English Gilds.*

the debtor , which occurs in the earliest laws of all German tribes , and was lawfully exercised in Germany up to the sixteenth century . The income of the craft gilds consisted of small entrance fees , of wax for the churches , and of

taxes which were levied for special purposes as they occurred ; for instance , on the death , impoverishment , pilgrimage , & c , of a member . Regular periodical contributions are only met with at a later stage .

The rules laid down by the gilds , and to which all me 7 i of the trade had to submit , had reference partly to securing the good quality of the work .

and partly , like all gild statutes , to the temporal and eternal welfare of their members . Both kinds of rules were consequences of the fundamental principle of all gilds , namely , care for the common interest by means of association . In the first

kind , however , the function of the gild , as a police authority on behalf the public , possibly prevailed . But even in them the idea was present that by these measures they protected themselves against loss of the honour and good repute of the trade ,

as well as against loss of custom . The latter motive may be especially attributed to those craftsmen who , like the weavers , worked for a more extensive market .

Wherever the craft gilds were legally acknowledged , we find foremost , that the right to exercise their craft , and sell their manufactures , depended upon the freedom of their city , a fact which is sufficiently explained by the political

tendencies of the craft gilds . It is an exception when we find , as in the case of the fullers of Lincoln , that strangers also were admitted on payment of special taxes to the gild . On the Continent , after the fourteenth century , a system

of reciprocity was frequently established between the several towns , as for instance in 1365 at Tournay . . After the care for skilful workmen , the next concern of the gild was for the use of proper

tools , and the application of well-adapted processes of manufacture . No member of the gild was allowed to possess tools " unless the same were testified to be good and honest ; " and the statutes contained directions and prohibitions , entering

into the most minute details , with reference to the method of working . It was specially forbidden , in the strongest terms , to mix inferior materials with a better sort , to the detriment of the buyer , or to sell patched-up articles as new .

Measures were also taken to protect the public against the spoiling of materials entrusted to the craftsmen for manufacture . The gild , which , stood like a loving mother , providing and assisting , at the side of her sons in

every circumstance of life , cared for her children even after death ; and the ordinances as to this last act breathe the same spirit of equality among her sons on which all her regulations were founded , and which constituted her strength . In cases of

insolvency at death , the funerals of poor members tvere to be equally respected with those of the rich .

Sometimes we find in one and the same place a single trade , or kindred trades , organized into several craft gilds ; as for instance in London , two gilds of tanners , one without Newgate and one without Cripplegate ; and the four weaver gilds at

Cologne in the thirteenth century ; just as is still the case with the trade unions . And like the amalgamations of trade unions , which are becoming more frequent in the present day , these different old craft gilds frequently amalgamated in

later times ; as for instance the above-mentioned four weaver gilds at Cologne in 1396 , and the fullers and shearmen of London in 1527 . Like the

trade societies embracing all England , and even more , and like the early German town confederations , these gild unions in some trades were extended over whole countries . Thus we gather from the charter of the tailors of Schweidnitz in

1361 , that they formed a union of the tailoring trade in twenty-five Silesian towns . And in the middle of the fourteenth century the various cutlers' gilds in Germany were united into four great fraternities , at Augsburg , Munich , Heidelberg , and

Bale , by whom all great differences , which could not be settled by the separate gilds or their presidents , were legally decided . But the most renowned of these confederations was that of the various building lodges of Germany . It was

brought about in 1452 by Dolzinger , chief master at the building of Strasburg Cathedral ; and in 1454 common statutes Avere discussed and passed at a general meeting at Batisbon , and were revised and confirmed on several other lodge days . In

accordance with these statutes , four central lodges were created , Strasburg , Cologne , Vienna , and Zurich , each with a separate district . Strasburg , however , had the precedence . The overseer of the cathedral works was Grand Master of the Stonemasons' fraternity , and according to its code .