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diff --git a/44966-0.txt b/44966-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9641dd --- /dev/null +++ b/44966-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,639 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44966 *** + +Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected +without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have +been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with +underscores: _italics_. + +The cover of this ebook was created by the transcriber and is hereby +placed in the public domain. + + + +A Paper ON CRAFT GILDS, READ BY +THE REV. W. CUNNINGHAM, D.D., + +_At the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Society for the Protection +of Ancient Buildings._ + + +There is, as I understand it, a double object in the work of this +Society; it interests itself in the preservation of ancient buildings, +partly because they are monuments which when once destroyed can never +be replaced, and which bear record of the ages in which they were made +and the men who reared them; and in this sense all that survives from +the past, good and bad, coarse or refined, has an abiding value. But +to some folks there seems to be a certain pedantry in gathering or +studying things that are important merely because they are +curiosities, a certain fancifulness in the frame of mind which +concentrates attention on the errors of printers, or the sports of +nature, or the rubbish of the past. And much which has been preserved +from the past is little better than rubbish, as the poet felt when he +wrote: + + "Rome disappoints me much; I hardly as yet understand, but + Rubbishy seems the word that most exactly would suit it. All the + foolish destructions, and all the sillier savings, All the + incongruous things of past incompatible ages Seem to be treasured + up here to make fools of the present and future." + +Still, the view Clough takes is very superficial; there is a real +human interest about even the rubbish heaps of the past if we have +knowledge enough to detect it; the dulness is in us who fail to +recognise the interest which attaches to trifles from the past or to +read the evidence they set before us. + +But there is another reason why the vestiges of bygone days claim our +interest--not as mere curiosities, but as in themselves beautiful +objects, excellently designed and skilfully fashioned. There are +numberless arts in which the men of the past were adepts; their skill +as builders is patent to all, but specialists are quite as +enthusiastic over the work that was done by mediæval craftsmen in +other departments. Their wood-carving, and working in metals, the +purity of their dyes, the beauty of their glass, these are things +which move the admiration of competent critics in the present day. +Machinery may produce more rapidly, more cheaply, more regular work, +of more equal quality, and perhaps of higher finish, but it is work +that has lost the delicacy and grace of objects that were shaped by +human hands and bear the direct impress of human care, and taste, and +fancy. We may be interested in the preservation of the relics of the +past, not merely as curiosities from bygone ages, but as examples of +beautiful workmanship and skilled manipulation to which the craftsmen +of the present day cannot attain. + +Most Englishmen--all those whose opinions are formed by the newspapers +they read--are so proud of the vast progress that has been made in the +present century, that they do not sufficiently attend to the curious +fact that there are many arts that decay and are lost. In this country +it appears that the art of glass-making was introduced more than once, +and completely died out again; the same is probably true of cloth +dressing and of dyeing. It seems to me a very curious problem to +examine what were the causes which led to the disappearance of these +particular industries. In each single case it is probably a very +complicated problem to distinguish all the factors at work--what were +the social or economic conditions that destroyed this or that useful +art once introduced? But into such questions of detail I must not +attempt to enter now. I wish to direct your attention to-day to a more +general question, to an attempt to give a partial explanation, not of +failure here and there, but of conspicuous success. In the thirteenth +and fourteenth and fifteenth centuries a very high degree of skill was +attained, not in one art only, but in many. It is at least worth while +to look a little more closely at one group of the conditions which +influenced the work of the times, and examine the organisations which +were formed for controlling the training of workmen, for supervising +the manner in which they lived, and maintaining a high standard of +quality in the goods produced. There is no need to idealise the times +when they were formed, or the men who composed them; the very records +of craft gilds show that the mediæval workman was quite capable of +scamping his work and getting drunk when opportunity tempted him. But +the fact remains that a very great deal of first-rate work was done in +many crafts, for portions of it still survive, and I cannot but +believe that some of the credit is due to the gilds which set +themselves to rule each craft, so that the work turned out should be a +credit to those who made