The Wilmingtonian., 1885-09-12

hiS
the title pontttr mdrtaus, the chief of the
bridge makers, the present official title OF
the Pope of Rome.
Another guild, or trades union was that
of the collegium opficum, workmen's or
handicraftsmen's union, This was the |
most numerous Of the trade associations of |
early times, including in its ranks the car
penters' guild, lignarii and the guilds of the
iron, "copper" and gold smiths.
From the earliest history of Rome,
throughout the subsection of Western Eu-
rope by the Roman legions, to the birth of
Christ, aud with voluminous evidence sub
sequent to that date there is full record
of the establishment of these guilds or
trades unions in all parts of Europe. In
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries how
ever they seem to have taken such shape as
to attract the significant attention Of TIE
rulers OF the various countries. Their an
from them. They were deprived of their
property. The members were imprisoned,
! tortured, burned and treated with equal
cruelty and severity as history cites having
been practiced BY the opposed parties in the
religious wars Of Europe
In olden times any one who wished to be-
come member Of any guild was required to
prove that he was free and OF legitimate
birth, and possessed evidence Of an ances-
try running back at least four generations.
4 Some of tho guilds even excluded the child
ren of the weavers, BARRIERS, shepherds, mil
lcrs, tax collectors, and musicians kscause
4 their fathers were not possessed n the rree-
t~dom of the city.
Amorsss MkSch guild carried its
own flag. A most remarkable historic fact
is related that most of the masons and stone
cutters united their lodges, or colegia, and
formed grand Gnion organization; this
union, under The great lodge of Strasburg
comprised all the mason and stone-cutter
guilds of Germany, France, England, the
Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy and
Hungary. The chief master and high
judge, residing at Strasburg in 1868, was
subject to the authority of the Archbishop
Of Milan and the Pope, but not to the EN-
peror Of Germany.
BY this fact may be seen how it came to
be that the title of Ponttsr Maria.us was in
corpora!ed with that of the Pope. During
the time of the Thirty Years War many of
the guilds went into military service, thus
we find the bakers of Leipsio fighting under
Gustavus Adolphus. The effect upon the
handicrafts ofGermany of the war referred
to was that many through poverty were
forced into seridom: ambition and energy
was'lost. Apprentices, forced into domes-
tic servitude learned little Of their trades.
and thus at the dawn of the present century |
the guilds represented a demoralized and
disorganized condition. Napoleon forced
French goods up the German markets and
with such an effect that thousands Of Ger.
man artizans were compelled to emgrate or |
to go into other pursuits.
In the great German political liberation
movement of 1S47, tens Of thousands Of |
guildmen were lured into joining political
societies cutting loose from their trade |
unions. In 1S49 at the suppression Of the
political movement machine labor was in |
troduced which further aggravated the cor |
dition of the hand-worker. Many of the |
guilds Of Germany have schools for teachinr |
apprentices for instance the shoemakers
decorators, plumbers etc. The Polytecb- |
mic Society of Leipsic has Sunday School |
with several trade classes, for watchmakers,
locksmiths, painters, druggists and engrav
ers, to which the respective guilds contrib
ute funds.
The shoemakers guild has school which
seems to prosper. The plumbers have a
thriving school at Auc in the Err noun
tains. The turner's have new school in
Leissing and also newspaper as also have
the paper hangers, The school established
some time ago by the decorators guild in
Leipsic has been suspended for some munic-
pal reason.