Introduction. xxi 



similar opinion In respect of the early English 

 Guilds.^ These are weighty authorities, en- 

 titled to more than ordinary respect ; nevertheless 

 to many minds the analogy between the collegia 

 and those later but kindred organizations 

 which diffused themselves through the social 

 and commercial life of the various nationalities of 

 mediaeval Europe Is far too striking to be recon- 

 ciled by the convenient plea of accident. Pro- 

 fessor Freeman says that " the gap between the 

 Roman and English periods Is hidden by the 

 blackness of darkness which shrouds our settle- 

 ment in Britain, and which to those who have 

 eyes teaches much more clearly than any light 

 could what the nature of that settlement really 

 was. Had there been any continuity between the 

 Institutions of the two periods, that blackness of 

 darkness could hardly have been." ^ 



Doubtless the authoritative and learned writer 

 himself Is disposed to acknowledge that the im- 

 plied total disappearance of these Institutions — j 

 which existed In England during the Roman 

 occupation — during the few centuries In which 

 we unfortunately have no record of their being 

 in existence, and their sudden re-appearance 

 Identical in all essential principles under the Anglo- 

 Saxon Heptarchy, Is a coincidence hardly less 

 than phenomenal. It must be borne In mind 



^ See the Introduction to the " Report of the Livery Com- 

 panies Commission," p. 8. 

 - Ibid. 



B 2 



