 Section 18 of Manners, Customs, and Dress. We have hitherto only described the sports engaged in for the amusement of the spectators. We have still to describe those in which the actors took greater pleasure than even the spectators themselves. These were specially the games of strength and skill, as well as dancing, with a notice of which we shall conclude this chapter. There were besides the various games of chance and the games of fun and humor. Most of the bourgeois and the villagers played a variety of games of agility, many of which have descended to our times and are still to be found in our schools and colleges. Wrestling, running races, the game of bars, high and wide jumping, leapfrog, blind man's buff, games of ball of all sorts, gymnastics, and all exercises which strengthened the body or added to the suppleness of the limbs, were long in use among the youth of the nobility. The Lord of Flourange, in his memoirs written at the Court of Francis I, recounts numerous exercises to which he devoted himself during his childhood and youth, and which were then looked upon as a necessary part of the education of chivalry. The nobles in this way acquired a taste for physical exercises and took naturally to combats, tournaments, and hunting, and subsequently their services in the battlefield gave them plenty of opportunities to gratify the taste thus developed in them. These were not, however, sufficient for their insatiable activity. When they could not do anything else they played a tennis in such games at all hours of the day, and these pastimes had so much attraction for nobles of all ages that they not infrequently sacrificed their health in consequence of overtaxing their strength. In 1506 the king of Castile, Philip LeBeau, died of pleurisy from a severe cold which he caught while playing tennis. Tennis also became the favorite game amongst the bourgeois in the towns, and tennis courts were built in all parts of such spacious proportions and so well adapted for spectators that they were often converted into theaters. Their game of billiards resembled the modern one only in name, for it was played on a level piece of ground with wooden balls which were struck with hooked sticks and mallets. It was in great repute in the 14th century, for in 1396 Marshal de Boussacot, who was considered one of the best players of his time, won at it 600 francs, or more than 28,000 francs of present currency. At the beginning of the following century the Duke Louis de Léon ordered Bille et Bilaire to be bought for the sum of eleven souls six deniers tournois, about fifteen francs of our money, that he might amuse himself with them. There were several games of the same sort which were not less popular. Skittles, La Soule or Soulette, which consisted of a large ball of hay covered over with leather, the possession of which was contested for by two opposing sides of players. Football, open tennis, shuttlecock, etc. It was Charles V who first thought of giving a more serious and useful character to the games of the people, and who, in a celebrated edict, forbidding games of chance, encouraged the establishment of companies of archers and bowmen. These companies, to which was subsequently added that of the Arc-Boussier, outlived political revolutions and are still extant, especially in the northern provinces of France. At all times and in all countries the games of chance were the most popular, although they were forbidden both by ecclesiastical and royal authority. New laws were continually being enacted against them and especially against those in which dice were used, though with little avail. Dice shall not be made in the kingdom, says the law of twelve fifty-six, and those who are discovered using them and frequenting taverns and bad places will be looked upon as suspicious characters. A law of twelve ninety-one repeats that games with dice be forbidden. Nevertheless, though these prohibitions were frequently renewed, people continued to disregard them and to lose much money at such games. The law of thirteen ninety-six is aimed particularly against loaded dice, which must have been contemporary with the origin of dice themselves, for no games ever gave rise to a greater amount of rogary than those of this description. They were, however, publicly sold in spite of all of the laws to the contrary, for in the die du Mercier the dealer offers his merchandise thus. I have heavy dice, I have light dice, from Paris, from Chartres, and from Reims. It has been said that the game of dice was at first called the game of God, because the regulation of lottery was one of God's prerogatives. But this derivation is purely imaginary. What appears more likely is that dice were first forbidden by the church and then by the civil authorities on account of the fearful oaths which were so apt to be uttered by those players who had a run of ill luck. Nothing was commoner than for people to ruin themselves at this game. The poems of troubadours are full of imprecations against the fatal chance of dice. Many troubadours such as Guillaume Magret and Gosseum Fadi lost their fortunes at it, and their lives in consequence. Rutherbuff exclaims in one of his satires, Dice rob me of all my clothes, Dice kill me, Dice watch me, Dice track me, Dice attack me, and Dice defy me. The blasphemies of the gamblers did not always remain unpunished. Philip Augustus, says begor'd in his Latin history of this king, carried his aversion for oaths to such an extent that if anyone, whether night or of any other rank, let one slip from his lips in the presence of the sovereign, even by mistake he was ordered to be immediately thrown into the river. Louis XII, who was somewhat less severe, contented himself with having a hole bore'd with a hot iron through the blasphemers' tongue. The work on the manner of playing with dice has handed down to us the technical terms used in these games, which varied as much in practice as in name. They sometimes played with three dice, sometimes with six. Different games were also in fashion, and in some the cast of the dice alone decided. The games of cards were also most numerous, but it is not our intention to give the origin of them here. It is sufficient to name a few of the most popular ones in France, which were Flux, Prime, Sequence, Triumph, Piquet, Trente-un, Passe-dix, Condemnade, Lascenet, Marriage, Gaye, or Gé, Malcontent, Here, etc. All these games, which were as much forbidden as dice, were played in taverns as well as at court. And just as there were loaded dice, so there were also false cards prepared by rogues for cheating. The greater number of the games of cards formerly did not require the least skill on the part of the players chance alone deciding. The game of tables, however, required skill and calculation, for under this head were comprised all the games which were played on a board, and particularly chess, drafts, and backgammon. The invention of the game of chess has been attributed to the Assyrians, and there can be no doubt but that it came from the east and reached gall about the beginning of the ninth century, although it was not extensively known until about the twelfth. The annals of chivalry continually speak of the barons playing at these games and especially at chess. Historians also mention chess and show that it was played