Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Landmarks in the History of the Legends of Freemasonry: A Lecture Read at the West Kent Lodge on January 26th, 1907
So far back as the ninth century we find in England traces of merchant-gilds, combinations of the mer chants in a town formed, perhaps, primarily against the extortion and tyranny of nobles, but subsequently directed against the competition of, and imports from, merchants in neighbouring towns, each Gild levying fees on merchants coming from outside who wished to trade in the Gilds town, and charging dues on imported products not raised by their own members.
In course of time the benefits accruing from these merchant-gilds were coveted by the craftsmen of the various cities, who in their turn combined together into craft-gilds for their benefit and defence. Originally they were small law-abiding bodies, but eventually they became so powerful that they were able to extract charters of corporation from various Kings of England, who in their turn retaliated by passing various enact ments confining the operations of the Gilds. The Trade Unions of the present day stand in a somewhat similar position longo intervallo as did the mediaeval craft-gilds.
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