Other craft guilds eventually included associations of cutlers (makers of cutlery), haberdashers (dealers in goods needed for sewing and weaving), dyers, bakers, saddlers, masons, specialists in metal goods such as blacksmiths, armourers, locksmiths and jewellers, and many others covering all aspects of daily life. Some of the earliest craft guilds in England were guilds of weavers, especially in London and Oxford. Cities like Milan, Florence and Toulouse had such guilds for food producers and leather workers. A similar pattern of development had occurred and was ongoing in other European countries.įrom the 12th century in France and Italy, 'craft' guilds began to form which were associations of master workers in craft industries. The political class of a town typically came from the merchant guilds and, with a charter also establishing local courts, a new and powerful middle class sprang up. Merchant guilds did give back to their communities, too, prescribing from their members charitable gifts of food, wine and money for the clergy and poor and needy. Instead, they could apply their own taxes to the traffic of goods through the town. A charter of freedom involved the sovereign selling the charter which, when given, waived the obligation of a town's inhabitants to pay feudal duties. The right to form a guild in England was often given by the crown as part of a town's charter of freedom. Mutual protection and travelling in groups thus offered the best solution in a period when state intervention was sporadic or non-existent in certain regions. Security was a great concern for medieval traders who worried that their goods could be stolen in transit or while in storage. The political class of a town typically came from the merchant guilds & so A new & powerful middle class sprang up.
Flanders, France ( Paris alone had 120 guilds) and Germany were other places where guilds rose to prominence. Italy was another country where guilds were popular the city of Florence alone boasted 21 guilds in the mid-14th century and the clothmakers guild there controlled some 30,000 workers. Accordingly, there were over 100 guilds in Britain, for example, representing first merchants and traders, and then any skilled craft industry from weaving to metalworkers. From the 12th century guilds were organised according to types of merchants and professionals like doctors before the idea expanded to include skilled artisans. In the 11th century early guilds functioned in towns much like village communities did in rural areas with the additional factor that merchants required more extensive protection for themselves and their goods as they travelled along trade routes at home and abroad. The name 'guild' derives from the Saxon word gilden, meaning 'to pay' or 'yield', as members of the guild were expected to contribute to its collective finances.
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