Guild

In the Middle Ages, a guild (from the Old Norse gildi "cooperative", "drinking party") in the narrower sense was a self-interested association of merchants (patricians) of a town or a group of travelling merchants, sealed by an oath, for the protection and promotion of common interests. In a broader sense, the term also covered craftsmen's cooperatives. However, these are primarily referred to as guilds to distinguish them from merchant associations. In some European languages, however, the word "guild" is also used in contexts that can apparently mean guilds as well as guilds, as in the English guild, which can also refer to an artists' guild. In Romance languages, such as Italian, a distinction is made between the arti maggiori and the arti minori for such associations of the 13th to 15th centuries.

The first guilds were documented in the area of today's France in the 8th century. The first mention of guilds on German soil was in Henry I's so-called Burgenordnung (926). In contrast to the later merchants' guilds and craftsmen's guilds, these early fraternal associations did not yet have a profession-specific character. They promised their members protection and help in all areas of life. This essentially included the security of the transport of goods, mutual support in cases of misfortune as well as the communal cultivation of religiousness (= Kalandsgilde). Over time, the guilds developed into trading monopolies in the respective cities, and they even formed their own trading areas. As a result, the guilds increasingly gained political influence, sometimes managing to control individual cities politically. In Italy, an exceptionally good example of this is the Medici family, which gradually brought the city republic of Florence under its control. In Germany, the Fugger and Welser families in Augsburg and Nuremberg had similar influence.

One of the most important long-distance trade guilds in Europe in the Middle Ages was the Hanseatic League, which eventually developed into a powerful confederation of cities in the middle of the 14th century.

In addition to the merchants' and craftsmen's guilds, there were also, but rather more rarely, the so-called mercenaries' guilds or warriors' guilds, which acted according to the same principles of the guilds/guilds. These offered security against payment, i.e. the guild was asked for protection by merchants or wealthy/nobles for a limited period of time, e.g. during a journey. If a mercenary died during a mission, the guild took care of the surviving family.