INTRODUCTION. 



EW subjects have offered a more fertile 

 theme for conjecture or a more attrac- 

 tive field for research than the origin 

 and early history of the Trade Guilds. Mankind 

 has, from the earliest periods, evinced a propensity 

 to dwell in communities, although this predilection 

 is often found to be modified by national charac- 

 teristics. The lithic monuments, hut circles and 

 earthworks with which our own island abounds, 

 testify to its influence in the conditions under 

 which primeval man dwelt in early Britain ; while 

 we see it to-day exemplified in the tribal commu- 

 nities of pastoral nomads in Asia and Africa. In 

 the early days of pre-historic times this circum- 

 stance was probably the result of a necessity for 

 self-protection against common enemies, and, later 

 on, with the growth of civilization, it just as pro- 

 bably arose from the social instincts of man. 



Among the earliest institutions and corpora- 

 tions of which we have cognizance and mention 

 were those communities known in Roman his- 

 tory by the name of collegia. The term collegia, 

 however, embraced corporations of various de- 

 scriptions ; some were of a strictly religious 



