The Guilds

My grandfather Joseph was a carpenter, he was one of those workers that would do the job and forget about collecting the payment, while my grandmother needed to remind him, and the client, about the money that was owed...he was very tall,- "Alt com un Sant Pau" -( tall like a Saint named Paul) , goes the saying in catalan, and I have very nice memories of him telling us stories he would make up by himself,  like going fishing and bringing home a big cod-fish just that day early in the morning, etc...we adored him.

But what I wanted to talk about is the guilds (gremis),  that were still on place when my grandfather lived in Barcelona, there were different streets named after the particular guild and the craftsmen would gather in that area of town, my grandfather used to work in the immediacy of "Perot lo LLadre", a narrow street in the old part of town.

Thinking about all this I was considering that perhaps one way to start could be to emulate those settlements of workers, now identified perhaps by single family units, where each one  would produce their own gardens and live-stock but especialize in some trade to bring to the rest of the "village". This way for example, following too the way Amish have their business, one farm could be specializing in goat milk, another in maple syrup, another in wool, cheese producers, pigs, carpentry, etc...The children in the family, once coming of appropiate age, could also then go to the apprenticeship programs in the other farms of the "village", maintaining a structure of workmanship and skills through generations, and providing ample opportunities for community work and help between villagers.

 I found a blog that describes the way of the guilds in Barcelona, on medieval times, and  I translated some parts in the following paragraphs. http://blogs.sapiens.cat/socialsenxarxa/2010/08/30/els-gremis-a-la-barcelona-medieval/

The medieval citizens gained their bread with craftmanship work. The work was able to be done in workshops or little spaces, at the entrance of the house or sometimes even in the street.

The ones that worked in the same trade started to join in the same areas of town, and it was such a characteristic of the street that eventually even the name of the street had become that particular trade. In the Ribera neighborhood you could find the Goldsmiths, Mirror makers, Wool Carders, Rope makers, Hat Makers, Wool eveners, amongst others. Around the Cathedral, which was the center of the medieval city, we could still found nowadays: Knive Makers, Book Makers, Pot Makers.  ("Argenters, Mirallers, Carders, Corders, Sombrerers o Abaixadors, Dagueria, Llibreteria o Ollers")

In medieval times the crafstmen were called ministeralis, and they would group into trades corporations that in S. XIV would transform into guilds. These organizations would take care of the education of the craftsmen and would defend their economical and political interests, as well as exercise control in the surplus of production and the labeling of prices.  

Gremi/ Guild name	kind of work
Abaixadors	To make even the wool hair with big scissors
Apotecaris	Preparing and selling of medecines
Bastaixos de capçana	Carrying bulks on top of their heads
Calafats	Carpenters that built boats
Cervellers	Making of iron helmets
Daguers	Making of knives and short swords
Estorers	Making of carpets and/or selling
Fustaniers	Weavers of cotton pillow cases
Garbelladors	Working with cereals for others
Hortolans	Working in the garden
Llogaters de mula	Renting donkeys or other carrying animals
Manescals	Taking care of the health of animals
Pedrenyalers	Making short pistols
Rosariers	Making and selling of rosaries
Sellers	Making and mending of saddles and other horse riding elements
Tapiners	Making sandals for women
Velers	Making and selling of veils
Xocolaters	Making and selling of chocolate

Each corporation had its own confraternity, which was religious in character and with social and benefactorial functions, with a saint that would represent each one of the confraternities. They would help those ones in need, the widows and the orphans.

The master would work at home, with the help of wife and children, and if the business was prospering he may have had an outside worker, either payed or slave, and some apprentices.

The guilds were a work association, and they were then juridical persons with right to property and debt, each guild was different due to its own nature, structure, function and goals.

When a group of people that were working in the same trade would unite and form a guild, the Ordinances were elaborated, which would regulate the functioning rules, and the rights and duties of the confraternity members. The Ordinances were presented to a monarch for approval.

The Ordinances had a similar format: the firsts chapters were purely benefacto-religious in character, the commitment to be present at the feast of the patron day and not to work on that day. You were required to be present at the funeral of fellow members, and if you wanted to be exempt of it, you payed a fee which was then distributed among the poorer.

The Chapters also would state the amount of money that each one would have to pay to be members of the guild, children and women were also members, besides the regular collection of  fees done by the "llevadors".

Starting on SXV, the ordinances would include references to the quality of the products, control that was in the hands of the so-called "veedors" the seers or inspectors, masters in that particular craftsmanship.

On of the chapters was dedicated to the examination or "passantia" that the apprentice needed to obtain "oficialia", whithout that there was no permission to open a workshop. And you could not obtain the title of master unless you had a workshop and the distinctive sign or emblem that was given through heritage. There was always a commitment between the apprentice and the master, with the intervention of the father or tutor.

To enter the examination process you would have to be an apprentice for three or four years, depending on the guild, the apprentice was subjected to the regulations of the master, during work time, outside of the house time and  permission to go out of it.