Abstract
Abstract In the mid-eleventh century, the Church, under Pope Gregory VII, sanctioned the “corporation”—a body based on civic principles rather than blood ties. This is a keyhole moment in what was an otherwise overwhelmingly kinship-based, feudal society, in which birth determined social status and political rule. New civic corporate bodies, notably guilds, communes, and the Italian city republics, eased the transition from the close personal bonds of the clan. Crucially, the guilds merged economic interests in the trades and crafts together with mutual aid, shared identity, and a broader political vision in their towns and cities. The corporation as a basis of association that transcended kinship was the seed of pivotal, long-term institutional developments regarding citizenship. Examples include religious associations that became, ironically, a basis for Protestant dissenters, business corporations like the Dutch East India Company, voluntary associations, and the nation-state itself.
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