TRADE AND COMMERCE.
Trade and commerce increased in importance with the growth of cities; the latter indeed depended upon the former. The value of association was early recognized. Guilds and trades unions were established in the cities, and the larger of the cities became united in oldest of these, the " Hanseatic League," which was originally founded for the protection of commerce in the North, became a widely-recognized and important political power. It originated in 1241 in an alliance between Hamburg and Liibeck, and eventually its mem bership numbered eighty-five cities, with headquarters at Lubeck. Its final constitution was formulated at Cologne in 1364, and thenceforward it began by means of its vast merchant marine and navies to extend its supremacy over the entire North. It established factories in the larger cities of foreign countries, constructed roads and canals, cleared the seas of pirates, and labored untiringly not only to enrich industry by provid ing markets for its products, but also to establish and extend civil liberty. Similar leagues existed on the Rhine in Swabia and Franconia, but their powers were wasted in fruitless contests with the nobles.
Trade guilds, which were each composed of the mem bers of a single trade, were united into larger associations with a common constitution, under the direction of a guild-master, for purposes of busi ness and social intercourse. They strove not only for the improvement and just recognition of their trades, but also for a part in the government of the cities, which was generally monopolized by a few noble families. They jealously watched over the condition of the trades, saw that none but properly taught and tested masters exercised them, and that only good work was produced, and thus gave to the industrial classes a stand ing which has had material effects upon the course of history. In some countries even nobles and kings sought membership in the guilds, so as to share their honors and privileges.
The same combination of circumstances as that which had so great an influence upon agriculture impelled the working classes to higher endeav ors. Sprung as the mechanics were from the ranks of the serfs, their migration into the cities in no wise changed their condition. Though they could better enjoy the fruit of their labors than the farmers, still, they were not absolute owners of their property, and they were subject to many compulsory services. When the sovereign came to a city its
bakers, brewers, and butchers were obliged to entertain him and his suite, and others were compelled, without compensation, to furnish means, such as horses, vehicles, and ships, for his further travels. If a noble wished his servant to marry the daughter of a mechanic, the latter had to sub mit. Free persons alone were called burghers; children of mixed mar riages took the position of the parent of "lower rank." The long strug gle of the artisans for liberty accomplished its purpose before that of the peasantry, but the individual steps belong to history proper. We are here concerned only with the development of the trades.
The first guild was established by the fishermen of Worms in 11o6, and it was followed by that of the furriers and cloth-makers of Ouedlin burg in 1134; in the thirteenth century guilds were universal. In the middle of the fourteenth century they began their long and often bloody struggle for the attainment of their rights. In less than a century after the successful termination of that struggle they in turn became tyrannical, and oppressed others as they themselves had been oppressed. Gradually becoming matters of form, more burdensome to the individual than bene ficial to the class, they lasted throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and, after fruitless efforts at reformation, they were finally dissolved in our own times.
Artisans: the individual trades, the smiths were the first to acquire importance. In the days of Charlemagne, and even much earlier, they were highly appreciated. The most famous smithies existed in Styria, and Solingen was also renowned in early times for the same reason. Gradually the sword-cutlers formed a class distinct from the blacksmiths, locksmiths, nailsmiths, etc. As early as the twelfth century the sword-makers of the Netherlands, of Magdeburg, Strassburg, and other places, were famous for their skill. Of the armor-makers, whose importance was not fully established until the introduction of iron armor in the fifteenth century, those of Milan were the best known, but were closely followed by the armorers of Nuremberg and Augsburg. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the locksmiths elevated' their trade to the rank of an art, and bequeathed to posterity many specimens of their work which are highly valued in our museums.