What is a silver Guild?
If you read our previous post https://steemit.com/steemsilvergold/@dixiesilverminer/history-of-silversmithing
We mentioned Silversmith Guild so we thought it was a good time to talk about what is a Guild.
Guilds of silversmiths formed to mediate issues, protect its members welfare and also to educate the public about the trade. Silversmiths in medieval Europe and England formed guilds, they shared their tools, techniques and skills with the new generations following the apprentice tradition. Silver working guilds also worked to maintain consistency and instilled standards sometimes at the expense of innovation. In addition any Guild members found guilty of cheating the public would be fined or banned permanently from the guild.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/510525307729879158/
According to Wikipedia:
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild
guild /ɡɪld/ is an association composed of artisans or merchants who oversee the execution of their craft in a particular area or town. The first type of guild were formed as fraternities of tradesmen. They were organized in a way that combined current day professional associations, trade unions, cartels, and a little bit of secret society. They usually depended on grants of letters patent from a monarch or some other authority organization to enforce the trade of self-employed members, and is also allowed them to retain ownership of tools and assisted in the supply of materials. A True legacy of traditional guilds you can still see today are the guildhalls constructed and used for meeting places.
The elevated Windsor Guildhall in Windsor, England opened in 1689 was originally a meeting place for guilds, as well as magistrates' seat and town hall.
They had a type of guild in Roman times,known as a collegium, collegia or corpus, these were organized groups of artists who specialised in a particular craft and their membership in the group was voluntary. One good example is the corpus naviculariorum, which was the college of long-distance shippers based in Rome's La Ostia port. Surprisingly The Roman guilds failed to survive the collapse of the Roman Empire. Guilds were the birth of colleges.
In medieval cities, craftsmen tended to form associations based on their trades, such a as fraternities of textile workers, masons, carpenters, carvers, and glass blowers, each of whom controlled secrets of traditional techniques, of their crafts. Most commonly the founders were free independent master craftsmen who then hired their apprentices.
http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?1528331-Back-talking-know-it-all-apprentice-shows-me-this
Somewhere along the way the true roots of college grew far and now the apprenticeship programs are not nearly as hands on and informative as they used to be, some are even looked down upon. We have said it before but it is a shame that people don’t understand the true importance of craftsmanship. So go and help to spread the knowledge, pass down what you know to the younger generation however you can. Helping just one kid can change many lives. What better legacy can you leave then knowledge?
Thanks for reading and Happy Stacking!
Good read and very valid point. I’ve tried many young kids in my shop to teach them the trade. The problem is they have no interest in anything but their phone and social media now....what a shame.....:(
Maybe the more powerful Guild was the Jewellers Guild. They had the gems, precious metals and the money. They started lending money to the nobles and then created the first establishments that we now call banks.
So now we know who to blame lol
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