Abstract
ABSTRACTThis article examines the decline of the craft guilds in early modern England by way of a case-study of the Tuckers’ Company in Exeter. From the 1980s, this case figured prominently in the historiographical debate concerning guild decline; however, it has not been examined recently. The current study reveals the Tuckers’ Company is not a case of decline in guild membership so much as a case of the loss of guild monopoly and a concomitant transition to charitable functions. On the basis of empirical sources, this study also reveals the mechanisms and context of this transformation in the post-Civil War politics of the city of Exeter. Specific attention is given to first, the decline of royal authority bolstering the guild against the city government and secondly, the shift of power in the guild with the ascendance of the merchant fullers. Finally, the historiographical implications of the article's findings are discussed.
Highlights
It is well known that early modern English guilds did not enjoy the power to compel every trader in a region to join.[1]
Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, 192–0397, Japan abstract: This article examines the decline of the craft guilds in early modern England by way of a case-study of the Tuckers’ Company in Exeter
One of the most important contributors to the recent debate about guilds, Epstein has noted that while there were no contemporary surveys of early modern English craft guilds or apprenticeship, a consensus has formed since 1985 which tends to push the decline of craft guilds forward into the mid- to late eighteenth century
Summary
It is well known that early modern English guilds did not enjoy the power to compel every trader in a region to join (as their Japanese counterparts often did, for example).[1] exactly when and how the guilds in England lost this power remains a matter of contention Classic works such as those by Unwin and Landes depicted the decline of guilds in the course of the seventeenth century – a model referred to in the following. The second section is a case-study of guild decline in Exeter based on established empirical sources It combines the name data used in classic studies of the Tuckers’ Company in Exeter.[4] First, it explores the relationship between citizenship and guild membership and examines the increase in the number of citizens operating outside the guild, namely citizens who were not guild members. The historiography of English guild decline: the ‘old’ and ‘new orthodox’ chronologies
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