it. + +Herein, as it seems to me, lies the secret of the importance of the +craft gilds during the period of their useful activity. They were +managed on the principle that "honourable thing was convenable;" that +honesty was the best policy; the good of the trade meant its high +reputation for sound work at fair prices. It has got another meaning +to our ears; a time when trade is good means a time when it is more +possible than usual to sell any sort of goods at high prices, and the +craft gilds in their later days were contaminated by this lower view +of industry. The ancient anecdote of the Edinburgh glazier who was +caught breaking the windows of peaceful inhabitants for "the good of +the trade," may illustrate the modern sense of the phrase, while the +conduct of the stalwart citizen who thrashed him within an inch of his +life, and said at every blow "it's all for the good of the trade," was +in closer accord with the disciplinary character of mediæval rules. + +I trust I have said enough to justify my selection of this topic as +one which is not unfitting the attention of this society; the subject +is a very wide one, and I think the treatment may be somewhat less +diffuse if I draw most of my illustrations from a single centre of +industry, and speak chiefly of the craft gilds of Coventry. It is a +town which I visited recently, and where, through the kindness of the +Town Clerk and Mr. W. G. Fretton, the antiquary, I was able to make +good use of the few hours I had to spend. It may be convenient too, to +arrange the matter under the following heads:-- + + I. The introduction of craft gilds. + + II. The objects and powers of mediæval craft gilds. + + III. The resuscitation of craft gilds. + + +I. There is a certain amount of assumption in talking about the +introduction of craft gilds, because it suggests the belief that they +were not a native development. The word gild is, after all, a very +vague term, much like our word association, and though we can prove +the existence of many gilds before the Conquest,--at Cambridge and +Exeter and elsewhere,--their laws contain nothing that would justify +us in regarding them as craft gilds. It is much more probable, though +Dr. Gross, the greatest living authority on the subject, speaks with +considerable reserve, that the hall where the men of Winchester drank +their own gild, or the land of the knights' gild at Canterbury, +belonged to bodies which had some supervision over the trade of the +town--in fact, were early gilds merchant. But I know of no hint in any +of the records or histories of the period before the Norman Conquest, +that can be adduced to show that there were any associations of +craftsmen formed to control particular industries. The earliest +information which we get about such groups of men comes from London, +where, as we learn, Henry I. granted a charter to the Weavers. It is +pretty clear that by this document some authority was given to the +weavers to control the making of cloth (and it possibly involved +conditions which affected the import of cloth). It is certain that +there was a long continued struggle between the weavers' gild and the +citizens, which came to a peaceful close in the time of Edward I. +There were weavers' gilds also in a considerable number of other towns +in the reign of Henry II.; Beverley, Marlborough, and Winchester may +be mentioned in particular, as the ordinances of these towns have +survived, and there are incidental references which seem to show that +the weavers, and the subsidiary crafts of fullers and dyers had, even +in the twelfth century, considerable powers of regulating their +respective trades. The evidence becomes more striking if we are +justified in connecting with it the cases of other towns, where we +find that regulations had been enforced with regard to cloth, and that +the townsmen were anxious to set these regulations aside, and buy or +sell cloth of any width. + +So far what we find is this; while we have no evidence of craft gilds +before the Conquest, we find indications of a very large number of +gilds among the weavers and the subsidiary callings shortly after that +date. But there is a further point; so far as we can gather, weaving +before the Conquest was a domestic art; we have no mention of weavers +as craftsmen; the art was known, but it was practised as an employment +for women in the house; but in the time of the Conqueror and of his +sons there was a considerable immigration of Flemings, several of whom +were particularly skilled in weaving woollen cloth; they settled in +many towns in different parts of the country, and it seems not +unnatural to conclude that weaving as an independent craft was +introduced from the Continent soon after the Norman Conquest. + +Institutions analogous to craft gilds appear to have existed in some +of the towns of Northern France time out of mind, and some can +apparently trace a more or less shadowy connection with the old Roman +Collegia. Putting all these matters together, it appears that craft +organisation first shows itself in England in connexion with a trade +which was probably introduced from abroad; and it seems not impossible +that the Continental artisans brought not only a knowledge of the art +of weaving but certain habits of organisation with them. + +Some sort of organisation was probably necessary for police and fiscal +purposes if for none others. Town