Guilds can be traced back to Saxon times, with the formation of the frith-guilds – bodies by which social peace and harmony could be maintained by the issuing of summary justice. But the guild system ultimately adopted by medieval society arrived after the Norman Conquest, as a means of establishing rights for conducting business in specific towns and cities.
Medieval Guilds were beneficial inasmuch as they attempted to guarantee standards amongst crafts. A group of skilled craftsmen in the same trade might form a guild to ensure that anything made by a member was up to scratch and sold for a fair price. A guild member also enjoyed a certain status, as well as the benefits of belonging to a private ‘club’.
Medieval Guilds were a curious mix of trade union and secret society – think of the Unison blended with modern Freemasonry. They were essentially confraternities, where members swore binding oaths to support one another in adversity and back one another in feuds or in business ventures. Such ‘conjurations’ were denounced by Catholic clergy, but to no avail.
At the peak of guild control there were 96 craft guilds in York in 1415. Those that survive today include the Merchant Taylors and Merchant Adventurers. The Butchers’ Guild struggled on until 1940, when it lost its sole remaining member.
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- York GuildhallYork Guildhall marks the point at which the Romans forded the River Ouse and provided ...
- St Anthony’s HallIn 1446 King Henry VI granted a charter which founded the Guild of St Martin. ...
- Merchant Taylor’s HallGuild life can trace its roots back to Saxon times, with the formation of the ...
- Merchant Adventurers’ HallIn 1357 a number of York’s men and women came together to form a new ...