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What is a guild? -

Up until the modern age, guilds existed in different forms and under different names in many societies. They were organizations of craftsmen, merchants, and other professionals who united in order to control the prices, measurements, and working conditions of their respective trades and industries.

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The world's first unions -

While lay workers were generally excluded from the guilds of yesteryear, these organizations laid the foundations for the modern unions of today. They were non-governmental, independent entities that ensured they and their kinsmen were given their fair due.

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Armies of artisans -

Guilds rose and fell throughout history, but when they thrived, they truly succeeded in controlling their own respective sectors of commerce. Even when ancient, unruly powers tried to exploit craftsmen and artisans, the sheer number of any given guild's members was almost always enough to stand strong against the government.

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The timeless fight against exploitation -

For as long as there has been civilization, there has been labor, and for as long as there has been labor, there have been powerful entities trying to exploit that labor. Guilds were the Old World's answer to this exploitation.

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Standardized industries -

Among many other things, guilds standardized units of measurement, costs, and values across their trades. This prevented any given artisan from building a monopoly in their trade, and established a firm standard of quality across the board.

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The first guilds -

Organizations reminiscent of guilds have existed since the earliest civilizations of Mesopotamia. Evidence exists that commerce in the Akkadian Empire, for example, which was established during the 2nd millennium BCE, was controlled by a system of guilds.

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Ancient standards -

Once Sargon the Great of Akkad unified ancient Sumer and Assyria under the Akkadian Empire, huge developments in commerce and craftsmanship were quickly implemented.

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Artisans in Akkad -

Prices, standards of quality, and units of measurement and time were quickly standardized across the empire, with artisan guilds being established in Mesopotamian cities in order to keep these standards fair and in place.

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Minimum wage in Mesopotamia -

The Code of Hammurabi, the expansive code of laws that was enacted around 1750 BCE by Babylonian King Hammurabi, stipulated a minimum wage for various trades based on the amount and quality of work. These wages ebbed and flowed over time, with the guilds established during the Akkadian Empire making sure they and their members always received fair, living wages.

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The Roman collegium -

Centuries later, long after the fall of Mesopotamia's first empires, new groups of artisans, craftsmen, and specialists began to pop up in the Roman Republic. These groups were known as collegia, or societies, and at first were simple gatherings of individuals who shared common trades, talents, or interests, ranging from shipbuilding to storytelling and philosophy.

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Lex Julia -

Lex Julia, a sweeping set of laws passed by the Roman Republic's last consul and the Roman Empire's first emperor, established many collegia as proper legal entities. This allowed any given collegium to use whatever social sway it had to lobby Roman senators on behalf of its members.

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Collegia of all colors -

There was a Roman collegium for just about every specialty imaginable. Religious collegia existed in order to discuss and standardize rituals, sacrifices, and the like, while secular organizations also existed for tradesmen and even for performers, such as poets and storytellers.

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The bane of Diocletian -

These collegia enjoyed a considerable amount of sway in the Roman Empire for centuries, until Diocletian took the throne at the end of the 3rd century CE. In an attempt to save the empire from financial ruin and curb the inflation that had plagued it for decades, Diocletian absorbed all independent collegia into the central government, putting an end to these Roman institutions for the rest of the empire's history.

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The disappearance and reappearance of guilds -

After the fall of the Roman Empire and the descent of Europe into the Dark Ages, guilds all but disappeared. With no metropolitan centers or even local governments to rally around, the continent and its people fell into feudalism and serfdom. With the reemergence of towns and public centers, however, guilds quickly began to reform.

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Guilds in the Middle Ages -

The power of the guild was at its peak during the Middle Ages. New, budding technologies gave way to more numerous and complicated trades, greatly increasing the numbers of tradesmen and artisans and their need to organize themselves.

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Merchant guilds -

There were two primary types of guilds during the Middle Ages. Merchant guilds concerned themselves with long-distance and local commerce of raw materials as well as finished goods. Acting not unlike a bank or board of commerce for their respective areas, merchant guilds quickly became rich and garnered significant sway in political and religious circles.