life was a curiously confused chaos +of conflicting authority; in London each ward was an independent unit, +in Chester and Norwich the intermingling of jurisdictions seems very +puzzling. The newcomers were not always welcomed by the older +ratepayers, and they might perhaps find it convenient to secure a +measure of _status_ by obtaining a royal charter for their gild. Just +as the Jews or the Hansards were in the city and yet not citizens, +but had an independent footing, so to some extent were the weavers +situated, and apparently for similar reasons; they seem to have had +_status_ as weavers, which they held directly from the King, which +marked them out from other townsmen, and which possibly delayed their +complete amalgamation with the other inhabitants. + +There is yet another feature about these weavers' gilds; the business +in which they are engaged was one which was from an early time +regulated by royal authority. King Richard I. issued an assize of +cloth defining the length and breadth which should be manufactured.[1] +The precise object of these regulations is not clear; they may have +been made in the interests of the English consumer; they may have been +made in the interest of the foreign purchaser, and the reputation of +English goods abroad; they may have been framed in connexion with a +protective policy, of which there are some signs. But amid much that +is uncertain these three things seem pretty clear:-- + + [1] Richard of Hoveden, Rolls Series, iv. 33. + +1. That there were no craft gilds before the Conquest. + +2. That there were many craft gilds in connexion with the newly +introduced weavers' craft in the twelfth century. + +3. That they exercised their powers under royal authority in a craft +which was the subject of royal regulation. + +So far for weavers; I wish now to turn to another craft in which we +hear of craft gilds very early--the Bakers. There is a curious +parallelism between these two callings. In the first place baking was, +on the whole, a domestic art before the Conquest, not a separate +employment; in the next place, it was a matter of royal regulation; +the King's bakers doubtless provided the Court supplies, and the gave +their experience for the framing of the assize of bread, under Henry +II. and under King John.[2] It may, I think, be said that in both of +the trades in which gilds were first formed, there was felt to be a +real need for regulation as to the quality of the goods sold to the +public; and it also appears that this regulation was given under royal +authority. So far the fact seems to me to be pretty clear; and it is +at least more than probable that the form of association +adopted--analogous as it was to associations already existing on the +Continent--had come over in the train of the Conqueror. These few +remarks may suffice in justification of the phrase the "introduction +of craft gilds." + + [2] Cambridge University Library, Mm i. 27. + + +II. In the latter part of the twelfth and the beginning of the +thirteenth century there was a very rapid development of municipal +life in England, and the burgesses in many towns obtained much larger +powers of self-government than they had previously possessed. They +became responsible for their own payments to the Exchequer, and they +obtained larger rights for regulating their own affairs; the town of +Coventry had indeed possessed very considerable municipal privileges +from the time of Henry I., but it shared in the general progress a +century later, and the new requirements were marked by new +developments. I have tried to show how the earlier craft gilds were +formed under royal authority, but as the powers of local +self-government increased and were consolidated, there was no need, +and there was, perhaps, less opportunity, for direct royal +interference in matters of internal trade. We thus find a new order of +craft gilds springing up--they were called into being, like the old +ones, for the purpose of regulating trade--but they exercised their +powers under municipal, and not under royal authority. + +One craft gild of this type which still exists, and which is said to +have been formed by the authority of the leet in the sixth year of +King John, is the Bakers' Gild at Coventry; it still consists of men +who actually get their living by this trade, for it does not appear to +have received so many love brothers as to destroy the original +character of the body; it still has its hall--or, at least, room--and +chest where the records are kept. There are, probably not many other +bodies in the kingdom that have so long a history, and that have +altered so little from their original character during all those +centuries. None of the other Coventry gilds, so far as I know, can at +all compare with it. The weavers were a powerful body there in later +times, but I doubt if there is any evidence of the existence of this +and the allied trades in Coventry before the fourteenth century; we +may, perhaps, guess that it was one of the places where this trade +settled under Edward III. But, apart from the question of origin, the +Bakers have a unique position. Of some half-dozen other crafts which +still maintain a formal existence, none can trace their history back +beyond the time of Edward III., their members have no interest in the +craft which they were empowered to regulate, and a tin box in a +solicitor's office is the