Guild of furriers (Basel)

EE guild of furriers
purpose	guild
Chair:	Willi Rühl (master)
Establishment date:	before 1226
Number of members:	144
Seat :	Basel
Website:	www.kuerschner-basel.ch

The Basel guild of furriers is the guild of furriers there .

History

Coat of arms of the furrier guild Basel (16th or 17th century)

On September 22nd, 1226, Bishop Heinrich von Thun - one year after the document about the construction of the Middle Rhine Bridge - issued the foundation letter of the Basel guild to furriers : “This happened in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord in 1226 on the 10th day before the calendar of October ".

With this oldest, known and preserved guild letter in the area of ​​the Swiss Confederation, the bishop approved the order established “in honor and benefit” of our city, which the furriers have established for the operation of their craft. She begins:

“Heinrich, by the grace of God, Bishop of Basel, to all believers in Christ who see the present letter, forever. Everyone may know that, with the advice and consent of Provost Diethelm, Dean Conrad and our entire chapter, as well as the servants of our church, at the request of the Basel furriers, we recently asked them to benefit and honor our city in terms of their craft have approved an established order so that they, everyone in his work, the new maker in the new, the old mending in the old, better buy, sell and work in form or material and that neither another person nor one of their craft should be permitted to break their order in buying or selling what is recognized to be their craft. [...] "

The newly arriving furrier journeyman had to stop at the "Schwanen" for centuries. In the hostel for furriersmen there was a "panel" with the names of the masters who were looking for a journeyman. In the conflicts that arose between mastery and society, the masters who could be sure of the support of the authorities remained successful in the fundamental questions, as elsewhere. In an order approved by the council in 1421, the servants had to vow “to negotiate nothing in their society without the presence of a guild master or the six-man delegated to him. Furthermore, they were obliged to summon all Fronvasten before the guild the new agreements. "It was not until 1435 they were liberated from this oppressive obligation advice and guild were content henceforth with the annual vow to St. John .

In later times, the furrier guild regarded it as "a beautiful and honorable civic duty" to support non-profit and artistic companies in the interests of the community "with well-known donations from the guild donation". In 1837 she made a contribution to the Neue Spital, in 1853 she participated in the municipal gas loan, donated to the establishment of the toddler schools and the establishment of the music school, in 1855 donated a sum for the newly painted windows in the Basel Minster and donated contributions to the Winkelried monument in stand and the new St. Jacob's monument . In 1866 it was decided for the first time to regularly use one thousand francs from the annual interest, partly for general charitable purposes, partly to support poor guild members with food, wood and rent. After just a few years, these annual expenditures tripled.

EE Zunft zu Kürschnern is a public corporation of the city of Basel and one of the numerous Basel craft guilds. It is the historical association of furriers, but today it is open to all professions. For a long time it was associated with the tailors' guild as a so-called double guild .

literature

• Paul Kölner : The furriers' guild in Basel 1226–1926 . Basel 1926 → book cover and table of contents

Web links

Commons : Kürschner in Basel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Guild website
• Portrait at the community of Basel

annotation

1. ↑ EE stands for one honor .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Foundation letter of the furrier guild Basel 1226 (illustration).
2. ^ Paul Kölner : The furrier guild of Basel 1226-1926 . P. 38.
3. ↑ Francke, pp. 22-23.
4. ↑ Francke, p. 32.