![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Borderlands - Town & City - Guilds
I had planned to continue with a list of middle-class professions from Sherilyn Kenyon's lists in Chapter 5 of the Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference and actually was working through that last night when it occurred to me that I was editing as I went - combining related professions. That caused me to notice the lack of mention of trade/ craft guilds ... or companies as they were known at the time. Therefore, this morning I went off on a tangent looking for lists of guilds.
Would you believe that there are currently 110 "Livery Companies" - aka guilds - registered in London England and several more are petitioning for livery? I copied the list down, but ... taking it verbatim is not right for the Borderlands.
he backstory/ history of Borderlands is that it is a result of witch persecutions. Those who could escape by going "Otherwhere" did and some of them did not go further into Faerie. {Few stories indicate thatof mortals residing in Faerie and fey residing in Mortal ... end particularly well, now that I think on it}. I'm postulating that the colonizing of the Borderlands occurred from before Chaucer's time to the last calvacade in ... iirc - late 1700s, early 1800s. I have the reference somewhere, I'll have to look it up again ... with the greatest concentration during the reign of James I of England. (He had a real bloody bee in his bonnet about magic and witches.)
In my long-winded and verbose manner, I'm trying to say that trade and craft guilds are present in Borderlands. They will contain a broader category of related crafts than the ones in reality. But this now begs the question - why guilds? What is the purpose of the guild system?
Quality, control and protection
Guilds ...
... license the practioners of their crafts, ensuring that those who represent themselves as members are well-trained and capable delivering quality goods.
... oversee the instruction of new members, testing those seeking advancement
... police those who practice the crafts under the aegis of the guild, investigating accusations of such matters as apprentice/journeyman abuse, shoddy workmanship, price gouging, fraud, &c
... set prices for various goods and services offered by the crafts/ trades covered by the guild aegis
... provide lawyers to help members in need of legal assistance
... support widows and orphans of guild members (a sort of life insurance)
Advancement in the Guild
Apprenticeship
A child may be apprenticed into a guild at age 11. The apprentice contract is for seven years after which time said apprentice can petition the Guild for advancement to journeyman or release
Guild law requires that a master provide a basic general education to all hir apprentices - reading, writing, arithmatic - in addition to teaching them the trade.
This education may be provided
- - in house, by a tutor hired for the job. This tutor could be an older journeyman or junior master, or a scholar/ scribe
- - at a licensed grammar school
- - at the local guild hall in common with apprentices from other workshops/ masters <= preferred option.
If the education provided by a master is proved to be inadequate or sub-par, or if the apprentices/ journeymen of the master are abused, misused, overworked, &c - then that master loses all rights of his position - his journeymen and apprentices are removed from his employment and his goods and wares are appropriately devalued. If the offenses are extremely gross - the master may be stripped of his title and license.
After seven years, an apprentice can petition the guild for journey status. They produce a journey-work displaying the craftwork that they have learned and the level at which they have progressed. At this time, the apprentice must also demonstrate some basic level of education - the guilds do not want un-lettered members incapable of basic calculations.
An apprentice who does not display sufficient ability can ...
(1) extend the existing apprentice contract with hir current master,
(2) petition to contract with another master in the guild,
(3) leave the guild entirely
Journeymen
The journey contract, like the apprentice, is for seven years. In that time, the master owns the journeyman's work, the journeymen are very literally in the master's employ. The master has the obligation to teach them the "tricks of the trade" and to allow them time to practice the trade in order to improve.
At the end of seven years, the journeyman can petitions the guild for advancement to the status of Master. To this end, they produce their "masterwork" - the best example of their art and craft of which they are capable. If the work is acceptable, the journeyman becomes a master craftsman.
Not all ... not many journeymen choose to or succeed in attaining mastery of the craft. The vast majority of journeymen have the option to ...
(1) continue to work at the same level with hir current master,
(2) petition to contract with another master in the guild, either in that community or another where Guild influence is strong,
(3) leave the city and practice the trade in a smaller community - village or town - where the guild influence is not as great.
(4) leave the guild entirely
Master Craftsmen/ Tradesmen
A master craftsman is hir own master; owns hir own work, can establish hir own workshop and sell hir goods and those of hir apprentices/journeymen (appropriately marked).
Se is allowed and even obligated to ...
(1) take and teach apprentices,
(2) hire and supervise journeymen,
(3) approve the work of hir employers for sale,
(4) serve the guild in some capacity.
The larger the city, the more likely that each guild maintains its own hall, separate from the others.
A small city might have no more than 3 to 5 separate guildhalls, representing the larger/ richer/ more influential guilds.
A town would be lucky to have a single guildhall shared by representatives of the different guilds.
