Guild Abbreviations

A guild is an interest group for people who work in the same profession . In a guild the members shared experiences and tips with each other.

The guilds arose around the Middle Ages. New members were trained through the guild and could take exams there. After the training, a student was appointed ‘apprentice’ and after doing the master’s thesis as ‘master’. These tests were recorded in the guild letters, the rules of the guild. The guild protected its members and often had a monopoly on the practice of the trade. However, this had one major drawback: because the methods were recorded in the guild letters and could only be practiced in this way, the methods were not renewed. People with innovative ideas could not bring them out, because they either had to join the guild and thus had to follow the old methods or because they were not allowed to practice the profession. Most guilds ceased to exist at the end of the eighteenth century.

Association of craftsmen or merchants who practiced the same profession or business, originated in the Middle Ages . Within the profession , the guild determined which quality requirements products had to meet, how many employees someone could employ, wages, working hours, etc. Not everyone was allowed to practice a trade just like that.

The guild decreed that you should start out as an apprentice, in the service of a master. After a number of years you became a journeyman and after passing a master’s thesis – an object with which you showed that you had mastered the trade – you became a master. Artists were united in the Saint Luke Guild, named after Saint Luke, the evangelist who is also said to have been a painter. During the French occupation of the Netherlands at the beginning of the 19th century, the guilds were abolished, but Sint-Lucas guilds are still there, in the function of painting societies.

List of Acronyms Related to Guild