received into his i^uild as a master eonipotcnt to 

 ■exei-cise his craft, for a master was a definite 

 ■degree in craftsmanship granted exactly like 

 Mastership in a University to apprentices in 

 letters. In fact, it is not too much to say that 

 the evidence to be gathered from the Univei-sities 

 iind Colleges shews that these were organised 

 npon the lines of the Trade Guilds, which were 

 older than the Universities, going back as they did 

 almost.if notqiiite.topagandays.Theconfen-ingof a 

 Mastership of Arts upon an undergraduate (who 

 after all is but an apprentice in letters) who had 

 passed the requisite examination was merely 

 another form based upon the admission of an 

 appi-entice to his degree of master workman. In 

 fjvct, the Colleges wei-e Guilds of teachers and 

 learners, organised from within on the craft-guild 

 system. So a master mason or master baker stood 

 with the master of letters or of physic ; his fun-ed 

 robe and distinctive cap marked his mastership in 

 his ci-aft exactly as the gown and hood marked 

 that of the clerk in holy ordei-s or the physician. Our 

 word "Mister" to this day does not mean employer 

 but gi-adiL'ite of a Guild, but the two meanings 

 came together.'as only a master, a gi-aduate of a 

 Guild, coiild be an employer. The word is only 

 used in reference to an employer to-day because 

 it was conferred upon the employer in the Middle 

 Ages, who was of necessity a master craftsman. 

 An important fact to be borne in mind in 

 <X)nsidering the excellence of nicdisDval workman- 

 ship is that ci-aft industry through its organised 

 Ixuilds claimed and ^\on an honoui-able place in 

 the life of the citizen. The craftsman was proud 

 of his shop, proud of his Guild, proud of his city. 

 He prided himself on his tools in the same way as 

 a Knight prided himself on his sword, his order 

 and his castle. It was the ambition of some work- 

 men to set themselves to gain grants of arms for 

 their guilds — a high distinction injthe Middle Ages 

 — and when obtained they had these arms engi-aved 

 on their tombs and on the tombs of members of 

 their family. It is difficult for any of us to 

 realise the aii-s which a craftsman of London and 

 other big cities gave himself. He was part 

 owner of the City, and in London a craftsman's 

 ideal in the Middle Ages was to mould the City 

 into a free Republic on the Italian model. A 

 craftsman would not have allowed a lord or a 

 member of the aristocracy in his Guild, and his 

 instincts set him against the handling of goods 

 for profit or brokei-age. His pride was in his 

 skill. Carpenters tended to lead in the houses 

 erected for members of the aristocracy. Masons 

 tended to lead in the construction of chiu-ches, 

 and while no doubt an employer had a consider- 

 able say in the woi-k, and some employei-s laid 

 down the lines of their abbeys and castles very 

 closely, a great deal was left to the ci-aftsmen, 

 acting under the general direction of the master 

 mason or master carpenter who was in general 

 control of the work, he toeing what we sho\dd 

 to-day descrilK* as the architect of the work, with 

 the advantage that he was highly skilled in the 

 use of the tools appei-taining tothe particular craft 

 to which he belonged. In works of great impor- 

 tance like a Cathc'lral or a royal work an agent 

 was possibly appointed to i*epresent the employer 



as keeper or co-koeper of the work ; or when such 

 a work as a Cathedral was going forward there 

 would be employed a resident master mason, or it 

 might be a master carpenter. The title Abbey 

 Mason at Westminster continued till the nine- 

 teenth century when it was changed to that of 

 Clerk of Works and it is highly probable that there 

 had been an unbroken succession of masons in 

 charge of Westminster Abbey from the time when 

 Henry III. began the work. 



Of course, there were cases where some mason 

 or carpenter was recognised as a great master and 

 could not be induced to devote his whole time 

 and energies to a particular work. A ci-aftsman 

 of this order possessing special qualifications 

 would advise, by consultation and by means of 

 rough patterns, the resident master mason or 

 master carpenter working under his advice. 

 Generally, however, the whole work was done bj* 

 each ci-aftsman bringing his skill to bear upon his 

 particular craft under the direction of a crafts- 

 man skilled in that trade which formed the 

 gi-eater part of the work in question, who con- 

 trived to work in one harmonious whole the best 

 that skilled workmen in each ci-aft could devise. 

 Work, in fact, was done so as to take advantage 

 of the special material to hand. It was a true 

 evolution, hence comes the vital interest of old 

 builded work ; it was as natural as a honey-comb 

 or a bird's nest. The thought was close to the 

 act. The design was not, as it so often is to-day, 

 a mere exercise — a sort of Chinese puzzle. It was 

 not an application of a mere theoretical idea. It 

 was ]U£t doing the work as it ought to be done 

 according to the ci-aft of masoniy or according to 

 the craft of the particular trade. 



The origin of the Trade Guilds has been the 

 subject of considerable controversy, but however 

 obscure and doubtful their origin of one thing we 

 may be certain ; they did not spring from sub- 

 jection and dependence. They originated in the 

 freedom of the handici-aft class. The oldest, most 

 i-eliable, and detailed accounts which we have of 

 Guilds consists of those G\uld statutes, the dmwing 

 up of which took plaoe in the Ijeginning of the 

 eleventh centiu^''. The object of these statutes 

 appeai-s to have been the support and mussing of 

 infirm Guild Brothers, the burial of the dead, the 

 performance of religious services, and the saying 

 of pi-ayers for their souls. The essence of the 

 manifold regulations of th e original statutes 

 appears to be the brotherly banding together into 

 close miion between man and man, some times 

 established and foi'tified by oath, for the purpose 

 of mutual help and support. This essential 

 characteristic is foiuid in all the Guilds of every 

 age, from the earliest known to ns in detail to 

 their descendants of the present day, the Trade 

 Unions. In Anglo-Saxon times Guilds enjoyed 

 such authority in the country that their iiUes 

 bound even non-members, and Tontu Constitutions 

 were developed from them. Every combination 

 of men was formed on the Guild basis. Thus there 

 were Guilds for the preservation of the peace of a 

 district called Frith Guilds.then followed Religious 

 (or social) Guilils, then Town Guilds or Guild 

 Merchants, then Craft Guilds, and, finally, we have 

 Trade Unions. Ci*aft Guilds probably spnmg from 



