Why You Think the Way You Do: The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home

by Glenn S. Sunshine

To regulate the more important crafts, a system of guilds evolved in the towns. Each guild covered a single craft. Their main responsibility was setting rules of production and, to some extent, sale. So, for example, all shops in a guild might have to be on the same street to allow buyers to compare products and to make sure the rules of production were followed. The guilds also set production standards; for example, a chandlers guild (candle makers) would set a minimum weight for the candles and a minimum percent of animal fat in the wax. To do so was particularly important for crafts that would be exported, since the reputation of the town’s products could be ruined if one shop exported inferior goods. Guilds set employment rules (the number of apprentices and journeymen who could be in a single shop, for example), and they regulated the entry of new masters into the guild and controlled the number of shops in the town. Contrary to what is often said, however, no guild was permitted to set prices; pricing was handled by competition. The object of all this was to maintain as level a playing field as possible between the guild shops. Some craftsmen would excel, but the intention was to prevent one master from competing unfairly and thus taking business from another.