The Albury MS. THE AMALGAMATED GUILD OF ... - RoseCroix.org.au

In the Imperial Municipalities of Germany these guilds in the middle
ages were apt to give a good deal of trouble, and became sufficiently
numerous and influential to interfere with the local administration. The
patricians (Geschlecter), to counteract this inconvenience, sought
admission into these guilds, in order to obtain influence in the
individual communities; but from time to time the majority or plebeian
class rebelled, got rid of the intrusive patricians, and created riots,
sometimes seizing the reins of the municipal Government: thereupon
the emperor would despatch a Sendgraf to examine into the causes of
the disturbance, hear complaints, and remedy any evil or redress any
grievance, and the same appears to have occurred occasionally in
England.
In the trading guilds of the Italian republics of the middle ages, the
same disturbances arose from the members attempting an undue
influence in the corporate government of the municipality, for the
guilds were in corporate, or mere voluntary societies. The building
trade being the most important, and necessarily working in
combination, led to their historical prominence; in fact, these societies
resembled in their conduct the trades' unions of the present age,
striking for wages, and com bining to keep up prices, which led to the
laws against was the illegal combinations of workmen, to the
detriment of the employers and the public; so that, in fact, the same
state of things is occurring now which occurred 400 years ago,
although in a slightly different form, in accordance with the usages of
the country at that time. Subsequently to Edward III., the English
guilds-previously to that epoch mere voluntary societies without
definite legal status, under the Saxon name of " Gilden"-became
treatures of the State in virtue of their chartered rights, with
considerable power of internal government, whereas the trades' unions
are still voluntary assemblies not reconized by the law; but that king,
perceiving the advantage which would accrue to the State by the
regulation of the trading communities, resolved to raise them into
importance. To which end he confirmed by Royal Charter the
.privileges they had till then enjoyed on sufferance only, and, to give
them greater weight, he even became himself a member of the Linen
Armourers, now the Merchant Tailors' Company. Their denomination
was crafts and mysteries[This word is not derived from the Greek,
meaning a religious rite, but from the French for a handicraft.]
(mestiere, in modern French metier). The nobility and gentry, lay and
clerical, followed his example. Nevertheless the incorporation was not
plenary, they had no common seal, could neither sue nor be sued, nor
hold lands in mortmain. Their chief officer was no longer termed
alderman, but master or warden, as head of a ward. They also