The Guilds

In today’s society, where individuals are at least nominally free to choose the kind of work they do, the traditional Indian coupling of caste and occupation seems a strange feature of a far-off, exotic society. In fact, many societies, our own included, reveal numerous examples of work and occupations embedded in particular social arrangements. In some places and times, these arrangements have been quite powerful; they determined who was allowed to practice a particular craft, how they went about it, and even the price that could be charged for their products. In medieval and early modern Europe, a particular kind of organization known as a guild (sometimes rendered as gild) was the predominant form of work organization in urban areas, and many aspects of working life reflected its importance.

A guild can be defined as a grouping of skilled workers performing a particular task or producing a particular product, usually within the confines of a single town or city. In medieval Europe, individual guilds encompassed weavers, stonemasons, metal smiths, shoemakers, and many other craft occupations. It has been said that in some parts of the world, there even have been guilds for beggars and thieves. Guild membership centered on a particular craft, but it also entailed a number of noneconomic functions. Guilds served as charitable agencies and mutual aid societies that provided assistance for members in difficulties. They also had a strong religious component. The dominance of medieval Christianity meant that guild members all subscribed to the same religion, and celebration of a guild’s patron saint would be an occasion for processions, feasting, and affirmation of guild membership.

Guilds, by their nature, were restrictive; where guild power was strong, one could practice a particular craft only as a member of the relevant guild. These restrictions were enforced in a number of ways. Workshops were largely confined to specific neighborhoods, which made it easy for practitioners to monitor one another. Craftsmen also were required to put distinctive marks on their products so inferior goods could be traced back to their makers. And social practices such as the ceremonies and festivals just mentioned contributed to a sense of guild solidarity that aided in the exclusion of nonmembers and the monopolization of a particular craft.

The cohesiveness of guild members also manifested itself in what we today would consider blatant discrimination. Women, for the most part, were not well served by guilds, although there are records of women belonging to guilds and of guilds composed exclusively of women in late 13th-century Paris. Much later, that city contained all-women guilds populated by “dressmakers, combers of hemp and flax, embroiders, and hosiers.” Members of these guilds took in young women as apprentices, but in other places, there are a few instances of women taking in male apprentices. A few occupations, notably silk weaving, employed large numbers of women workers, and midwifery was an exclusively female occupation. In general, however, women’s occupational roles deteriorated over time, and by the latter part of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, women were largely excluded from guild-based artisan work. Women continued to work in craft industries, but in most cases, they were able to do so only because they were wives or daughters of guild members. Membership in the appropriate guild was out of reach because women were usually denied the opportunity to serve a formal apprenticeship, a prerequisite for attaining the status of master. Even more restrictive measures applied to Jews, who were almost always excluded from craft occupations and their associated guilds.

Possessing monopoly power over a given trade, individual guilds were able to control many aspects of work within that trade. Guild regulations often specified the kinds of materials that could be used for particular products, as well as the times (such as the Sabbath and certain religious holidays) when work could not be done. Guild members also checked weighing scales, inspected workshops, and on occasion confiscated goods that were deemed to be of substandard quality.30 In the name of maintaining quality, guilds limited the number of apprentices that could be employed, forbade working under artificial light (which in those times meant candlelight), and even set limits on the size of the windows in which wares could be displayed. ... 

Efforts to limit competition reflected the belief of guild members that they lived and worked in a zero-sum economic environment. That is, they were embedded in an economy that grew at a very slow pace, if at all. Under these circumstances, any individuals’ gains were assumed to be matched by the losses of others. Guild regulations and restrictions may have prevented some members from maximizing their incomes (if they were inclined to flout the “just price”), but at the same time, these rules preserved the livelihood of other guild members who may have been less endowed with skills, energy, and luck. ... 

Guilds also reflected the surrounding society and culture in their replication of existing social institutions. In the first place, it was often the case that entry into a guild-regulated trade was open only to individuals who had family members already in the guild or who married into one.32 No less important, the family also provided a model for many aspects of guild life. Guild members were craftsmen whose workplaces were also their places of residence. In most cases, a single structure housed a workshop, salesroom, and living quarters. This building also was the residence of one or more apprentices, who might be treated as junior members of the family. In addition to working alongside their employer and living in his house, apprentices took their meals with him, worshipped with him, and in general lived their lives under his tutelage and supervision.