English Gilds.*

confirmed by the Emperor Matthias in 1613 , he was even then still considered as " chief judge of stonework . " The capitalist character of the gild became preponderant to such an extent , that proof of the

possession of capital , or of a house in which the trade was to be carried on , was frequently made a requisite for a candidate ' s admission . Often we find a forbiddance to carry on trade with borrowed capital ; and hence , even where the practice of

inheriting the freedom of the gild had not been established by the gild statutes , the freedom became practically hereditary on account of the difficulty of complying with the conditions for entrance . Even the requisite of spotless honour for admission

was abused by the gild meetings in order to keep off competition , for they had the right of refusing admittance to anybody . Whole classes of persons were denied admission , as in Germany , all born out of wedlock , the sons of peasants , & c . In

England also legitimate birth was a requisite of admission . Besides , in this country in the fourteenth century every citizen had to swear , when he received the freedom of the City , that he would take no apprentice " but if he be free-born , ( that

is to say ) no bondsman ' s son ; " * and if after he was made free of the gild and the City , it was known that he was of servile condition , he lost his freedom . In short , in the fourteenth century commenced the transformation of the trades into

entails of a limited number of families , though this number may have been large ; and the narrowminded spirit of capital , petty rivalries , and hateful egotism began to take the place of the great idea of association and solidarity under which the

craft gilds grew up and flourished . Sometimes the richer craftsmen withdrew from their poorer brethren into separate gilds , as , for instance , the the shoemakers from the cobblers , the tanners from the shoemakers ; and we frequently hear of

disputes among the craft gilds concerning what belonged to their trade . We meet on the Continent about this time with special fraternities of journeymen , which were formed after the model of the fraternities of

craftsmen , just as the craft gilds were after that of the town gilds . They were recognised by the Masters' gilds . Thus the journeymen bakers of Copenhagen founded , in 1403 , a gild in honour of St .

Catherine ; and we have still the ordinances of the journeymen bakers at Hamburg from 1431 . Many others , no doubt , existed besides . In London also the same wants led the journeymen to form the same organisations . But here the City

authorities were evidently afraid of the workmen abusing their unions as a means of raising wages . At least , in 1383 they issued a proclamation forbid ding all congregations , covins , and conspiracies of workmen . in general ; and when , in 1387 , three

journeymen cordwainers , wishing to found a fraternity , combined with a Friar preacher , in order that he might obtain for them a confirmation from

the Pope , and thus secure them against the lastmentioned prohibition of the City , they were pounced down on , and carried off to Newgate , under the powers of the said proclamation , before their plan could be carried out . A record of 1396

shows the existence of a religious fraternity of the serving-men of the saddlers , " called yomen . " They had their own livery , and six governors ; and had , in 1396 , existed thirteen years . But as the masters were of opinion that this fraternity might

be made the means of raising wages , it was , at the masters' request , suppressed by the City authorities . The same fate befell , in 1415 , the brotherhood of " yomen taillours , " who in like manner wore a livery , bad their meetings and religious

services , and lived in houses in common . However , in spite of this attempt at suppression , the brotherhood continued to exist ; for in 1417 they petitioned the City authorities to allow them to hold religious services for the souls of their departed

fellow-members on the feast of the beheading of St . John the Baptist ( August 29 ) , and "to do other things which theretofore they had been wont to do . " We have no account as to the

result of this petition , but it was most probably refused . The transformation of the craft gilds into societies of capitalists , exercised of course also an influence on their government ; and it appears