disintegration and decay of the former, was a gradual spontaneous movement, which, generally speaking, may be assigned to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the very period in which the craft gilds attained the zenith of their power.

In some towns where the crafts took the place of the Gild Merchant the name of the latter wholly disappeared, but in others it continued to be used, not to indicate a concrete bond of union as of old, with distinct officers and separate administrative machinery, but only as a vague term applied to the aggregate of the crafts.

In some towns the totality of the crafts also appears in later times formally organized as a single fraternity with its own officers, revenues, etc. In other words, the parts into which the old Gild Merchant had resolved itself were again fused into one body, which occupied a place in the civic polity similar in many respects to that of the ancient Gild Merchant.

32. A LIST OF CRAFT GILDS IN YORK, 14151

Each fraternity or craft gild had charge of one scene in the whole series and performed it on a platform on wheels, successively, at each appointed station in the city on Corpus Christi Day. As one scene was completed, its players moved on to the next station, their place being taken by the company having in charge the next pageant in the series. [The following is a list of the gilds taking part in a play in 1415:]

Woollen-weavers; Plasterers; Armorers; Parchment Makers and Bookbinders; Chandlers; Spurriers and Lorimers; Barbers; Curriers; Pouchmakers, Bottlers, and Capmakers; Littesters: Tilemakers, Millers, Furriers, Hayresters, Bowlers; Winedrawers; Drapers; Linen-weavers; Innkeepers; Cardmakers; Glovers; Hosiers; Goldsmiths, Goldbeaters, and Moneyers; Vintners; Ironmongers; Spinners and Vestmakers; Bowyers and Fletchers; Cooks and Watercarriers; Shearmen; Carpenters; Brokers and Wool packers; Mercers; Fullers; Shipwrights; Spicers; Pewterers and Founders; (Formerly) The House of St. Leonard-(Now) Masons; Cutlers, Bladesmiths, Sheathers, Scalers, Bucklermakers, and Horners; Pinmakers, Latten-makers, and Painters; Scriveners, Illuminators, Pardoners, and Dubbers; Tanners; Coopers; Fishmongers and Mariners; Tilers; Marshalls; Girdlers, Nailers, and Sawyers; Smiths;

'Adapted by permission from University of Pennsylvania, Department of History, Reprints from the Sources of European History, 1st Ser., Vol. II, No. 1,

pp. 29-32.

Plumbers and Patternmakers; Bakers; Cordwainers; Tapestrymakers and Couchers; Butchers and Poultry Dealers; Saddlers, Glaziers, and Joiners; Tailors; Potters.

33. CHARACTERISTICS OF CRAFT GILD ECONOMY1

I. It was distinguished from the earlier "family system" of industry in that manufacture was carried on for the purpose of supplying consumers outside the domestic group. There was a market, in the sense of a number of purchasers, and therefore the goods produced can be called wares, as they could not before. But the market was very limited; in most cases restricted to the people of a particular town or district. Indeed, looking at England as a whole, it may be said that there were then a number of local markets, not as there tends to be now, one market. Today, for instance, the price of corn is affected by the whole demand of England, or rather of a much larger area; then it would have been determined, but for legislative action, by the demand of a comparatively small area. It was this local limitation of demand that made the regulation of prices and methods of manufacture so much easier than it would be in modern times. The same smallness of the market, and the fact that most of the articles demanded were called for by necessity and not by fashion, caused demand to be stable: none of the social difficulties now caused by the rapid and incalculable fluctuations in demand had as yet begun to show themselves.

II. Capital played a very small part. In order to set up as a master-artisan a man needed to be able to hire a house and buy the necessary tools, as well as, in many crafts, a little money to buy materials. But skill and connection, the ability to produce good wares, and the steady demand of a small group of customers, were far more important. This element of technical skill modern machinery has driven far into the background.

III. There was as yet no class of wage-labourers, no "working class" in the modern sense of the term. By "working-men" we mean a number of men, from among whom individuals may indeed rise to become masters, but the majority of whom cannot hope ever to rise to a higher position. But in the fourteenth century a few years' work as a journeyman was but a stage through which the poorer men had to pass, while the majority probably set up for themselves as

Taken by permission from W. J. Ashley, An Introduction to English Economic History and Theory: The Middle Ages, pp. 92-96. (Longmans, Green, & Co.,

There were,

master craftsmen as soon as apprenticeship was over. therefore, no collisions between "capital and labour," though there might be occasional quarrels between individuals. The hard-working journeyman expected to be able in a few years to become an independent master; and while he remained a journeyman there was no social gulf between himself and his employer. They worked in the same shop, side by side, and the servant probably earned at least half as much as his master.

