guild

(noun)

Association of artisans or merchants who controlled the practice of their craft in a particular town. They were organized in a manner similar to something between a professional association and a trade union.

Related Terms

Examples of guild in the following topics:

  • Trade and Commerce

    • Towns saw the growing power of guilds that arose in the 14th century as craftsmen uniting to protect their common interest.
    • The appearance of the European guilds was tied to the emergent money economy and to urbanization.
    • These guilds were organized in a manner similar to something between a professional association, a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society.
    • A lasting legacy of traditional guilds are the guildhalls constructed and used as meeting places.
    • European guilds imposed long standardized periods of apprenticeship and made it difficult for those lacking the capital to set up for themselves or without the approval of their peers to gain access to materials or knowledge, or to sell into certain markets, an area that equally dominated the guilds' concerns.

  • Daily Medieval Life

    • The inhabitants of towns largely made their livelihoods as merchants or artisans, and this activity was strictly controlled by guilds.
    • The members of these guilds would employ young people—primarily boys—as apprentices, to learn the craft and later take position as guild members themselves.

  • The Medical Renaissance

    • He was also an anatomist and invented several surgical instruments and was part of the Parisian Barber Surgeon guild.

  • Italian Trade Cities

    • In particular, Florence became one of the wealthiest of the cities of Northern Italy, due mainly to its woolen textile production, developed under the supervision of its dominant trade guild, the Arte della Lana.

  • Art and Patronage

    • Their wealth and influence initially derived from the textile trade guided by the guild of the Arte della Lana.

  • Italian Politics

    • Their wealth and influence initially derived from the textile trade guided by the guild of the Arte della Lana.

  • Italy Under Mussolini

    • The aim (never completely achieved), inspired by medieval guilds, was to place all Italians in various professional organizations or corporations, all under clandestine governmental control.

  • Efforts at Financial Reform

    • Two of them met with violent opposition: the edict suppressing forced unpaid labor and the edict suppressing certain rules, by which the craft guilds maintained their privileges.