Guild
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade.
The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel and a secret society. They often depended on grants of letters patent by an authority or monarch to enforce the flow of trade to their self-employed members, and to retain ownership of tools and the supply of materials. A lasting legacy of traditional guilds are the guildhalls constructed and used as meeting places. The modern patent system was set up to break the power of the guilds.
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See also
- Catholic Police Guild
- Guild of Saint Luke - Painter's Guilds
- Guild of St. Bernulphus
- Guild socialism
- Hanseatic League
- Jāti -guilds (of mediaeval origin) in India
- Timpani Guilds
- Trade union
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