only outward and visible sign of their +existence. Such are the Walkers and Fullers, the Shearmen and Weavers, +the Fellmongers, the Drapers, the Mercers, and the Clothiers. Of the +Tanners I cannot speak so decidedly, as during a hurried visit to +Coventry I had no opportunity of examining their books. + +In looking more closely at the powers of mediæval craft gilds, it is +necessary to distinguish a little; a craft gild was a gild which had +authority to regulate some particular craft in a given area. I do not, +therefore, want to dwell on the features which were common to all +gilds, and which can be traced in full detail in the admirable volume +edited by the late Mr. Toulmin Smith for the Early English Text +Society. I desire to limit consideration to the powers that were +special to craft gilds. Like other gilds they had a religious side, in +some cases strongly developed, and the members engaged in common acts +of worship, especially in common prayers and masses for departed +brethren. Like other gilds they had the character of a friendly +society, and gave loans to needy brethren, or bestowed alms on the +poor. Like other gilds they had their feasts, when the brethren drank +their gild, and they had hoods, or livery, which they wore at their +assemblies. Like other gilds they took their share in civic +festivities and provided pageants at considerable cost; but all these +common bonds, important as they were in cementing men into a real +fellowship, and in calling forth such different interests and +activities among the members, were of a pious, social, or charitable +character. There was no reason why such associations should not be +multiplied on all sides; even when a gild consisted of men who +followed the same craft it was not a craft gild. The case of the +journeymen tailors in London who assembled at the Black Friars Church +may be taken as conclusive on this point. A gild was not a craft gild +unless duly empowered to regulate a particular craft; it might be +called into existence for this purpose, or an existing gild might be +empowered to exercise such functions, much as the brotherhood of S. +Thomas à Becket was changed into the Mercers' Company. The important +thing about a craft gild was that it had been empowered to exercise +authority in a given area and over certain workmen, as the weavers' +gilds had been empowered by charter from Henry I., and as the bakers +were empowered by the Court Leet at Coventry, in the sixth year of +King John. + +Two points were specially kept in view in framing any set of +regulations. They were, first, the quality of the goods supplied; and, +second, the due training of men to execute their work +properly--admirable objects certainly. The machinery which was +organised for attaining these objects was also well devised; the men +who were thoroughly skilled, and were masters in the craft, had the +duty of training apprentices, and the wardens had the right of +examining goods exposed for sale, and of making search in houses where +the trade was being carried on--again, an excellent arrangement where +it could be satisfactorily carried out. And on the whole it seems as +if the scheme had worked well, for this simple reason--that while it +was maintained, so much work of excellent design and quality was +executed. I wish to lay stress on this, because the historian of craft +gilds is apt to overlook it. When craft gilds appeared on the stage of +history, it was because something was out of gearing, and the +institution was working badly. One is apt to infer that since they +worked badly whenever we hear of them, they also worked badly when we +do not; but I am inclined to interpret the periods of silence +differently, and to regard them as times when the organisations were +wisely managed, and when the craft gilds enjoyed the proverbial +happiness of those who have no history. + +There were, however, three different dangers of disagreement, and +possible quarrel:--(1) Between a craft gild on one hand and the +municipal authorities on the other; (2) between one craft gild and +another; (3) between different members of a craft gild. + +1. It is obvious that the gilds, if they were to exercise any real +authority, required to have _exclusive_ powers within a given +district; it is also obvious that these exclusive powers might be +misused, so as to be mischievous to the consumers of the goods; a +craft gild might take advantage of its monopoly to the gain of the +members and the impoverishing of the citizens. The feeling of the +citizens would be that the goods supplied by the members of the gild +were bad and were dear at the price. It was therefore of the first +importance that the citizens should be, in the last resort, able to +control the gild, and resume the privileges which their officers +exercised. There is a well-known case, which is detailed in Mr. +Toulmin Smith's book, which shows how the tailors of Exeter enjoyed a +charter from the Crown, and how much trouble they gave to the local +authorities under Edward IV.; but it was a matter of common complaint +that in many places the gilds had charters from great men which +exempted them from proper control.[3] Even in Coventry, where there +does not appear to have been interference from without, it was +necessary for the leet to keep a tight hand on the craft gilds. An +ordinance of 8 Henry V. runs as follows:--"Also that no man of any +craft make laws or other ordinance among them but it be overseen by +the mayor and his council; and if it be reasonable ordinance and +lawful it shall be affirmed, or else it shall be corrected by the +mayor and his peers."