craft fraternities, to the town polity as a whole, to the narrow governing corporation, or to a private social-religious gild. In the eighteenth century we meet the word much less frequently than in the seventeenth and toward the beginning of the present century it became very rare. The Municipal Corporations Commission in 1835 found it still used in only a few boroughs. The remnants of the Gild Merchant and of the craft fraternities were rapidly vanishing before the new ideas of a more liberal age the age of laissez faire. 30. ORDINANCES OF THE GILD MERCHANT OF [NOTE. This selection should be read with the purpose of securing evidence of the function of the Gild Merchant with respect to the following points: (1) the commercial monopoly of the brethren; (2) the trading permitted to "foreign" merchants; (3) the relations of the brethren to strangers; (4) the rights in common of the brethren; (5) the control of industry and industrial relations; (6) the regulation of non-industrial activities; (7) the relation of the Gild to the Borough; (8) the conduct of charities and the development of fraternalism.] I. In the first place, there shall be elected from the Gild Merchant and established, an alderman, a steward, a chaplain, four skevins, and an usher. And the Gild shall meet twice a year: that is to say, on the Sunday next after St. John the Baptist's day, and on the Sunday next after St. Mary's day. 3. And when the Gild shall sit, the lepers of La Madeleine shall have of the alms of the Gild, two sesters of ale, and the sick of God's House and of St. Julian shall have two sesters of ale. And the Friar's Minors shall have two sesters of ale and one sester of wine. And four sesters of ale shall be given to the poor wherever the Gild shall meet. 7. And when a gildsman dies, all those who are of the Gild and are in the city shall attend the services for the dead, and gildsmen shall bear the body and bring it to the place of burial. And whoever will not do this shall pay according to his oath, two pence, to be given to the poor. And those of the ward where the dead man shall be ought to find a man to watch over the body the night that the dead shall lie in his house. And so long as the service of the dead shall last, that is to say, the vigil and the mass, there ought to burn four candles Adapted by permission from University of Pennsylvania, Department of History, Reprints from the Sources of European History, 1st Ser., Vol. II, No. I, pp. 12-17. of the Gild, each candle of two pounds weight or more, until the body is buried. And these four candles shall remain in the keeping of the steward of the Gild. 9. And when a gildsman dies, his eldest son or his next heir shall have the seat of his father, or of his uncle, if his father was not a gildsman, and of no other one; and he shall give nothing for his seat. No husband can have a seat in the Gild by right of his wife, nor demand a seat by right of his wife's ancestors. 10. And no one has the right or power to sell or give his seat in the Gild to any man; and the son of a gildsman, other than his eldest son, shall enter into the Gild on payment of ten shillings, and he shall take the oath of the Gild. 11. And if a gildsman shall be imprisoned in England in time of peace, the alderman with the steward, and with one of the skevins, shall go, at the cost of the Gild, to procure the deliverance of the one who is in prison. 12. And if any gildsman strikes another with his fist, and is convicted thereof, he shall lose the Gild until he shall have bought it back for ten shillings, and taken the oath of the Gild again like a new member. And if a gildsman strikes another with a stick, or a knife or any other weapon, whatever it may be, he shall lose the Gild and the franchise, and shall be held as a stranger until he shall have been reconciled to the good men of the Gild and has made recompense to the one whom he has injured; and has paid a fine to the Gild of twenty shillings, and this shall not be remitted. 14. And if any stranger or any other who is not of the Gild nor of the franchise, strikes a gildsman, and is reasonably convicted thereof, let him be in prison two days and two nights, unless the injury is such that he should be more severely punished. 15. And if a gildsman reviles or slanders another gildsman, and a complaint of it comes to the alderman, and, if he is reasonably convicted thereof, he shall pay two shillings fine to the Gild, and if he he is not able to pay he shall lose the Gild. 16. And if anyone who is of the franchise speaks evil of a gildsman, and is convicted of this before the alderman, he shall pay five shillings for a fine, or lose the franchise. 19. And no one in the city of Southampton shall buy anything to sell again in the same city, unless he is of the Gild Merchant or of the franchise. And no one shall be quit of custom unless he proves that he is in the Gild or in the franchise. 20. And no one shall buy honey, fat, salt herrings, or any kind of oil or millstones, or fresh hides, or any kind of fresh skins, unless he is a gildsman; nor keep a tavern for wine, nor sell cloth at retail, except in market on fair days; nor keep grain in his granary beyond five quarters, to sell at retail, if he is not a gildsman; and whoever shall do this and be convicted shall forfeit all to the king. 21. No one of the Gild ought to be partner or joint dealer in any of the kinds of merchandise before mentioned with anyone who is not of the Gild, by any manner of coverture, or art, or contrivance, or collusion, or in any other manner. And whosoever shall do this and be convicted, the goods in such manner bought shall be forfeited to the king, and the gildsman shall lose the Gild. 22. If any gildsman falls into poverty, and has not the wherewithal to live, and is not able to work or to provide for himself, he shall have one mark from the Gild to relieve his condition when the Gild shall sit. 23. And no private man or stranger shall bargain for or buy any kind of merchandise coming into the city before a burgess of the Gild Merchant, so long as the gildsman is present and wishes to bargain for and buy this merchandise; and if anyone does so and is convicted, that which he buys shall be forfeited to the king. 24. And anyone who is of the Gild Merchant shall share in all merchandise which another gildsman shall buy or any other person, whoever he is, if he comes and demands part and is there where the merchandise is bought, and also if he gives satisfaction to the seller and gives security for his part. But no one who is not a gildsman is able or ought to share with a gildsman without the will of the gildsman. 