dignitaries and officers, including members of Parliament, was transferred from the ward-representatives to the trading-companies." In the following year the number of the companies which took part in the election had increased from thirty-two to forty-eight.

§ 25. After the ordinance under Ed. II., all the citizens of London were obliged to belong to some trade-guild; and it is probable that the old burghers and members of the ruling families entered into some of the richer and more extensive guilds, from which, in later times, sprang the so-called twelve great companies, in which they pursued, in new forms, their old political and industrial interests. Towards the end of the reign of Ed. III. the separation of the richer companies from the poorer ones may be observed; they had then gained such paramount influence in the Common Council that from this time dates the still existing custom of choosing the Mayor of London exclusively from them. Here, as elsewhere, the power ultimately remained in the hands of the old burghers and richer families. Augmented, as they now were, by merchants and traders, even the term craftsmen appears to have lost its original significance; admission to the town-guild or merchant-guild was so restricted that the hand-worker was henceforward practically excluded. These, therefore, had to form new associations, in the shape of craft-guilds, and to fight over again the old battles, against even greater odds; for a combination had been effected between the two factions which hitherto had contended for the supreme or sole authority.

$ 26. Among the most powerful of those old merchantguilds was the grocers, sixteen of whose members were aldermen of the City, and, in 1385, they carried the election of Sir Nicholas Brembre as mayor, for two successive years, against all the rest of the citizens.

§ 27. In the time of Hen. VI. the victory of the craftsmen was pretty general throughout England, for about this time the sovereigns began to recognise the constitution and liberties of the towns, in other ways than by confirming their guild, for "they granted to the men of the town or burgh a corporate and perpetual community."

§ 28. The trade-guilds, whose rise the old City authorities had tried to suppress, obtained the victory here as on the Continent, and at about the same time. The struggle was not so severe in England as on the Continent, for in the former case the ruling classes never obtained the same complete ascendency and power. In England, the rich never had attained the full mastery in the towns, their tendency being to live on their estates. Moreover, the ties between the sovereign and the towns were stronger here than on the Continent, and the caste feeling was never so great in Britain as with the nobility elsewhere; there was also greater freedom for the lower classes, and there had been the gradual formation of political institutions, fostered by associations of one kind and another, according to the relative social power and interests of the different classes. These circumstances combined tended greatly to ward off the bloody revolutions which exhibited themselves on the Continent of Europe. But as the race is not always with the swift, nor the battle with the strong, so in these contests the victory did not permanently remain with the victors. These earlier craftsmen failed in the one great quality of persistence. They fought, they won; but they did not maintain their vantage ground. It is the same to-day, they fight and win, but the triumph is usually with the conquered.

§ 29. In the Danish towns no exclusive right of special families to rule seems to have sprung from the guilds. The towns were smaller, and the guild did not appear as a close circle of families, combating for precedence; and as commerce was there of less importance, no very great difference arose between the merchants and craftsmen in point of fortune. These towns, however, were less independent than elsewhere on the Continent.

§ 30. These guilds continued to exist in Denmark until the Reformation, which shook the whole system of guilds everywhere, and caused most of them to cease on account of their connection with the Catholic Church. At a later period some were re-established, especially in Flensburg, Copenhagen, and some other places. But when the political and religious objects of these guilds disappeared, nothing remained but their social

gatherings, and gradually these became mere archer-guilds, the members amusing themselves at archery. In Germany, too, where they continued to exist, they sank into political insignificance, the only remaining advantage being the right of receiving some assistance from the funds, in certain emergencies of life.

PART IV.CRAFT-GUILDS.

§ 1. The exact origin of craft-guilds, like other early institutions, is necessarily obscure; it is clear, however, that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they had managed to wrest the government of the towns from the hands of the old burgherguilds, or at least to obtain a share in the town government, side by side with those guilds. This shows that they already possessed considerable organisation, and wielded an immense power.