[4] At a later date we have another entry of the +same kind:--"Also that the mayor, warden, and bailiffs, taking to the +mayor eight or twelve of the General Council, to come afore them the +wardens of all the crafts of the city with their ordinances, touching +their crafts and their articles, and the points that be lawful, good, +and honest for the city be allowed them, all other thrown aside and +had force none, and that they make new ordinances against the laws in +oppression of the people, upon pain of imprisonment." In some other +towns the craftsmen had to yield up their powers annually and receive +them back again from the municipal authority; this was the case with +the cordwainers at Exeter,[5] but the Coventry people did not insist +on anything so strict. + + [3] Rot. Parl., II. 331. + + [4] Leet Book, £37. + + [5] Toulmin Smith, "English Gilds," p. 332. + +2. The difficulties between one craft gild and another might arise in +various ways; as time went on or trade developed there was an +increasing differentiation of employment, and it was not always clear +whether the original gild had supervision over all branches of the +trade. Thus in London the weavers' gild claimed to exercise +supervision over the linen as well as over the woollen cloth +manufactures, and this claim was insisted on on the ground that the +two trades were quite distinct. In Coventry the worsted weavers, the +linen weavers, and the silk weavers were one body, in later times at +any rate, though the arts cannot be precisely similar. In other cases +there was a question as to whether different processes involved in the +production of one complete article should be reckoned as separate +crafts or not. Thus the Fullers were organised in independence of the +Shearmen in 1438; and during the fifteenth century the sub-division of +gilds appears to have gone very rapidly at Coventry, as there were +something like twenty-three of them at that time; at the same time +from the repeated power which is given to the Fullers to form a +fellowship of their own,[6] it appears that they were from time to +time re-absorbed by the parent gild. Perhaps an even better +illustration of the difficulty of defining the precise processes which +certain gilds might supervise would be found in the history of the +leather trades in London--Tanners, Cordwainers, Saddlers, and so +forth. But enough may have been said to show how easy it was for +disputes to arise between one or more craft gilds as to their +respective powers. + + [6] Leet Book, f. 400; May 3, 1547. Quoted by Mr. Fretton, + Memorials of Fullers' Guild, page 11. + +3. There were also disputes within the gilds between different +members. + +(_a_) There was at least some risk of malversation of funds by the +Master of the craft gild; and strict regulations were laid down by the +Fellmongers and Cappers as to the time when the amounts were to be +rendered and passed, but a much greater number of the ordinances deal +with the respective duties of masters and apprentices and masters and +journeymen. + +(_b_) The question of apprenticeship was of primary importance, as +the skill of the next generation of workmen depended on the manner +in which it was enforced. There are a good many ordinances of the +Coventry Cappers in 1520. No one was to have more than two apprentices +at a time, and he was to keep them for seven years, but there was to +be a month of trial before sealing; nobody was to take apprentices who +had not sufficient sureties that he would perform his covenant. If the +apprentice complained that he had not sufficient "finding," and the +master was in fault, the apprentice was to be removed on the third +complaint, and the master was handicapped in getting another in his +place. Once a year the principal master of the craft was to go round +the city and examine every man's apprentice, and see they were +properly taught. The Clothiers, in regulations which I believe to be +of about the same date, though they are incorporated with rules of a +later character, had a system of allowing the apprentice to be turned +over to another master if his own master had no work, so that he might +not lose his time--this was a system which was much abused in the +eighteenth century: the master was to teach the apprentice truly, and +two apprentices were not to work at the same loom unless one of them +had served for five years. No master was to teach any one who was not +apprenticed, and he was to keep the secrets of the craft; this was a +provision which constantly occurs in the ordinances. Some such +exclusive rule was necessary if they were to secure the thorough +competence, in all branches of the art, of the men who lived by it. In +the case of the Coventry Clothiers there is an exception which is of +interest; the master might give instruction to persons who were not +apprenticed as "charity to poor and impotent people for their better +livelihood." + +(_c_) The limitation of the number of apprentices, though it was +desirable for the training of qualified men, was frequently urged in +the interests of the journeymen. There had been frequent complaint on +the part of journeymen that the masters overstocked