The earliest guilds were merchant guilds. The merchant guilds appeared in the late-11th century and were comprised of traders, merchants and some of the artisans who also traded goods. As towns and marketplaces grew larger, these merchant guilds broke up into smaller, more specialized craft guilds. These craft guilds included all the workers of a given craft. This evolution continued with the creation of blacksmith guilds, carpentry guilds and many other guilds protecting the rights of workers in each industry.

CS Question #1: What was a guild and what was its purpose?

A guild attempted to create equality among its members by controlling many of their business practices. The guild would issue regulations concerning technicalprocedures, hours of labor, wages, the number of workmen to be employed, prices and trade practices. The word capitalism had not yet come into use, but at the same time, the concept was very deeply frowned upon.

A common regulation of a guild was the right of any member to use the property of any other member. This made commodities and equipment common property among all the guild members. No guild member had the right to profit or derive advantage from any of his individual investments. Advances, such as windmills or the use of waterwheels in mills, were also frowned upon unless each guild member had equal access to all of the equipment.

By establishing control over all the workers within an industry, each industry profited as a whole by existing as a monopoly. A consumer wanting horseshoes would have to buy them from a guild member. The blacksmith would sell the shoes at a price regulated by the guild. There would be no competition to drive prices down. A consumer could not find less expensive horseshoes anywhere in the marketplace. Every craft operated in this way. If a member attempted to break the regulations and sell cheaper goods, pay more for workers or even advertise, he could be vigorously punished with beatings by other guild members and exclusion from the marketplace. The guild system created a marketplace not built around the consumer, but around the producers of goods.

CS Question #3: How was a guild a monopoly?

It would be impossible to hold a monopoly of this type without making some guarantees to the consumer. To this end the guilds attempted to fix prices at a fair level and to ensure the basic quality of the goods they manufactured. One of the most important functions of the guilds was the patrolling of their members to create uniform standards within the marketplace. When guilds failed to guarantee their production quality, they drew fire from consumers and from the powerful organizations of medieval times such as the Church. Saint Antonio rebuked painters' guilds because of their "[laboring] on feast days, their overcharging, and most of all the use of bad paints which lose their color. [Artisits have] the habit of never completing what they have begun." In order to remain an economic power, a guild had to control the business habits of its workers to benefit the larger society. When the regulations of the guilds failed, so did the guilds themselves.

CS Question #4: Why did guilds have to create a standard of quality?

Further Thought:

1. In what ways do guilds resemble unions?
2. In what ways do guilds resemble a city chamber of commerce?
3. Do you think guilds helped society develop by organizing industry, or do you think they hurt society by hindering technological progress?