequence had a weekly or semiweekly market, which was held in the market place or in the churchyard. Marketing often occurred on Sunday, in spite of many laws against this desecration of the day. Outsiders who brought cattle and farm produce for sale in the market were required to pay tolls, either to the town authorities or sometimes to a neighboring nobleman. These market dues still survive in the "octroi" collected at the gates of some European cities.