dom for the lower classes; there was also the gradual formation of political institutions, fostered by associations 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 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 ultimate triumph is with them.

§ 72. In the Danish towns no exclusive right of special families to rule seems to have sprung from the gilds. The towns were smaller, and the gild 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 were, moreover, less independent than elsewhere.

$73. These gilds continued to exist in Denmark until the Reformation, which shook the whole system of gilds, 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 other places. But when the political and religious objects of these gilds disappeared, nothing remained but their social gatherings, and gradually they became archer-gilds, and amused 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-gilds.

$74. The origin of craft-gilds, 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 burgher-gilds, or at least to obtain a share in the government side by side with those gilds; this shows that they already possessed considerable organisation, and wielded an immense power.

$75. The population of the town early in the eleventh century consisted of (1) courtiers, ecclesiastics, and officials; (2) the old freemen, or burghers; and (3) villeiris or bondmen, 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 of 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.

§ 76. The handicraftsmen of the towns sprang chiefly from this latter class; but these were of two kinds; the first were bondmen, 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 citizengilds, 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 have thrown in their lot with them.

§ 77. The majority of the old freemen were able to preserve their privileges of rank over the bond handicraftsmen; their citizen-gilds gave them legal protection, and numerous benefits and advantages in all matters appertaining to trade; they enjoyed perfect freedom of trade in the towns, 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.

§ 78. The bond handicraftsmen, on the other hand, and all who were not full citizens and 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 of carrying on trade, and to pay by various burdens and imposts, for the privilege of using the market-place for the sale of their wares.

$79. 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-gilds. During the time that a portion of the craftsmen were in a state of organised bondage, and the other part remained free, there was little chance for the development of free organisation, but as the whole class became freed from villenage so there were developed those institutions subsequently called craft-gilds, which,

it is stated on reliable authority, 'did not spring from subjection and dependence; they originated in the freedom of the handicraft class.'

§ 80. The expulsion of the free-handicraftsmen from the full-citizens' gilds, placed them 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 confederated into gilds for mutual resistance against aggression, and for the protection of their 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 even restricted to the bondmen, but extended also to the free handicraftsmen who were made to pay imports; and 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.

§ 81. The constitution of the craft-gilds was analogous to that of the older gilds, which served as their model; they were only altered in so far as the peculiar wants of

the handicraftsmen rendered the change necessary for the protection of their industry, and the maintenance of their rights.

This

§ 82. The weavers were the first to institute the craftgild; they formed a kind of middle class between the patricians and the bond craftsmen; they were distinguished above all others by wealth, self-respect, and their 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. naturally invested them with greater importance, and hence their unions enjoyed the greatest independence. In all towns they stood at the head of the craftsmen, and in all the contests of the handicraft class with the patricians and merchan's for political freedom and power, the struggles and the victories were those of the weavers. In all the chief manufacturing towns of that time, the most ancient gilds were those of the weavers, they existed in England, Flanders, Brabant, and the Rhenish Provinces. The gilds of the London weavers, and also that of the Oxford weavers, were chartered by Henry I.; and in the reign of Henry II. the weavers' gilds which existed at Nottingham, York, Huntingdon, Lincoln, and Winchester, were confirmed by the king. Thus early in the twelfth century the craft-gilds of the weavers were firmly established and chartered by the Crown.

§ 83. On the Continent they were scarcely less powerful; there was a wool-weavers' gild at Cologne as early as the eleventh century, the oldest German charter being that of the Cologne weavers' gild. In 1149 the pillowcase weavers' formed a fraternity, with the consent of the judges, sheriffs, and aldermen, and thenceforth all who wished to carry on trade within the town were obliged to join and submit to its rules. The record proves that this union of handicraftsmen had existed