Guilds House in Sighisoara

Craft guilds

In the medieval period, the Saxon craftsmen of southern Transylvania were considered among the most valuable in southeastern Europe. Jewelry and goblets made of precious metal, liturgical vessels made by goldsmiths enjoyed great popularity at the royal courts of the princes of Moldavia and Wallachia. Good quality edged weapons or firearms were ordered from Brasov or Sibiu, these two Saxon cities monopolizing the production of weapons in the Middle Ages.

The word "guild" comes from a Slavic term and means approximately "brotherhood". In early documents from Transylvania written in Latin, the word appears with the same meaning: "fraternitas". In dialectal German, the guild is called "zech" and comes from another Latin term "cecha". In Romanian, the Turkish word "esnaf" pronounced "isnaf" was also used for the guilds in the Danubian Principalities. In literary German, the guild is called "Zumft". All these terms actually defined a complex medieval organization in which craftsmen from the same specialty were brought together for mutual assistance. The guilds were run according to precise statutes or regulations approved by the urban magistrates, initially by the royal power.

The oldest guild statutes in Transylvania date back to the time of King Louis I the Great. Later, the statutes of the guilds in Transylvania would be renewed in 1539 and definitively approved by the Saxon University in 1583. These statutes functioned almost unchanged for 300 years, until the dissolution of the guilds in 1872. The statutes of 1376 mention four cities in southern Transylvania (Sibiu, Sighisoara, Sebes, Orastie) in which there were a total of 19 guilds and 25 craft branches. As in Western Europe, from the beginning the regulations specified that the guilds were only allowed to carry out their activity within the walls of the cities, crafts being par excellence an urban activity that required stability and security. The Saxon guilds were organizations closed to non-Germans. Only children born from legitimate Christian marriages from families with good reputation and German lineage were admitted to apprenticeship.

At the head of a guild were two Elders, an old elder and his younger deputy, elected for four years. They were followed by the “father of the journeymen”, two supervisors and the guild notary. The elder directed the entire economic activity and represented the guild in relations with public authorities. In order to be admitted to the trade, the Saxon apprentice had to pay a tax in money, make donations in wine or wax and go through a probationary period. Once accepted, the 10-12 year old boy left the authority of his parents and entered the family of the craftsman. The apprenticeship lasted 3-4 years, after which he was “released from apprenticeship”. If the guild assembly gave its approval, the apprentice received a letter or diploma of apprenticeship and entered the category of journeymen, remaining in the craftsman’s workshop where he worked and received a slightly higher salary.
After a few years, a journeyman who wanted to become a craftsman had to make a professional journey, working in other cities for several craftsmen, sometimes reaching as far as Eastern Europe. For this, he received from the guild notary a travel book, a notebook in which the "father of journeymen" in each locality noted the period worked and the qualification. Finally, after several years of accumulated experience, a journeyman could become a craftsman by presenting a remarkable work, a masterpiece, to a commission in a festive setting.

The guilds were not only economic organizations, they actively participated in the construction of churches, each guild having an altar of the patron saint inside the churches, having inscribed benches, occupying precise positions in the church space according to the guild's rank. The guilds were also responsible for taking care of orphans, widows, the poor and the elderly left alone. The guilds were also responsible for defending the city, each guild building and maintaining a portion of the enclosure wall and a specific tower. The first written mention of military obligations is recorded in Sighișoara in the statute of the furriers' guild from 1484. In times of war, during sieges, all craftsmen became fighters, occupying a well-defined place in the towers or in the shooting galleries behind the walls.

As the economic power of the guilds grew in the 15th and 16th centuries, the leaders of the more powerful guilds began to enter political life, becoming councilors, mayors, royal judges or magistrates, constituting that rich group of patricians of which the documents speak. The medieval guild system gradually declined starting in the 18th century with the emergence of manufactures and disappeared from history at the end of the 19th century when the guilds were abolished in 1872.

In this museum in Sighisoara you can step in back in time and see exactly how the history unfolds!

Info from: https://casa-breslelor.ro/