Guildhall

Guildhall, City of London

A guildhall is either a town hall, or a building historically used by guilds for meetings and other purposes, in which sense it can also be spelled as "guild hall" and may also be called a "guild house". It is also the official or colloquial name for many of these specific buildings, many of which are now museums.

Brief history

A type of guild was known in Roman times. Known as collegium, collegia or corpus, these were organised groups of merchants who specialised in a particular craft and whose membership of the group was voluntary. One such example is the corpus naviculariorum, the college of long-distance shippers based at Rome's La Ostia port. The Roman guilds failed to survive the collapse of the Roman Empire. [1]

Merchant guilds were reinvented during Europe's Medieval period. In England, these guilds went by many different names including: fraternity, brotherhood, college, company, corporation, fellowship, livery or society, amongst other terms. In Europe, merchant guilds were known as natie, consulado, hansa. [2] A fraternity formed by the merchants of Tiel in Gelderland (present-day Netherlands) in 1020 is believed to be the first example of a Medieval guild. The first instance of usage of the term, "guild", was the gilda mercatoria used to describe a body of merchants operating out of St. Omer, France in the 11th century and London's Hanse was formed in the 12th century. [3] These guilds controlled the way that trade was conducted and codified rules governing the conditions of trade. Once established, merchant guild rules were often incorporated into the charters granted to market towns. By the 13th and 14th centuries, merchant guilds had acquired sufficient resources to erect guild halls in many major market towns. [4]

United Kingdom

Windsor Guildhall in Windsor, Berkshire also served as market, town hall and courtroom
Guildhall, London, in the City of London, is the seat of the Corporation of London, the governing body of the city.

In the United Kingdom, outwith Scotland, a guildhall is usually a town hall: in the vast majority of cases, the guildhalls have never served as the meeting place of any specific guild. A suggested etymology is from the Anglo Saxon "gild", or "payment"; the guildhall being where citizens came to pay their rates. For the Scottish municipal equivalent see Tolbooth.

List of guildhalls in the United Kingdom

Guildhalls in the Low Countries

Guildhalls in Antwerp

The Low Countries used to have guildhalls in every city, often one gildenhuis (Dutch, literally "guild house") for each trade. They were often elaborate, ornate buildings, demonstrating the guild's status. Occasionally a single hall would be used by all the city's guilds.[5]

The guildhall was used as the offices of the deken (deacon) and other guild officers, and for meetings by the overlieden (board of directors). The guild members would occasionally be called to the guildhall for meetings on important matters.[6][7]

In Amsterdam, every guildhall had its gildeknecht (guild servant), often the guild's youngest member, and was guarded by a gildehond (guild dog). Every evening, the guild brothers gathered in the tavern room of the guildhall to discuss the events of the day while the gildeknecht served beer. Once a year, the guildmen would gather in the guildhall for a communal meal.[6]

The guildhall of the merchants' guild also served as de facto commodity market. Therefore, there was no need in the Middle Ages for a separate building for this purpose.[6]

In the Low Countries, each guildhall was marked by the coat of arms of that guild, hanging from the facade of the building. Occasionally, the coat of arms was replaced with a gable stone depicting a member of the guild, surrounded by the tools of his trade.[8]

In Belgium

The Zunfthaus zur Zimmerleuten (carpenters' guildhall) in Zürich
The Makelaers Comptoir (brokers' guildhall) in Amsterdam

See also

References

  1. ↑ Epstein S.A, Wage Labor and Guilds in Medieval Europe, University of North Carolina Press, 1991, pp 10-49
  2. ↑ Gelderblom, O. and Grafe, E., "The Persistence and Decline of Merchant Guilds: Re-thinking the Comparative Study of Commercial Institutions in Pre-modern Europe," [Working Paper], Yale University, 2008
  3. ↑ Encyclopedia Britannica Online: https://www.britannica.com/topic/merchant-guild
  4. ↑ Epstein S.A, Wage Labor and Guilds in Medieval Europe, University of North Carolina Press, 1991, pp 50-100
  5. ↑ The Dutch term 'gildehuis', 'gildenhuis' on Dictionarist(TM) translated to English
  6. 1 2 3 Johannes Gouw, De gilden: eene bijdrage tot de geschiedenis van het volksleven. Portielje & Zoon, 1866, p.38 (Dutch)
  7. ↑ Otto van Rees, Geschiedenis der staathuishoudkunde in Nederland tot het einde der achttiende eeuw, Kemink, 1865, p. 121 (Dutch)
  8. ↑ Jacob Lennep & Johannes Gouw, De uithangteekens in verband met geschiedenis en volksleven beschouwd. Gebroeders Kraay, 1868, p. 137 (Dutch)
  9. ↑ "The round table (tafelrond)". Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  10. ↑ "Leuven architecture and sculptures (brochure)" (Pdf). City of Leuven (Tourism Leuven). Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  11. ↑ De Zalm: thuis voor de Besloten Hofjes (in Dutch)
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