English Gilds.*

porations as members . The most important among these unions was that of the Rhenish towns . At the time of the interregnum , that is , at the very moment when Germany was left utterly without a ruler , when there was no power to check

the princes in the unlimited extension of their rights , when they levied tolls at their pleasure , and ground the poor to the bone by exorbitant taxes ; when knights and nobles lived by highway robbery , waylaid streets and passes , and plundered

and murdered the merchants ; when the strong oppressed the weak , unpunished , and might was right ;—in that classical age of club-law , when there was no supreme power in the empire , the union of the Rhenish towns stept for a time into

its place . This union was no mere offensive and defensive alliance ; its object was the maintenance of an entire system of order and law , and of the authority of the Empire . It forced even princes and nobles to join it . Like the gild brothers of

Cambridge , the towns entered upon mutual obligations by oath ; and the measures which they adopted for the protection of their members , and for the chastisement of the breakers of their peace , were similar to the Cambridgeones . A special clause

insured common protection to the poor and little as well as to the mighty and great , whether they were lay or cleric , Christian or Jew .

A short examination of the statutes of the town gilds will justify our claim for these confederations of towns to be shoots from the same root , fruits from the same tree , and higher stages of the same development from which the Frith

Gilds sprang . From the time when these Frith Gilds stood at the head of the towns , their statutes show , without a particle of change , the essential nature of the gilds as disclosed by the gild statutes of Cambridge . These gilds appear as an enlarged

great family , whose object is to afford such assistance to their members in all circumstances of life as one brother might expect from another , aud consequently , above all things , protection against the unbridled arbitrariness of the mighty ,

whether exercised by violence , or attempted at law by means of numerous friends as compurgators . The gilds do not appear , however , as associations for instituting a new law , but for maintaining the laws already existing-, for j

supplementing a system of order as yet defeciive j and only in course of development , and for guarding in common against the dangers attending a weak government .

To maintain and carry out their ordinances , the gild required a special jurisdiction ; and , in consequence of the necessary distrust by the citizens of that time of the tribunals of their masters , it was natural that quarrels of all kinds which arose

between members after their admission were brought within the reach of the gild . Quarrels among members only came , as a rule , within the jurisdiction of the association ; and it was only in consequence of the peculiar relation of some gilds

to the town that disputes between non-members had also to submit to the gild . The limits of this jurisdiction varied according to time and place ; but it was everywhere the rule that gild brothers , before going into the law court , had to bring their

case before the gild for the sake of attempting , at least , reconciliation between them . But the gild never assumed a right over the life and limb of its members ; compensation only , and fines , were used for punishments , the highest penalty being

expulsion . The same regulations as the religious gilds had with regard to helping gild brothers in every need .

are to be found in the Frith Gilds . On this point the statutes of the gilds of all countries are almost identical . If a brother falls into poverty , if he incurs losses by fire or shipwreck , if illness or mutilation renders him unable to work , the

brothers contribute to his assistance . If a brother finds another in danger of life on sea or in captivity , he is bound to rescue him , even at the sacrifice of a part of his own goods ; for which , however , he receives compensation from the brother

assisted , or from the community . English gild statutes frequently mention loans to be given to brothers carrying on trade , often with no other condition than the repayment of it when he should no longer need it . The sick brother found in his

gild aid and attendance ; the dead was buried ; for bis soul prayers were offered , and services performed ; aud not unfrequently the gild gave a dowry to his poor orphan daughter . The numerous provisions as to the poor , as to pilgrims , and

other helpless people , in the statutes of English gilds , prove that non-members in want found help from them as well .

The regulations as to the payment of chaplains ef the gild , as to common service and prayers , a ? well as to common feastings , were equally general ; and everywhere lines recur equally for the infringement of the agreed-to ordinances , for unseemly behaviour , and for offending of members .