their shops with +apprentices, and that those who had served their time could get no +employment from other masters, while they also complained that +unnecessary obstacles were put in the way of their doing work on their +own account. + +One or two illustrations of these points may be given from the +Coventry crafts; the Fullers in 1560 would not allow any journeyman to +work on his own account. The Clothiers in the beginning of the +sixteenth century ordained that none shall set any journeyman on work +till he is fairly parted from his late master, or if he remains in his +late master's debt; journeymen were to have ten days' notice, or one +cloth to weave before leaving a master; their wages were to be paid +weekly if they wished it, and they were to make satisfaction for any +work they spoiled. Similarly the Cappers in 1520 would not allow +journeymen to work in their houses. + +Some of the most interesting evidence in regard to the grievances of +the journeymen comes from the story of a dispute in the weaving trade +in the early part of the fifteenth century. "The said parties--both +masters and journeymen--on the mediation of their friends, and by the +mandate and wish of the worshipful Mayor, entered into a final +agreement." The rules to which they agreed throw indirect light on the +nature of the points in dispute. It was evidently a time when the +trade was developing rapidly, and when an employing class of +capitalists and clothiers was springing up among the weavers. It was +agreed that any who could use the art freely might have as many looms, +both linen and woollen, in his cottage, and also have as many +apprentices as he liked. Every cottager or journeyman who wished to +become a master might do so in paying twenty shillings. Besides this, +the journeymen were allowed to have their own fraternity, but they +were to pay a shilling a year to the weavers, and a shilling for every +member they admitted.[7] On the whole it appears that the journeymen +in this trade obtained a very considerable measure of independence, +but this was somewhat exceptional, and on the whole it appears that +the grievances and disabilities under which journeymen laboured had a +very injurious effect on the trade of many towns, and apparently on +that of Coventry, during the sixteenth century. There was a very +strong incentive for journeymen to go and set up in villages or +outside the areas where craft gilds had jurisdiction, and there is +abundant evidence[8] that this sort of migration took place on a very +large scale. I should be inclined to lay very great stress on this +factor as a principal reason for the decay of craft gilds under Henry +VIII., so that Edward VI.'s Act gave them a death-blow. They no longer +exerted an effective supervision, because in so many cases the trade +had migrated to new districts, where there was no authority to +regulate it. This is, at any rate, the best solution I can offer of +the remarkable manner in which craft gilds disappeared, as effective +institutions, about the middle of the sixteenth century. Their +religious side was sufficiently pronounced to bring them within the +scope of the great Act of Confiscation, by which Edward VI. despoiled +the gilds; but there was an effort made to spare them then, and I +cannot but believe that if they had had any real vitality a large +number would have survived, as some, like the Bakers and Fullers at +Coventry, actually did. At the same time, it appears to be true that +these cases are somewhat exceptional and that the craft gilds, as +effective institutions for regulating industry, disappeared. Part of +the evidence for this opinion comes from Coventry itself, for we find +that a deliberate and conscious effort was made to resuscitate the +gilds in 1584. It is of this resuscitation, involving as it does a +previous period of decay, that I now wish to speak. + + [7] Leet Book, f. 27. + + [8] Worcester, 25 H. VIII. c. 18. + + +III. The disappearance of the craft gilds appears to have been +connected with one of their accidental features, as I may call +them--their common worship. The attempted resuscitation at Coventry +was due to another--to the fact that each craft provided a certain +amount of pageantry for the town. I suspect that the so-called +"Mistery plays" were the plays organised by the different "misteries" +or crafts. The Chester plays, the Coventry plays, and the York +plays,[9] have been published, and they present features which force +comparison with the Passion Play which is being given this year at +Ober Ammergau; and they were most attractive performances. The +accounts of the various trading bodies show that these pageants were +continued through the sixteenth century; they were suspended for eight +years previous to 1566, and again in 1580 and three following years, +when the preachers inveighed against the pageants, even though "there +was no Papistry in them"; revived once more in 1584, they were finally +discontinued in 1591.[10] + + [9] Recently edited by Miss L. T. Smith for the Clarendon + Press. + + [10] T. Sharp, "Pageants" (1815), p. 12, 39, and 39. + +I have lately seen the originals of the dialogue of the Weavers' +Pageant, with the separate parts written out for the individual +actors. During the fifteenth century, these pageants were performed +with much success, and several of the smaller trades appear to have +been united for the purpose of performing some pageant together. In +1566 and in 1575 Queen Elizabeth visited Coventry, and the pageants +were performed, and with the view of reviving the diminished glories +of the towns considerable pains were taken to reorganise the old +crafts; thus the Bakers and Smiths joined in producing a pageant in +1506.