28. And if any gildsman for any debt which he may owe, will not suffer himself to be distrained, or when he has been distrained, shall break through or make removal or break the king's lock and be convicted thereof, he shall lose his gildship until he has bought it again for twenty shillings, and this each time that he offends insuch manner. And he shall be none the less distrained until he has made satisfaction for the debt he owes; and if he will not submit to justice as aforesaid and be thereof convicted, he shall go to prison for a day and a night like one who is against the peace; and if he will not submit to justice let the matter be laid before the king and his council in manner aforesaid. 29. And the chief alderman, and the twelve sworn men, or the bailiffs, each month, or at least four times a year, shall see that the assize of bread and ale be well kept in all points according to the price of corn. 32. Every year, on the morrow of St. Michael, shall be elected by the whole community of the town assembled in a place provided, to consider the estate and treat of the common business of the townthen shall be elected by the whole community, twelve discreet men to execute the king's commands, together with the bailiffs, and to keep the peace and protect the franchise, and to do and keep justice to all persons, as well poor as rich, natives or strangers, all that year. 63. No one shall go out to meet a ship bringing wine or other merchandise coming to the town, in order to buy anything, before the ship be arrived and come to anchor for unlading; and if any one does so and is convicted, the merchandise which he shall have bought shall be forfeited to the king. 31. THE GILD MERCHANT AND THE CRAFT GILDS1 We are particularly concerned with only one phase of this subject, namely, the relation of the craftsmen or artisans and their associations to the Gild Merchant. It is necessary at the outset to emphasize the fact that, generally speaking, craftsmen were freely admitted to the Gild Merchant in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. The term merchant, as is well known, was not in those days confined to large dealers, but embraced all who traded. The line of demarcation between merchant and craftsman was not yet sharply defined. Every master craftsman was regarded as a merchant, for he bought his raw materials and sold the products of his handiwork in his shop or at his stall, just as some coopers, shoemakers, bakers, and other tradesmen still do at the present day. The glover bought his skins; the baker his corn; the butcher sold hides as well as meat; the weaver, fuller, and dyer bought wool and woad, and sold cloth; the tanner bought bark and hides, and sold leather. Craftsmen were not only admitted to the Gild Merchant, but also, in all probability, constituted the majority of its members. Craft gilds are first mentioned during the reign of Henry I [10681135], about a half a century after the first appearance of the Gild Merchant. The latter included merchants proper and artisans belonging to different trades; the craft gild, at first, included only artisans of a single trade. The position of these craft fraternities 'Adapted by permission from Charles Gross, The Gild Merchant, I, 107-20. (The Clarendon Press, 1890.) in the town community during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was different from that of the Gild Merchant. They had not yet become official civic bodies, like the "Gilda Mercatoria," forming a part of the administrative machinery of the town. Their existence was merely tolerated in return for a yearly ferm paid to the crown, whereas the Gild Merchant constituted a valuable burghal privilege, whose continuance was guaranteed by the town charter. Still the craft gilds occupied a more important position in the community than that of a mere private association of today. For with the grant of a gild the craftsmen generally secured what in Germany was called the "Zunftzwang" and the "Innungsrecht," i.e., the monoply of working and trading in their branch of industry. The craftsmen thus associated remained in the common Gild Merchant, but the strength of the latter was weakened and its sphere of activity was diminished with every new creation of a craft fraternity, though these new bodies continued subsidiary to, and under the general regulation of, the older and larger fraternity. The greater the commercial and industrial prosperity of a town the more rapidly did this process of subdivision into craft gilds proceed, keeping pace with the increased division of labour. In the smaller towns, in which agriculture continued a prominent element, few or no craft gilds were formed; and hence the old Gild Merchant remained intact and undiminished in power longest in this class of boroughs. The period of the three Edwards [1239-1377] constitutes an important epoch in the history of industry and gilds. With the rapid development and specialization of industry, particularly under Edward III, gilds of craftsmen multiplied and grew in power. Many master craftsmen became wealthy employers of labour, dealing extensively in the wares which they produced. The class of dealers or merchants, as distinguished from trading artisans, also greatly increased, forming themselves into separate fraternities or mysteries. When these various unions of dealers and of craftsmen embraced all the trades and branches of production in the town, little or no vitality remained in the old Gild Merchant. In short, the function of guarding and supervising the trade monopoly had become split up into various fragments or sections, the aggregate of the crafts superseding the old Gild Merchant. A natural process of elimination, the absorption of its powers by other bodies, had rendered the old organization superfluous. This transference of authority from the ancient general Gild Merchant to a number of distinct bodies, and the consequent |