Guild chest
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A guild chest , guild drawer or official drawer is understood to be a box-shaped piece of storage furniture from the former property of a guild , distinguished by lettering and / or emblems . It not only preserved their important documents and valuables, but also played a special role in their official acts and ceremonies.
In addition, the term Lade was used in the sense of a pars pro toto as a synonym for the guild , in Northern Germany also specifically for "Totenladen", the death benefit of the craftsmen, as well as for journeyman corporations ("journeyman's shop").
meaning
The guild's most important documents were safely stored in the guild chests. This included the privileges granted by the authorities , the guild books with the articles, statutes and lists of names, of course the financial assets and the seal stamps , and certainly everything else that belonged to the guild's assets, such as cups, cups ( welcome ) and pewter jugs or silver. The ark “symbolized the prestige and economic power of the handicraft, its respectability and reputation”.
Guild shops also played an important role in guild law and customs. Because of this special position, they were designed as lavishly as possible.
layout
The shops were made of higher quality woods, if possible, with carvings or marquetry , but poorer guilds and brotherhoods often had to be content with painted softwood chests. The guild coat of arms is rarely missing in the decoration. To protect against misappropriation, several masters each had a key; they could only open the multiple-security drawer together. Since the open drawer was of great importance in the ceremony, the inside of the lid was often decorated and designed. The guild chests of Styria have been typologically classified into three groups based on effort, but when looking at the whole of the German-speaking area, one will notice flowing transitions between very simple and very elaborate chest shapes.
The guild chest in customs and law
The guild drawer played a very special role at the guilds' meetings, because they dealt with all important community matters and thus acted as the “most important organ of the guilds”.
At the guild meetings, where a certain seating arrangement prevailed, the guild drawer brought from the house of the guild board was opened in a solemn ceremony at the beginning of the meeting. On special occasions she stood between burning candles. As long as the chest was open, no drink had to be taken, any wrong word was strictly forbidden, as well as card and dice games, and the weapons had to be put down. As soon as the drawer was unlocked, the session had “strength and power”, and closing the drawer meant the interruption or termination of the final meeting. With the drawer open, all essential matters of the guild were dealt with. Before her the apprentice was absolved, the journeyman made a master and disputes settled.
Storage of the guild drawer
The guild chest was usually kept in the guild master's house or in the guild house. If the guild chest was kept in the guild master's house, it had to be carried into his house after each installation of a new guild master. This rite was called “ladum carrying”. Since the guilds only disbanded a few decades before collections of antiquities and museums came into being, a relatively large number of guild shops, most of which can be easily identified through inscriptions and coats of arms, have come to town and local museums, some of them via the council archives.
The hierarchical organization of the shops (guilds) in Styria
The main shops were considered a kind of superior authority in craft matters. They communicated orders, transferred them to new shops and confirmed them by issuing sealed documents.
For the erection of a quarter drawer the consent of the main drawer was required and their relatives had to follow the customs of this higher authority in their working methods. In addition, a certain amount was required of them annually, which had to be paid to the main drawer or picked up directly by the external masters. Quarter shops were originally called that because such a guild was to be set up in every district. This actual term became generalized in the course of time, because very quickly there were more than four quarter stores in one area.
In Graz, many large guilds declared themselves to be the main shop in the 17th century. The guilds in the Styrian towns and markets, which had been independent until then , sank to the level of quarter shops. The people of Graz also founded new quarter shops, so that around 1700 most of the larger businesses had an organization that spanned the entire country and centered in Graz. In 1696, however, the government forbade all guilds to set up main and quarter stores at their own discretion and to grant privileges and freedoms without authorization. However, this ban only gradually gained acceptance in the 18th century.
literature
- Bruno Brandl, Günter Creutzburg (ed.): The guild box. The handicraft from the 15th to the 19th century as reflected in literature. 2nd Edition. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1976.
- Nadja Elisabeth Istenes: Guild Chests in Styria. Styrian handicraft from 16. – 19. Century. Graz 1989 (Graz, university, diploma thesis, 1989).
- Ursula Kröper: Guild and Cooperative. A comparison of basic ideas and goals. Graz 1961 (Graz, university, dissertation, 1961).
- Johann von Leers: The History of German Crafts. A summary of the main features. Handwerker-Verlagshaus, Berlin 1940.
- Gerhard Pferschy : On the development of the social structure in Styrian craft. In: Office of the Styrian Provincial Government - Culture Department (Ed.): The Styrian Craft. Mastery as a carrier of the country's culture and economy. Catalog for the 5th state exhibition in 1970. Volume 1: Friedrich Waidacher (Red.): Handbook. Steiermärkische Landesregierung, Graz 1970, pp. 41–58.
- Fritz Popelka : History of the City of Graz. Volume 2. With the house and alley book of the suburbs on the right bank of the Mur by Hans Pirchegger . Leuschner & Lubensky, Graz 1935.
- Leopold Schmidt : guild mark. Evidence of old craftsmanship. Residenz Verlag, Salzburg 1973, ISBN 3-7017-0085-0 .
- Herbert Sinz : The craft. History, meaning, future. Econ, Düsseldorf et al. 1977, ISBN 3-430-18540-8 .
- Jochen Voigt: rite and symbol. Saxon guild shop from five centuries. Inventory catalog Dresden City Museum, Freiberg City and Mining Museum, Zwickau City Museum, Vogtland Museum Plauen. Edition Mobilis, Chemnitz 2002, ISBN 3-00-008603-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Hannes Obermair : The old tailoring trade in Bozen. In: The Sciliar . Vol. 85, No. 1, 2012, pp. 32-36, here p. 33.
- ↑ Nadja Elisabeth Istenes: Guild chests in Styria. Styrian handicraft from 16. – 19. Century. Graz 1989.