A village would depend upon the guilds residing in the closest city/ town for licensing/ quality control/ &c. If there are no guild representatives close enough, the reeves (Shire, Bailey or Town) might mediate/ act in disagreements between craftsmen and customers. Or the local squire/ lord might appoint a "Quality control officer" who has no affiliation with any guild whatsoever. I suspect that this would lead to trouble, though.
Would you believe that there are currently 110 "Livery Companies" - aka guilds - registered in London England and several more are petitioning for livery? I copied the list down, but ... taking it verbatim is not right for the Borderlands.
he backstory/ history of Borderlands is that it is a result of witch persecutions. Those who could escape by going "Otherwhere" did and some of them did not go further into Faerie. {Few stories indicate thatof mortals residing in Faerie and fey residing in Mortal ... end particularly well, now that I think on it}. I'm postulating that the colonizing of the Borderlands occurred from before Chaucer's time to the last calvacade in ... iirc - late 1700s, early 1800s. I have the reference somewhere, I'll have to look it up again ... with the greatest concentration during the reign of James I of England. (He had a real bloody bee in his bonnet about magic and witches.)
In my long-winded and verbose manner, I'm trying to say that trade and craft guilds are present in Borderlands. They will contain a broader category of related crafts than the ones in reality. But this now begs the question - why guilds? What is the purpose of the guild system?
Quality, control and protection
Guilds ...
... license the practioners of their crafts, ensuring that those who represent themselves as members are well-trained and capable delivering quality goods.
... oversee the instruction of new members, testing those seeking advancement
... police those who practice the crafts under the aegis of the guild, investigating accusations of such matters as apprentice/journeyman abuse, shoddy workmanship, price gouging, fraud, &c
... set prices for various goods and services offered by the crafts/ trades covered by the guild aegis
... provide lawyers to help members in need of legal assistance
... support widows and orphans of guild members (a sort of life insurance)
Advancement in the Guild
Apprenticeship
A child may be apprenticed into a guild at age 11. The apprentice contract is for seven years after which time said apprentice can petition the Guild for advancement to journeyman or release
Guild law requires that a master provide a basic general education to all hir apprentices - reading, writing, arithmatic - in addition to teaching them the trade.
This education may be provided
- - in house, by a tutor hired for the job. This tutor could be an older journeyman or junior master, or a scholar/ scribe
- - at a licensed grammar school
- - at the local guild hall in common with apprentices from other workshops/ masters <= preferred option.
If the education provided by a master is proved to be inadequate or sub-par, or if the apprentices/ journeymen of the master are abused, misused, overworked, &c - then that master loses all rights of his position - his journeymen and apprentices are removed from his employment and his goods and wares are appropriately devalued. If the offenses are extremely gross - the master may be stripped of his title and license.
After seven years, an apprentice can petition the guild for journey status. They produce a journey-work displaying the craftwork that they have learned and the level at which they have progressed. At this time, the apprentice must also demonstrate some basic level of education - the guilds do not want un-lettered members incapable of basic calculations.
An apprentice who does not display sufficient ability can ...
(1) extend the existing apprentice contract with hir current master,
(2) petition to contract with another master in the guild,
(3) leave the guild entirely
Journeymen
The journey contract, like the apprentice, is for seven years. In that time, the master owns the journeyman's work, the journeymen are very literally in the master's employ. The master has the obligation to teach them the "tricks of the trade" and to allow them time to practice the trade in order to improve.
At the end of seven years, the journeyman can petitions the guild for advancement to the status of Master. To this end, they produce their "masterwork" - the best example of their art and craft of which they are capable. If the work is acceptable, the journeyman becomes a master craftsman.
Not all ... not many journeymen choose to or succeed in attaining mastery of the craft. The vast majority of journeymen have the option to ...
(1) continue to work at the same level with hir current master,
(2) petition to contract with another master in the guild, either in that community or another where Guild influence is strong,
(3) leave the city and practice the trade in a smaller community - village or town - where the guild influence is not as great.
(4) leave the guild entirely
Master Craftsmen/ Tradesmen
A master craftsman is hir own master; owns hir own work, can establish hir own workshop and sell hir goods and those of hir apprentices/journeymen (appropriately marked).
Se is allowed and even obligated to ...
(1) take and teach apprentices,
(2) hire and supervise journeymen,
(3) approve the work of hir employers for sale,
(4) serve the guild in some capacity.
The larger the city, the more likely that each guild maintains its own hall, separate from the others.
A small city might have no more than 3 to 5 separate guildhalls, representing the larger/ richer/ more influential guilds.
A town would be lucky to have a single guildhall shared by representatives of the different guilds.
A village would depend upon the guilds residing in the closest city/ town for licensing/ quality control/ &c. If there are no guild representatives close enough, the reeves (Shire, Bailey or Town) might mediate/ act in disagreements between craftsmen and customers. Or the local squire/ lord might appoint a "Quality control officer" who has no affiliation with any guild whatsoever. I suspect that this would lead to trouble, though.