A guild is a corporation that brings together those who have the same trade.
A corporation formed by people who carry out the same profession, trade or activity is known as a guild . These are organizations that are usually governed by special statutes and different ordinances.
The term, which comes from the Latin gremĭum , can also refer to the group of people who share the same social status or another common characteristic.
Origins of the guilds
As a type of association , the guild emerged in medieval European cities to bring together artisans who shared a trade. By joining together, artisans could boost activity, organize demand and guarantee work for all members. On the other hand, they were dedicated to teaching their work. These issues mean that guilds are considered the starting point towards modern unions , although without hierarchies.
The existing scales in the guilds were limited to job training ( apprentice , journeyman and master ). Those who entered the guild did so as apprentices. Through an apprenticeship contract, it was possible to advance to the rank of teacher.
Contracts were those that had a series of conditions and established parameters that made it possible to make clear and clear what the learning process was for those starting out in the profession as well as the ways that those had to continue ascending in category within the aforementioned union.
Guilds emerged in the Middle Ages.
Apprentices and teachers
In this sense, among some of the issues outlined in these contractual documents we could highlight that among the commitments of the apprentice, who would be between 12 and 14 years old, were to obey his teacher at all times as well as remain faithful to him. Without forgetting either that he had to go to the workplace daily and that he could not be absent from it.
Faced with this, the teacher of that young man who was starting out in the profession undertook, for his part, to provide him with support as well as training and training in the trade in question. All this without forgetting that, in the same way, he had to grant him a certain monetary amount.
As it could not be otherwise, said contract also established in a very specific way the possible causes that could lead to that document being completely broken. Among them was the fact that the death of the teacher took place, that the time established therein expired or that both parties unanimously made the decision to extinguish it.
Other functions of the medieval guild
In addition to all of the above, it must be emphasized that in the Middle Ages the guilds were also in charge of carrying out the cult of the Patron of their respective trades and of guiding, from a spiritual point of view, their members.
The guild was in charge of supervising production, controlling contracts and supplying materials; In short, it regulated productive activity .
A Brazilian club
Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense , finally, is a Brazilian football club founded in 1903 in the city of Porto Alegre ( State of Rio Grande do Sul ).
They are one of the most important clubs in America and have won the Copa Libertadores twice. Even in 1983 , they became champion of the Intercontinental Cup by beating Hamburg of Germany .