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Especially in the middle age and the transition to the renaissance in which many important influences, such as entry into politics and the potential associated rise of the civil society, as well as a growing meaning of cities are just as palpable as ubiquitous differences in status between different social strata, reflects the division of the church its entry and a spirit of optimism has been designed by a good development of action combined with a family empire foundation, to compete against players or computer-controlled opponents.

This relief showing sculptors at work was part of a commission from the guild of sculptors and wood-carvers in Florence. It formed the base for a group of four monumental figures set in one of the niches at Orsanmichele, where each of the various guilds placed a statue of its patron saint(s). The figures in this relief, like the statues that stood above them (also carved by Nanni di Banco), represent the Four Crowned Martyrs. According to medieval legend, these four masons living in the time of Diocletian had refused to carve a pagan statue.

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The development of the craft guilds in Medieval Society had a vast effecton the institutional structure of most towns. At first, when a town wasfounded, there was only one guild and all the town inhabitants were membersof that guild. The guild's officials were the governing body of the townand were the ones who exercised all the powers granted by the town charter.This led to a hesitancy amongst the guild members in power to admit newmembers. Serfs could flee to the town, live there a year and a day, andso become freemen, but most did not gain admittance to the guild. This practiceled to most towns having an unprivileged sector within their population.

After a time, great differences in wealth and economic interests beganto develop among the members of the guild itself. Artisans were inclinedto make far less money than the merchants who lived by trade. The merchantswere interested in using their monopoly for importing goods and sellingthem within the town to keep prices high. This annoyed the artisans whodid not share in the high profits. Gradually the structure of the "one"guild broke down as more and more artisans broke away from the town guildand formed their own separate corporations. This differed from town to town.For example, in Oxford the town guild still remained the dominant guildwith other guilds subordinate to it and the rules stipulated that no onecould belong to an occupational guild who was not a member of the town guild.However, this was the exception and not the norm which was for the guildsto break off and form a complete separation from the town guild. This leftthe original "one" or town guild to become the merchant guild.

This formation process of the craft guilds lasted over many years. Bythe end of the twelfth century the only craft guilds found in England outsideLondon were those of the textile workers: weavers, dyers, and fullers. InLondon, the guilds eventually became known also as liveries. Aguild obtains its charter from the monarch, but its grant of livery since1560 comes from the Court of Aldermen, who have to be satisfied that "....anumber of men of good repute from some trade or mystery not already representedby an existing guild have joined together for a time sufficiently long tojustify the belief that they will continue to gold together and are notlikely to fall apart from lack of interest or support."

This guild structure appeared a little earlier in France but it tookuntil the thirteenth century for it to develop fully. In France, almostevery conceivable occupation was represented by a guild. There were butchers',bakers', sword makers', goldsmiths', tanners', leather workers', booksellers'and parchment-makers' guild. Even the prostitutes had a guild in some Frenchcities, notably Paris and Toulouse. As a rule the members of a guild tendedto live together on the same street.

In the first half of the 14th century the guilds of Florence, Italy weredivided into the seven great guilds called the Arti Maggiori (greater guilds)and 14 lesser guilds called the Arti Minori (minor guilds). Both the membersof the greater guilds known as the popolo grasso (fat people) and the membersof the lesser guilds known as the popolo minuto (little people) could vote.The great guilds included the wealthiest and most powerful men of the cityand were comprised of:

The fourteen lesser guilds included smaller businessmen and craftsmen.These lesser guilds were often called the craft guilds and were comprisedof butchers; shoemakers; blacksmiths; builders; secondhand dealers; wine-dealers;innkeepers; sellers of salt, oil and cheese; tanners; armorers; ironworkers;girdle makers; woodworkers; and bakers. There were many other crafts thanare identified here, and they formed their own organizations but belongedto the same larger guild.

These 21 guilds comprised only a small percentage of the population andyet held all the power. In order to hold political office, a Florentinehad to belong to one of the guilds. The guild-member citizens assembledin the public square to pass major laws.

