Guild regulations

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Since the appearance of the guilds in the early Middle Ages, the statutes and regulations of a craft guild have been put into writing in the guild regulations . It comprised, starting with the entry requirements , the description of the guild organs and the trade mark , the training with apprenticeship, wandering, journeyman years, guild servant (journeyman), professional practice, obtaining the master's degree, guild court and assessor, general meeting, penalties for offenses within the guild , Competition regulations, hazard prevention, customer protection, economic activity, social security, guild harmony and morality. In many places the guild was compulsory , i. H. whoever wanted to practice a certain craft had to join the relevant guild and observe its statutes. The guild regulations described exactly what work a member of his guild was allowed to do and what not. As a result, the system became very rigid, because it closed itself off to any innovation due to considerations of protecting one's own business.

The purpose of founding a guild was to better exercise the rights of craftsmen vis-à-vis the (long-distance) merchants , who often formed the town council . It was about participation in power and therefore often led to inner-city conflicts. The establishment of a guild required the approval of the council (if necessary, enforced) and was guaranteed and regulated in a guild letter. Guild letter can also mean proof for an individual that he belongs to a certain guild and shares his rights and obligations.

The guild regulations differed considerably from place to place and from profession to profession. For example, the redsmiths (brass foundries) in Nuremberg, a specialty there, had a strictly monitored guild order that was only valid in Nuremberg. Brass casting was then not considered a free art, but a strict craft and was treated accordingly. The redsmiths guild regulation stipulated four years of apprenticeship and six years of journeyman, the number of apprentices and servants (journeymen) was limited, years of travel were prohibited - for reasons of confidentiality. The type and number of masterpieces to be made were also laid down in it.

A guild order could develop up to the level of a constitution , like the Brunsche guild constitution in Zurich . The guild regulations disappeared with the guilds at the end of the 18th century. Today we can still find guild regulations in carnival clubs .

See also

literature

  • General guild regulations for all people in which the Hochfürstlich-Baden-Badischen Landen resident artists, professionalists and craftsmen . Rastatt 1769 ( digitized version )
  • Berent Schwineköper (Ed.): Guilds and guilds. Commercial and industrial cooperatives in the early and high Middle Ages . Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1985, ISBN 3-7995-6629-5 .
  • Knut Schulz : Crafts, guilds and trades. Middle Ages and Renaissance. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2010, ISBN 978-3-534-20590-5 .
  • Ulrich Grun : Anno 1683 - The stonemasons in the Duchy of Westphalia receive a new guild order, in: Soest District (Hrsg.): Calendar of the Soest District, Soest 1994, ZDB -ID 619151-4, pp. 43–45 (including a copy of the original Guild regulations)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Guild regulations of the Rotschmiede in Nuremberg ( memento of July 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) at www.kubiss.de
  2. ^ Brunsche Guild Constitution in Zurich .
  3. ↑ Martin Illi: Brun'sche guild revolution. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .