DECLINE OF THE GUILDS. The guilds were strictly local institutions, working (or a local market, and their monopoly was a local monop oly. The commercial progress which followed the era of discovery reacted upon the industrial or ganization. It offered a wider market than had heretofore been known, and encouraged production upon a large scale, to which the guild system was inherently antagonistic. It was necessary that either the guilds should abandon their policy of exclusiveness and restriction, or that industry should be transferred to new centres, where guild regulations had no force. In England these things occurred. In some of the older towns great inroads were made in the industrial privileges of the organized masters. Where custom and tradi tion stubbornly resisted such innovations, towns gradually sank in importance. On the other hand, in the north of England, even before the utilization of coal in modern production, new towns and industrial centres arose where the guilds had no sway. On the Continent of Europe the system lost its vigor in the latter half of the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth cen tury, owing to the general development of modern industry.
Guir.ns, MUSICAL. With the decline of the troubadours and the passing of music from the aristocratic minnesingers to the civic meister singers, a corresponding change took place in the attitude of the general public toward musicians. Instead of being faed and praised they were now looked upon as mere hirelings, whose morals were doubtful, and who deserved little consideration and no civil privileges. In self-defense, therefore, the minstrels, jongleurs, and itinerant musicians banded themselves together into guilds. These organizations, which differed little from the com mercial guilds, were recognized by the King or by the local authorities, and the members ad mitted to certain privileges within the territory governed by their guild. Although the guilds of different countries had certain distinguishing features, the general plan was the same, the authority being vested in a king or warden, and a board of control, who arbitrated any disputes between the members. The first musical guild of
which we have record was the 'Nikolaibrilder schaft,' which was organized in 1288. Soon after the musicians of Strassburg founded the 'Bruder schaft der Kronen,' and about the fume time the famous `Confr6ries de Saint Julien des Mc'a& triers' came into prominence in Paris. This let ter guild acquired wide influence, even requiring all music-teachers and organists to belong to it. and was abolished only in 1773. In England the 'Musician's Company of the City of London' was formed in 1472, and incorporated by .James I. in 1604 as the 'Worshipful Company of Mu sicians.' The regulations and privileges of this guild are representative of the general character of musical guilds. It was given exclusive rights. "All musicians and dancing-masters playing for hire in the City of London are obliged to take their freedom thereof in the Company of Musicians only." As every musician had to pay £1 12s. to the company for the freedom of the city, and as binding an apprentice cost £1 10s. 2d., it will be seen how the Worshipful Company quickly acquired considerable power. Every member was further obliged to take an oath swearing loyalty to the King and city, and prom ising to be "obedient unto the Master and War dens of the Art or Science of Musicians of Lon don, for the time being, in all things concerning the same Art and Science." Instrument-makers fared badly in the Middle Ages. For the most part they were compelled to join nearly allied guilds, but in France and Belgium a number of separate instrument - makers' societies were formed. The most important of these was the "Corporation des joueurs, faiseurs d'instruments de musique et mattres de dense," established in 1454 at Rouen. See HANSEATIC LEAGUE. Con sult: Gross, Gild Merchant (Oxford, 1890) ; Seligman, Mediwval Guilds (Baltimore, 1887) ; Saint Martin, Historie des corporations de mI.1 tiers (Paris, 1897) ; and Le eompagnonnage (Paris, 1901).