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Article THE GILDS.* ← Page 2 of 5 →
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The Gilds.*
In the last " Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer " appear some remarks on the trade or Craft Gilds which deserve our careful attention . The writer there says most traly : "The early Craft-Gilds did unquestionably aim at establishing a
community of interests among their members . Hence it was sometimes enacted that no Gild-associate was to entice away a brother ' s customers , nor a brother ' s servant . Other statutes preclude working for a customer who was indebted to a brother . Others provided that any member becoming poor from 'adventures on the sea , or the
advance price of merchandise , or by borrowing and pledging , or by any other misfortunes , ' might claim to be relieved in proportion to the fraternity ' s funds . Even as late as 1723 the bye-laws of the Gild of the Joiners and Carpenters of Worcester ordained , 'that wherever any freeman buys any parcel of timber or boards coming to the city to
be sold , and fit for the crafts , every freeman may have a share therein , not exceeding [ in the whole ?] a third , at cost price , on request , and paying ready money , under penalty of 20 s . for refusing to share . ' In some of the Gild-statutes there were , after the manner of the time , sumptuary laws , and especially with reference to apprentices . On the
other hand , the common feast , held frequently in their own magnificent halls , was a general feature . Is not the annual Cutlers' feast at Sheffield a modern continuation of the same practice ?
" In 1633 the Judges of Assize were ordered to inquire into a petition of the Society of Skinners , Whittawers , and Glovers , in Wigan , Preston , in Amounderness , Lancaster , Liverpool , Manchester , and Newton-in-Maker-field , complaining of interlopers in their trade . ( Vide , 'Palatine Note-book , ' i . 213 . )"
The writer further gives , from Geo . Home ' s " Gild Book of the Edinburgh Gild Court , " these extracts as " instances of the powers assumed by the Craft Gilds in their modern form . " We give them because the Mary Chapel Lodge was still to the fore , and other Scottish Lodges—Gilds ; and we have found traces of a Lodge or Gild at
Alnwick , 1708 . These facts are anterior to the great movement in this country in 1717 , of that revival of the old Mason-Gild life which has culminated in the Grand Lodge of 1882 .
" 1701 . ACT OF THE GILD COURT , AGAINST UNFEEE TRADERS AND O THERS : EDINBURGH , MAR . 19 , 1703 . " The Dean of Guild and his Council , considering the prejudice Freemen Burgesses of this City , suffer by reason that several persons
within this City , who are neither Burgesses nor Children of Burgesses , nor have any particular Liberty , keep Shops great or small , Cellars or others for selling of Ware or Drink . ; and sich like , That several
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Gilds.*
In the last " Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer " appear some remarks on the trade or Craft Gilds which deserve our careful attention . The writer there says most traly : "The early Craft-Gilds did unquestionably aim at establishing a
community of interests among their members . Hence it was sometimes enacted that no Gild-associate was to entice away a brother ' s customers , nor a brother ' s servant . Other statutes preclude working for a customer who was indebted to a brother . Others provided that any member becoming poor from 'adventures on the sea , or the
advance price of merchandise , or by borrowing and pledging , or by any other misfortunes , ' might claim to be relieved in proportion to the fraternity ' s funds . Even as late as 1723 the bye-laws of the Gild of the Joiners and Carpenters of Worcester ordained , 'that wherever any freeman buys any parcel of timber or boards coming to the city to
be sold , and fit for the crafts , every freeman may have a share therein , not exceeding [ in the whole ?] a third , at cost price , on request , and paying ready money , under penalty of 20 s . for refusing to share . ' In some of the Gild-statutes there were , after the manner of the time , sumptuary laws , and especially with reference to apprentices . On the
other hand , the common feast , held frequently in their own magnificent halls , was a general feature . Is not the annual Cutlers' feast at Sheffield a modern continuation of the same practice ?
" In 1633 the Judges of Assize were ordered to inquire into a petition of the Society of Skinners , Whittawers , and Glovers , in Wigan , Preston , in Amounderness , Lancaster , Liverpool , Manchester , and Newton-in-Maker-field , complaining of interlopers in their trade . ( Vide , 'Palatine Note-book , ' i . 213 . )"
The writer further gives , from Geo . Home ' s " Gild Book of the Edinburgh Gild Court , " these extracts as " instances of the powers assumed by the Craft Gilds in their modern form . " We give them because the Mary Chapel Lodge was still to the fore , and other Scottish Lodges—Gilds ; and we have found traces of a Lodge or Gild at
Alnwick , 1708 . These facts are anterior to the great movement in this country in 1717 , of that revival of the old Mason-Gild life which has culminated in the Grand Lodge of 1882 .
" 1701 . ACT OF THE GILD COURT , AGAINST UNFEEE TRADERS AND O THERS : EDINBURGH , MAR . 19 , 1703 . " The Dean of Guild and his Council , considering the prejudice Freemen Burgesses of this City , suffer by reason that several persons
within this City , who are neither Burgesses nor Children of Burgesses , nor have any particular Liberty , keep Shops great or small , Cellars or others for selling of Ware or Drink . ; and sich like , That several