IV. If, therefore, we compare the working class of to-day with that of the fourteenth century, it is not with the journeymen, but with the master craftsmen, that the comparison must be made. The most important contrast that strikes us is that the mediaeval craftsman was personally independent, in a sense in which the modern workman is not. He worked in his own shop, owned his own tools, and worked at what hours he pleased, subject to the restrictions as to work at night or on Sunday. In some crafts, it is true, he received the raw material from customers, giving back finished articles for the customers' own use; in some he was more or less dependent on the men of other crafts, receiving half-finished goods from them and returning them one stage further advanced. But in many industries the craftsman bought his own materials and sold the goods to such customers as presented themselves, i.e., he combined the functions of a trader with those of a manufacturer. The shopkeeper class was only beginning to come into existence.

V. We have seen that the gilds were not independent, but were subject to the control of the municipal and central authorities. The chief object of this control, as of the gild statutes, was to secure the good quality of the wares produced. The modern state has abandoned the attempt, except in the case of certain articles of food. But it must be recognized that the task was an easier one in the Middle Ages. Wants were comparatively few and unchanging; they were supplied by neighbouring craftsmen; consumer and producer stood in direct relation with one another. Such regulations had regard, not only to the interests of the consumers, but also to those of the craft itself, which would be injured by the knavery of individual members. They only disappeared when production became much greater and aimed at satisfying a wide and changing market. As we should expect, the doctrine caveat emptor first appears in the cloth industry: a petition of the London fullers, in 1369, urges that those who bought cloths with patent defects should do so at their peril.

VI. The supervision of the processes of manufacture was the chief reason for the action of the central and local authorities in encouraging and even insisting on the separate organization of different branches of the same industry, and the rule that every craftsman should choose his craft and abide by it. An Act of Parliament of 1363 ordained that "artificers and men of mysteries (mestiers, i.e., crafts) shall each join the craft he may choose between this time and the next Candlemas"; "trespassers" were to be punished by imprisonment for half a year and by a fine to the king. This was followed up by special ordinances “that no dyer or weaver shall make any cloth," i.e., interfere with the trade of the cloth-finishers. The division was sometimes amusingly minute: bowyers were not to make arrows, that was to be left to the fletchers; cordwainers, "the craft of workers in new leather," were not to retail or make up old boots and shoes for sale and so interfere with the "cobelers," though the cobelers were specially permitted to use new leather for resoling old boots.

VII. The members of each craft usually lived in the same street or neighbourhood. Thus in London the saddlers lived round and attended the church of S. Martin-le-Grand; the lorimers lived in Cripplegate, the weavers in Cannon Street, smiths in Smithfield, and bucklers in Bucklersbury. So in Bristol there were Tucker Street, the home of the tuckers or fullers, Corn Street, Knifesmith Street, Butcher Row, Cooks' Row, and the like. Such a grouping must have enormously strengthened the sense of corporate life in each craft and must also have made the work of supervision comparatively easy.

So large a part of the manufacturing work of the country was arranged on the gild system that the term may be fairly used to describe the whole organization of industry. But in some occupations and districts, while there was a sufficient demand for some commodity to induce men to give up themselves to a particular sort of labour, there could never be a demand large enough to call into existence a body of men of the same craft large enough to form a gild or company. Thus most villages had a smith, but only in the largest town was there a smiths' gild. Isolated weavers and fullers were probably to be found scattered up and down the country. In such cases the individual craftsman would be without the support and control of the gild; but the essential characteristics of his position were the same as of the position of the gild member. His capital was very

small; he dealt directly with the customer; and between himself and the one or two men or boys he might employ, there was no social gulf.

34. ORDINANCES OF THE WHITE TAWYERS OF LONDON'

[NOTE. This selection should be read with the purpose of securing evidence of the functions of the craft gild with respect to the following points: (1) Protection of consumer against defective wares and protection of producer against cheap labor; (2) the duties and responsibilities of the gildsmen to each other and to the town; (3) the regulation of wages and prices; (4) religious and charitable duties; (5) social control of actions of members.]

In the first place, they have ordained that they will find a wax candle, to burn before Our Lady in the Church of All Hallows near London Wall. Also, that each person of the said trade shall put in the box such sum as he shall think fit, in aid of maintaining the said candle.

Also, if by chance any one of the said trade shall fall into poverty, whether through old age, or because he cannot labour or work, and have nothing with which to help himself, he shall have every week from the said box 7d. for his support if he be a man of good repute. And after his decease, if he have a wife, a woman of good repute, she shall have weekly for her support 7d. from the said box so long as she shall behave herself well and keep single.

And that no stranger shall work in the said trade, or keep house [for the same] in the city, if he be not an apprentice, or a man admitted to the franchise of the said city.

And that no one shall take the serving man of another to work with him, during his term, unless it be with the permission of his

master.

And if any one of the said trade shall have work in his house that he cannot complete, or if for want of assistance such work shall be in danger of being lost, those of the said trade shall aid him, so that the said work be not lost.

And if any one of the said trade shall depart this life, and have not wherewithal to be buried, he shall be buried at the expense of their common box; and when any one of the said trade shall die, all

Adapted by permission from A. E. Bland, P. A. Brown, and R. H. Tawney, English Economic History: Select Documents, pp. 136–38. (G. Bell & Sons, Ltd.,