temporal welfare of their members, the Craft 

 Guilds were, like all other guilds, relig-ious 

 fmternities having their priests, whose duty it 

 was to conduct their religious services and to pray 

 for their dead. In fact, in reading some of the old 

 statutes one might fancy that the ci-aftsmen 

 Crtxed more for the well being of their souls than 

 for their temporal well being. All guilds had 

 particular saints for patrons, after whom the 

 Society was frequently called, and, wherever it was 

 possible, the patron saint would bo chosen who 

 had some relation to the trade. As time progressed 

 Craft Criiiids frequently went in soleran procession 

 to their churches, and to this ia to be traced the 

 present day practice of benefit clubs at their 

 annual meetings beginning the day with a service 

 in a church. 



The very soul of the Craft Guild was its 

 meetings, which brought all the Guild brothers 

 together, every week or quarter. These meetings 

 were held with certain ceremonies for the sake of 

 greater solemnity. The box, having several locks 

 like that of our Trade Unions, and containing the 

 charters of thp Guild, the statutes and many 

 other valuable articles, was opened on such 

 occasions, and all present had to uncover their 

 heads. These meetings elected the presidents, 

 originally called aldermen, which is the origin of 

 the aldermen of to-day, afterwards masters and 

 wardens, and other officials. As a rule, the Guild 

 was free to choose its own master either from their 

 own membei's or from men of higher rank, although 

 sometimes the master was appointed by the king, 

 the bishop, or the authorities of the to^vn. 



The above is an outline merely of a Craft 

 Guild, an association of master craftsmen, in the 

 Middle Ages. It was made up of masters who 

 were bom free or who had acquired free citzen- 

 ship. They represented the class we should to- 

 day call the employers of labour, but, about the 

 middle of the fourteenth centui-y, chiefly as the 

 result of the plague, when the people were rush- 

 ing in great niunbers into the towns, being 

 attracted by the high rate of wages to take up 

 trades, it became impossible, owing to the great 

 number, for all to become independent masters, 

 and thus there arose the real working class as we 

 understand it to-day with separate views and 

 interests. 



The year 1350 was the date of the first rush to 

 the towns (as to which we hear so much to-day) 

 and it was about this period when elaborate pro- 

 visions were first made for the settlement of 

 disputes between masters and workmen, as well as 

 provisions for ensuring the fulfilment of the obliga- 

 tions to each otht-r. In questions of dispute the de- 

 ciding authorities were the Wardens of the Guilds. 

 Master craftsmen who withheld from the work- 

 men the wages to which they were entitled were 

 compelled by the Guild Authorities to pay. On 

 the other hand if any serving man should conduct 

 himself in any other manner than properly to- 

 wards his master and act rebelliously towards 

 him, no one of the trades was allowed to set him 

 to work until he should have made amec((Is before 

 the Mayor and Aldermen. 



It was the plague, known as the black death of 

 ISiH, and the consequent depopulation which 



brought the opposition between the interests of 

 the working class and the employers for the first 

 time, on a large scale, to a crisis. Even the clergy 

 took advantage of tlie small number of those who- 

 could say masses and prayers in conformity with 

 the intentions of the faithful in order to increase 

 their fees, and as merchants and tradesmen took 

 advantage of the small supply of wares to raise 

 their prices, in like manner the workmen en- 

 deavoured to use, for a general rise in wages, th& 

 distress into which the propertied class had been 

 plunged through the universal dearth of labour. 



I must refer to this plague in some little detail 

 as it exercised an enormous influence over the 

 country. A well-known writer describes it "as 

 the most terrible plague which the world ever 

 witnessed, advancing from the east, and, after 

 devastating Europe fr«m the shores of the- 

 Mediterranean to the Baltic, swooped, at the 

 close of 13-iS, upon Britain ; the traditions of its 

 destructiveness and the panic-stricken words of 

 the Statutes which followed it, have been more 

 than justified by modern research. 



Of the three or four millions who then formed 

 the population of England, more than one half 

 were swept away in its repeated visitations. Its 

 ravages were fiercest in the greater towns, where 

 filthy and undrained streets afforded a constant 

 haunt to leprosy and fever." 



The whole organisation of labour was thrown 

 out of gear. The scarcity of hands made it diffi- 

 cult for minor tenants to perform the services due 

 for their lands, and only a temporary abandonment 

 of half the rent by the landowners induced the 

 farmers to refrain from the abandonment of their 

 farms. For a time cultivation became impossible. 

 " The sheep and cattle strayed through the fields 

 and com," says a contemporary, " and there were 

 none left who could drive them." Even when the 

 first burst of panic was over, the sudden rise of 

 wages consequent on the enormous diminution in 

 the supply of free labour, though accompanied by 

 a corresponding rise in the price of food, rudely 

 disturbed the course of industrial employment, 

 harvests rotted on the ground, and fields were left 

 untiUed, not merely from scarcity of hands, but 

 from the strife which now for the first time re- 

 vealed itself between capital and labour. 



As a result of the plague, and consequent dis- 

 organisation of labour, the notorioiis Statutes of 

 Labourers were passed in the reign of Edward the 

 Third, in which it was ordained for workmen in 

 general, but especially for those engaged in the 

 building trades and for agricultiu-al labourers, 

 that no workman should take more and no em- 

 ployer should give more than had been customary 

 before the plague. Further, in 13G2, when a 

 tempest caused fearful ravages amongst the roofs 

 of houses, there was issued a Koyal Order that the 

 materials for roofing and the wages of tilers were 

 not to be enhanced by reason of damage done by 

 the tempest. 



About this same period there are accounts of 

 strikes in the building trade, which trade differed 

 somewhat from other trades in the fact that it 

 shewed a greater simiLirity to iustitHtions of our 

 modem great industry, i.e., eompared with other 

 trades, there were fewer pei s ^ns who carried on the 



