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5 - Guild theory and guild organization in France and Germany during the nineteenth century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2009

Heinz-Gerhard Haupt
Affiliation:
Professor of History Universität Bielefeld
Mark Bevir
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Frank Trentmann
Affiliation:
Birkbeck College, University of London
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Summary

Hardly any institution of old Europe called the principles of the free market into question to such an extent as the guilds. In most early modern European cities and rural areas alike, master artisans and retail traders associated in order to control the quality, quantity and exchange of commodities, and in order to limit access to the labour market to a select circle of persons who were either specially trained or provided with special certificates. The guilds produced a balance between the guarantee of income and ‘food’ for the master artisans and the needs of the population for sufficient provision, which was often precarious. Consequently, the access to the urban market of producers and service providers was limited to guild members, who rarely yielded to the pressure of municipal authorities or admitted outsiders into their ranks. Their most important goals were the protection against commodities produced outside the guilds, which were stopped at the gates of the city, and the maintenance of the social exclusivity and monopoly of the master artisans and principals of the guilds. These influential persons controlled both the market of commodities and the labour market. They limited the number of journeymen and apprentices, and subjected these groups to strict qualification standards and a particular cursus honorum, which, if the professional training was successful, culminated in the degree of ‘master’.

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Markets in Historical Contexts
Ideas and Politics in the Modern World
, pp. 90 - 104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

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