craft guild

Medieval guilds, which regulated craft production, clearly differed in function from trade unions, in that guilds were combinations of both masters and workers while modern unions emerged to serve workers’ interests alone. However, aspects of guild regulation—as in matters relating to apprenticeship—were incorporated into the objectives of early unionism,…

…were produced by highly skilled craftsmen who often prepared their basic raw materials, carried the product through each of the stages of manufacture, and ended with the finished product. Typically, the craftsmen spent several years at apprenticeship, learning each aspect of the trade and often designing and creating the necessary…

…town life grew more vigorous, craft guilds assumed greater importance, reaching their peak in the 14th century. Their purpose was to limit the supply of labour in a profession and to control production. Guild members were ranked according to experience: masters, journeymen, and apprentices. The guild structure started to disintegrate…

In contrast to the land-bound serfs, townspeople of the Middle Ages were free. Some engaged in commerce and formed groups known as merchant guilds. The majority, however, were small merchant-craftsmen, organized in craft guilds as masters (of highest accomplishment and status), journeymen (at…

…in the form of legal guilds, which were not autonomous or spontaneous institutions but rather subject to close state supervision. Late in the 19th century, these were joined by mutual-aid societies, which spread among the more skilled and literate craftsmen in capital cities and among Jewish artisans in the western…