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Craft guilds -

Alongside, or beneath, the merchant guilds were craft guilds. These were more similar to the guilds of old, consisting wholly of professional craftsmen, workers, and artisans. Although craft guilds were generally not as wealthy as merchant guilds, they had full control over the production of their respective products, and virtually every single individual concerned with a craft was a member of their respective guild.

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Guild supremacy -

Concerning themselves so thoroughly with the production, commerce, and trade of goods, guilds were some of the most powerful entities of the Middle Ages. While still loyal to the monarchs of medieval Europe, they were strong enough in numbers and in religious and political influence to maintain absolute control over industry.

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Frith guilds -

While not nearly as active or as powerful as the merchant and craft guilds, religious and egalitarian guilds existed in the Middle Ages as well. Commonly called frith guilds, or peace guilds, they consisted of monks, friars, and other religious figures, with the intention of providing charity or protecting their own rights as members of the clergy.

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Controlling the division of labor -

Craft guilds in particular became increasingly comprehensive in medieval Europe. A bakers' guild, for instance, could be syndicated into dozens of smaller organizations that dealt with each step of bread production, from the grinding of wheat to the standardization and distribution of flour, to the baking of the bread itself. Guilds of all kinds controlled every minute aspect of their respective crafts and trades.

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The inner-guild hierarchy -

As guilds grew in numbers and in complexity, the inner anatomy of these organizations became more and more bureaucratic and hierarchal. Far gone were the collegia of Rome, in which everyone was on equal standing.

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A craftsman's journey through the guild -

Apart from the bureaucracy, the new organization of guilds also allowed for a more comprehensive training and membership process. An individual's journey through a trade guild was a lifelong process.

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From apprentice to master -

Young people hoping to hone their trade would enter guilds as apprentices under the instructions of older, more experienced guild members. Over time, as their skills improved and they became more active in their guilds, they would progress to a journeyman and then eventually to the position of master.

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Guilds in England after the Norman Conquest -

England became a breeding ground for guilds after the invasion of Normans, Bretons, Flemish, and French from Continental Europe. As cities like London developed at breakneck speed, guilds sprouted out of the woodwork to control and organize every facet of English commerce.

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The Guildhall of London -

The oldest functioning government body in the world, London's Court of Commons, was established in 1273 in the Guildhall of London, and originally acted as a tax collectors' guild. In total, 110 guilds, some almost a millennium old, survive in London to this day.

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The guilds of medieval Paris -

Guilds in the French capital were just as powerful as any other European guilds, until the late 1600s when France's commerce was centralized under Louis XIV. It is commonly thought that Louis XIV saw the power and wealth of French guilds and the centralization of power as a way of redirecting that wealth to himself and his court.

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Guilds in the Renaissance -

Guilds remained firmly intact and in control of metropolitan commerce well into the Renaissance period, even while the world's first capitalists were developing cottage economies in rural areas outside of the influence of the cities' guilds.

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The Guilds of Florence -

Most important of all were the Guilds of Florence. These guilds were separated into three sections: the Arti Maggiori, Arti Mediane, and Arti Minori. The seven "greater" guilds were those that held legal jurisdiction over the others, such as judges and notaries. Quality control was the primary object of these Renaissance guilds, and even the slightest infraction could cost an artisan membership. By this time, guild members were comfortably settled in the middle class of society, while other laborers such as weavers and sailors were forbidden to form guilds for themselves.

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From guilds to unions -

While many guilds still operate to this day, both in the name of tradition and functionality, they have steadily split away from their working-class roots since the dawn of the Middle Ages. A new system was needed for the new working class that was birthed from the Industrial Revolution. For thousands of years, guilds carried the torch of workers' rights, but that duty has been passed to the hands of the unions of today and tomorrow, which can better protect and represent the rights of the working class.

Sources: (Britannica) (Economic History Association) (World History Encyclopedia)

See also: A global history of labor unions

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