[11] The Fullers appear to have been reorganised in 1586, and +there was a very distinct revival of the old corporations about that +time. This same element, the manner in which the crafts had +contributed to the local pageants, was noticeable in connection with +the organisation of the bodies at Norwich; and I cannot but connect +the resuscitation of some of the Coventry Gilds at this time with the +desire to perpetuate these entertainments; certain common lands had +been enclosed by the town to bear another part of the expense.[12] +Though the interest in the pageants marks the beginning of this +revival at Coventry, it yet appears that during the seventeenth century +it continued. There was some general cause at work connected with the +condition of industry which called out a new set of efforts at +industrial regulation, but the power which called these gilds or +companies into being was no longer merely municipal; they rely, as in +the earliest instances, on royal or Parliamentary authority. It is by +no means easy to see what was the precise motive in each case of the +incorporating of new industrial companies in the seventeenth century. +The Colchester Bay-makers introduced a new trade, so, perhaps, did the +Kidderminster Carpet-weavers, but the movement at this time appears to +be connected with the fact that industry was becoming specialised and +localised. I am inclined to suspect that the companies of the +seventeenth century differ from the craft gilds of the fifteenth, +partly, at least, in this way, that whereas the former were the local +organisations for regulating various trades in one town, the latter +were the bodies, organised by royal authority for regulating each +industry in that part of the country where it could be best pursued. +It was at this date that the Sheffield Cutlers were incorporated, and +indeed a large number of organisations in different towns. Several of +the Coventry gilds, notably the Drapers and the Clothiers, were +incorporated by royal charters during the seventeenth century, and +if we turned to a northern town like Preston, we might be inclined to +say that this was the real era when associations for industrial +regulation flourished and abounded. + + [11] Fretton, "Memorials of Bakers' Gild," Mid-England, p. + 124. + + [12] Sharp, "Pageants," 12. + +It is no part of my purpose to speak of the decay of these newly +formed or newly resuscitated companies as it occurred in the +eighteenth century. I have endeavoured to indicate the excellent aims +which these institutions set before them, and the success which +attended their efforts for a time. At the same time, it is a +significant fact that they failed to maintain themselves as effective +institutions in the sixteenth century, and when they were resuscitated +they failed to maintain themselves as useful institutions in the +eighteenth. Partly, as I believe, for good, and partly, as we here +recognise, for evil, business habits have so changed that whatever is +done for the old object--maintaining quality and skill--must be done +in a new way. The power which we possess of directing and controlling +the forces of nature has altered the position of the artisan, and made +him a far less important factor in production. The maintenance of +personal skill, the unlimited capacity for working certain materials, +is no longer of such primary importance for industrial success as was +formerly the case. There is another--perhaps a greater--difficulty in +the diffusion of a wider and more cosmopolitan spirit; the sympathies +of the old brethren for one another were strong, but they were +intensely narrow. No town can be so isolated now, or kindle such +intense local attachments as did the cities of the Middle Ages. There +has been loss enough in the destruction of these gilds, but we cannot, +by looking back upon them, reverse the past or re-create that which +has been destroyed through the growth of the larger life we enjoy +to-day. Let us rather remember them as showing what could be +accomplished in the past, and as pointing towards something we ought +to try to accomplish in some new fashion to-day. When we see that the +mediæval workman was a man, not a mere hand; that in close connexion +with his daily tasks the whole round of human aspiration could find +satisfaction; that he was called with others to common worship, called +with others to common feasts and recreations, and encouraged to do his +best at his work, we feel how poor and empty, in comparison, is the +life that is led by the English artisan to-day. But if there is a +better and more wholesome life before the labourer in days to come, if +new forms of association are to do the work which was done by the +gilds of old, we may trust that those who organise them will bear in +mind not only the successes, but the failures of the past, and learn +to avoid the mistakes which wrecked craft gilds not once only, but +twice. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Craft Gilds, by W. Cunningham + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44966 *** |