§ 2. The population of the chief towns, early in the eleventh century, consisted of (1) courtiers, ecclesiastics, and officials; (2) the old freemen, or burghers; and (3) villeins or bondsmen, who subsequently developed into handicraftsmen. There can be no doubt but that villenage was general in England, not only in the country districts or manors, but in the towns also, although in the latter it would differ materially from that in vogue in the former. Professor Stubbs says, as originally all towns were in demesne of some lord, bishop, or king, all inhabitants would be less than free, until the town was freed by charter." The villeins were obliged to render common service to the lord, or bishop, either as coloni (villeins on country manors), or as operarii (handicraftsmen); but in either case their bondage was exceedingly mild.

§ 3. The handicraftsmen of the towns sprang chiefly from this latter class. These were of two kinds. First the bondsmen, who had to pay certain taxes, and perform certain feudal services and labours for their lords, and were subject to official supervision by officers appointed by them. But besides these there was a considerable number of free handicraftsmen who, probably, in earlier times belonged to the full body of citizens,

and possessed the full privileges of the citizen-guilds, but who, from various causes, may have lost these rights, and thereafter, either from necessity or choice, have become attached to those who formed essentially the handicraft class, and had thrown in their lot with them.

§ 4. The majority of the old freemen were able to preserve their privileges of rank over the bond handicraftsmen; their citizen-guilds gave them legal protection, and numerous benefits and advantages in all matters appertaining to trade; they enjoyed perfect freedom of trade in the towns; and they had the privilege of the free use of the market halls and other institutions, established for buying and selling their merchandise, or the produce of their labours.

§ 5. The bond handicraftsmen, on the other hand, and all who were not full citizens, and all foreigners, were entirely under the orders of the lords, bishops, burgraves, or citizens, in all trade matters, and as to legal protection they simply stood in the position of clients. They had to purchase from the lords of the towns the right to carry on trade, and to pay, by various burdens and imposts, for the privilege of using the market-place for the sale of their wares.

§ 6. The villeins, or handicraftsmen, were formed into unions or societies; these were ranged according to the kind of services which they had to render. Those who did not work as handicraftsmen served on the estates, under the superintendence and jurisdiction of a kind of local overlooker; while the handicraftsmen served under a more general officer who was entitled president. From these societies, or incipient unions, ultimately arose the craft-guilds. During the time that a portion of the craftsmen were in this state of organised bondage, and the other part remained free, there was little chance for the development of free organisation; as the whole class became freed from villenage, there developed those institutions subsequently called craft-guilds, which, as stated on reliable authority, "did not spring from subjection and dependence, but originated in the freedom of the handicraft class."

§ 7. The expulsion of the free handicraftsmen from the fullcitizens'-guilds, placed those men in the same relative position

with regard to merchants and traders, as these had formerly occupied with respect to the barons and others, when the freemen first confederated into guilds for mutual resistance against aggression, and for the protection of individual rights. The citizens having established their own independence, and secured their own privileges, now sought to keep the handicraftsmen in a kind of subjection and dependence, and having the markets and trade matters generally in their hands they were able to take measures which injuriously affected the workmen. These efforts of the burgher citizens were not restricted to the bondsmen, but extended also to the free handicraftsmen who were made to pay imposts; and even foreigners were permitted to carry on trade, on payment of fees, to the injury of the interests of the native craftsmen. As in the earlier times the old freemen combined for the maintenance of their personal liberty, and the preservation of their freeholds and other property, so now the struggle of the craftsmen was for the purpose of protecting their independence and earnings, their stock-in-trade, and their labour. While they remained isolated they were weak, and, being at the mercy of their oppressors, they would have been compelled to succumb to the difficulties by which they were surrounded. Under these circumstances there arose a necessity for an organisation of the craftsmen similar to that of the freemen in earlier times.

§ 8. The constitution of the craft-guilds was analogous to that of the older guilds, which, indeed, served as their model; they were altered only in so far as the peculiar wants of the handicraftsmen rendered a change necessary for the protection of their industry, and the maintenance of their rights, under the newer conditions of trade.

§ 9. The weavers were the first to institute the craft-guild; they formed a kind of middle class between the patricians and the bond craftsmen; they were distinguished above all others by their wealth, self-respect, and love of freedom. Whilst the other crafts worked merely to supply local wants, the weavers found markets for their wares in the most distant countries. This naturally invested them with greater importance, and hence their unions enjoyed the fullest independence. In all