English Gilds. *

a common subjection to police control or from common obligations to pay certain imposts . But even these views deserve no further consideration after Wilda ' s striking refutation . "The Craft-Gilds , " as Wilda says , " did not spring from

subjection and dependence ; they originated in the freedom of the handicraft class . After the free handicraftsmen had been expelled from the full citizens' Gilds , their relation to the old-burghers was similar to that of the ancient

freemen at the time when they confederated into Gilds for protection against the aggressions of the great . On the one hand , the citizens endeavoured to suppress the handicraftsmen into a kind of subjection , and on the other , as , after the

expulsion of the royal and episcopal officers , they had the police in market and trade matters in their hands , it was in their power to take measures injurious to the Craftsmen . The old burghers must have felt a great temptation to subject the

handicraftsmen , sprang from the free families , to the same imposts as those paid by the bondmen . Foremost amongst the free handicraftsmen were the weavers . They formed a kind of middle class between the patricians and the bond Craftsmen . The fact that whilst the other Crafts worked

to supply mere local demands , the Weavers ' manufactures found markets in the most distant countries , naturally invested tbem with greater importance . They were distinguished above all others by wealth , self-respect , and a sense of

freedom . Their unions enjoyed of old the greatest independence . In all towns they stood at the head of the Craftsmen ; and the contests of the handicraft class with the patricians for political emancipation , and its victories , were , above all ,

the struggles and victories of the Weavers . Accordingly , in all the manufacturing countries of that time , the most ancient Gilds were those of the Weavers . The Gild of the London Weavers

Was chartered by Henry L , and so was that of the Oxford Weavers . In the reign of Henry II . Weavers' Gilds , confirmed by the king , existed at Nottingham , York , Huntingdon , Lincoln , and Winchester . In Germany the Wool-weavers '

Gild of Cologne arose as early as the eleventh century . And in like manner the oldest German charter referring undoubtedly to a Craft-Gild is that of a Cologne Weavers' Gild . In the year 1149 , the textores culcitrarum pidvinarium ( weavers of pillowcases ) formed a fraternity with the consent of the judges , sheriffs , and aldermen ;

and thenceforth all who wished to carry on the trade within the town were obliged to join the fraternity and to submit to its rules . The record proves that a union of these handicraftsmen had existed long before the year 1149 , and that it was

merely confirmed in the same year . At Spire the Gild of the Wool-weavers existed at the beginning of the twelfth century . At Mayence the Weavers are mentioned as early as 1099 j at Worms in 1114 . At Frankfort-on-Main also ,

wool-weaving ranked first among the Crafts . It was , however , in the first manufacturing country of the Middle Ages , in Flanders and Brabant , that the influence of the Wool-weavers' Gild was the most prominent : it appears there as almost the sole leader in all the revolutions of the

handicraft class . And when we consider the early flourishing state of the Belgian woollen manufactures , for as early as the first century the clothes of coarse wool woven in Belgium found a greedy market in Rome ; also , that the necessity of

defending their coasts against the inroads of the sea , and of pirates always kept most keenly alive in the minds of the people the fundamental idea of all Gilds , the brotherly solidarity and community of interests ; lastly , the bold spirit of independence

which led even serfs here to confederate into Gilds , we may infer that here , among these extremely industrious and stubborn weavers of Flanders and Brabant , did the first Craft Gild originate .

The organisation of the free craftsmen into Gilds , was called forth by their want of protection against the abuse of power on the part of the lords

of the town , who tried to reduce the free to the dependence of the unfree , and , by imposts and otherwise , to encroach on the freemen's earnings . Being organized , the Craft Gildmen provided for the maintenance of the customs of their Craft ,

framed further ordinances for its regulation , saw these ordinances properly executed , and punished the Gild brothers who infringed them . The maintenance of their independence against the city authorities , and the possibility of carrying out and

making efficient their trade-rules , depended , however , on the condition that all who carried on the trade should belong to the Gild . And though the first Gilds , at their formation , included , doubtless , all men of the trade , yet in course of time some

one or more Craftsmen must have turned up , who , unwilling to submit to the rules framed for insuring good work and for protecting the interests of