Below these twenty-one guilds were seventy-two unions of voteless workingmen. Below these were thousands of day laborers forbidden to organize andliving in poverty. At the bottom of the ladder were a few slaves. By themiddle of the 15th century the number of guilds extended to well over ahundred in Venice with such industries as shipbuilding, iron manufacturing,glass blowing, leather dressing and tooling, gem cutting and setting, textiles,etc.

The number one purpose of the craft guild was to protect the economicinterests of its members. Rules regulated membership and trade. No artisancould work in a town unless he was a member of the local guild. No goodscould be imported into a town if they competed with local products. It wasin this way, that the local guilds held a monopoly of the market withinits own town. Competition amongst members of the same guild was discouragedand the guild would do almost anything to prevent it. Each guild laid downdetailed regulations governing the quality of its product, the methods ofmanufacture, and the price that could be charged for it. These regulationswere meant to promote the ideal of every member of the guild making exactlythe same thing by the same methods and selling it at the same price. Eventhe hours of labor were rigidly controlled. For example, a member of a guildwhere careful, difficult work was required was not allowed to work beforesunrise or after sunset.

With the power of a monopoly structure behind them, the craft guildscould obviously abuse their power by lowering the quality of their goodsand raising the prices. It was up to the government to step in and overseethe guilds. In England where the royal government was strong the more importantguilds were carefully supervised. The English government set the weight,quality, and price of loaves of bread and the quality and measure of ale.Strict regulations for the making of cloth was laid down and enforced bygovernmental inspectors. In France the guilds were more likely to be controlledin cities where the lord was powerful. The regulations of most guilds withinParis had to be approved by the royal provost and he was then responsiblefor seeing that the guild officers enforced them. Other various dignitariescontrolled the other guilds. For example, the booksellers and ink makerswere ruled by the rector of the university, the makers of candles and sacredvestments by the bishop, and the wine dealers by the royal butler. Unfortunatelyin self-governing towns control was difficult and the guilds tended to abusetheir monopolies rather freely.

To make such a closely controlled monopoly such as the guilds representedwork effectively, the supply of products had to be adjusted carefully tothe demand for the products. Each guild tried to do this by limiting thenumber of its members. If a young man wished to be admitted to a guild,he first had to learn the trade by serving as an apprentice to a guild memberor master. If you wanted to follow in your father's business, you had togo elsewhere to learn it, for the law forbade fathers to take their ownsons as apprentices. This resulted in fathers placing their children inthe care of a friend or colleague whom he knew to act as the child's "master"and train them in the business. Children were usually placed as apprenticesbetween the ages of seven and nine. Fathers had to pay for their childrento be apprenticed and placing a child in a well-know house of business wasexpensive.

Each guild set the number of apprentices each member could have and thenumber of years the apprentices had to serve. This way, the guild was ableto control the number of craftsmen in its occupation. Each guild had itsown uniform in order to be able to determine for example a shoemaker's apprenticefrom one who belonged to a different craft.

Many times fights would break out between apprentices of different guilds.And at still other times, they would play together. Sometimes apprenticeswere a great nuisance to other people in the towns. Apprentices would takematters into their own hand often and though probably not meaning anythingmore than fun, would often let pranks go to far. A rather extreme case ofthis took place in 1516 when some London apprentices tried to murder a manwhom they had taken a dislike to. The man's friends hid him in the guttersof his house while the apprentices looted and ransacked the man's shoemakershop.

Standards were set to make sure that those wishing admittance to a guildwere adequately trained in its particular craft. This resulted in the practiceof an apprentice producing a "masterpiece" at the end of his trainingwhich he presented to the guild's officers as proof of his ability to practicethe trade.

At the beginning of the guild system, each member of a craft guild hada small workshop where he worked with a few apprentices. When an apprenticefinished his term of training and his "masterpiece" passed inspectionby the guild officers, could start working for anyone who needed a helperand if he saved enough could become a master and have a shop of his own. 17dc91bb1f