with the same zest in the camp of the Saracens as in that of the Crusaders. We must not be surprised if chess shared the prohibition laid upon dice, for those who were ignorant of its ingenious combinations ranked it amongst games of chance. The Council of Paris in 1212 therefore condemned chess for the same reasons as dice, and it was specially forbidden to church people who had begun to make it their habitual pastime. The royal edict of 1254 was equally unjust with regard to this game. We strictly forbid, says Louis the Ninth, any person to play at dice, tables, or chess. This pious king set himself against these games which he looked upon as inventions of the devil. After the fatal day of Mansoura in 1249, the king, who was still in Egypt with the remnants of his army, asked what his brother the Compte-en-Joux was doing. He was told, says Jean-Ville, that he was playing at tables with his royal highness Gaultier de Nemours. The king was highly incensed against his brother and, though most feeble from the effects of his illness, went to him, and taking the dice and the tables had them thrown into the sea. Nevertheless Louis the Ninth received as a present from the Vieux de la Montagne, chief of the Ismailians, a chessboard made of gold and rock crystal, the pieces being of precious metals beautifully worked. It has been asserted, but incorrectly, that this chessboard was the one preserved in the Musée de Cluny after having long formed part of the treasures of the kings of France. Amongst the games comprised under the name of tables, it is sufficient to mention that of drafts, which was formerly played with dice and with the same men as were used for chess. Also the game of Hanchet, or Jean-Chez, that is, bones or spillikens, which required pieces or men in the same way as chess, but which required more quickness of hand than of intelligence. And Epangle, or Pushpin, which was played in a similar manner to Hanchet, and was the great amusement of the small pages in the houses of the nobility. When they had not Epangle, Hanchet, or draftsmen to play with, they used their fingers instead and played a game which is still most popular among the Italian people called the Mora, and which was as much in vogue with the ancient Romans as it is among the modern Italians. It consisted of suddenly raising as many fingers as had been shown by one's adversary, and gave rise to a great amount of amusement among the players and lookers on. The games played by girls were, of course, different from those in use among boys. The latter played at marbles, luets, pegs or humming-tops, quartz, fuquets, merrell, and a number of other games, many of which are now unknown. The girls it is almost needless to say from the earliest times played with dolls. Breish, a game in which a brick or a small stick was used, were also a favorite. Marteus, or small quartz, wolf or fox, blind man's buff, hide-and-seek, quartz, etc., were all girls' games. The greater part of these amusements were enlivened by a chorus which all the girls sang together, or by dialogues sung or chanted in unison. If children had their games, which for many generations continued comparatively unchanged, though the dames and the young ladies had theirs, consisting of gallantry and politeness, which only disappeared with those harmless assemblies in which the two sexes vied with each other in urbanity, friendly rogishness, and wit. It would require long antiquarian researches to discover the origin and mode of playing many of these pastimes, such as des eaux, des toisagnes, des accords brigarais, du jardin madame, de l'Africade, du vézot, de l'amic, and a number of others which are named, but not described in the records of the times. The game Alloré, the invention of which is attributed to the troubadour Guillaume Adamer, the jeu des Valentines, or the game of lovers, and the numerous games of forfeits which have come down to us from the courts of love of the Middle Ages, we find to be somewhat deprived of their original simplicity in the way they are now played in the country houses in winter and at village festivals in the summer. But the courts of love are no longer in existence gravely to superintend all these diversions. Amongst the amusements which time has not obliterated, but which on the contrary seem destined to be of longer duration than monuments of stone and brass, we must name dancing, which was certainly one of the principal amusements of society and which has come down to us through all religions, all customs, all people, and all ages, preserving at the same time much of its original character. Dancing appears at each period of the world's history to have been alternately religious and profane, lively and solemn, frivolous and severe. Though dancing was as common an amusement formally as it is now, there was this essential difference between the two periods, namely that certain people such as the Romans were very fond of seeing dancing, but did not join in it themselves. Tiberius drove the dancers out of Rome and de mission dismissed certain senators from their seats in the Senate who had degraded themselves by dancing. And there seems to be no doubt that the Romans from the conquest of Julius Caesar did not themselves patronize the art. There were a number of professional dancers in Gaul, as well as in the other provinces of the Roman Empire, who were hired to dance at feasts and who endeavored to do their best to make their art as popular as possible. The light-heartedness of the Gauls, their natural gaiety, their love for violent exercise, and for pleasures of all sorts, made them delight in dancing and indulge in it with great energy, and thus notwithstanding the repugnance of Roman aristocracy and the prohibitions and anathemas of councils and synods, dancing has always been one of the favorite pastimes of the Gauls and the French. Luce Carin, a writer of doubtful authority, states that in the early history of Christianity the faithful danced, or rather stamped, in measured time during religious ceremonials gesticulating and distorting themselves. This is, however, a mistake. The only thing approaching to it was the slight trace of the ancient pagan dances which remained in the feast of the first Sunday in Lent, and which probably belonged to the religious ceremonies of the druids. At nightfall fires were lighted in public places and numbers of people danced madly round them. Rioting and disorderly conduct often resulted from this popular feast and the magistrates were obliged to interfere in order to suppress it. The church too did not close her eyes to the abuses which this feast engendered, although Episcopal admonitions were not always listened to. We see in the records of one of the most recent councils of Narban that the custom of dancing in the churches and in the cemeteries on certain feasts had not been abolished in some parts of the Languedoc at the end of the sixteenth century. Dancing was at all times forbidden by the Catholic Church on account of its tendency to corrupt the morals, and for centuries ecclesiastical authority was strenuously opposed to it. But, on the other hand, it could not complain of want of encouragement from the civil power. When King Childebert in 554 forbade all dances in his domains, he was only induced to do so by the influence of the bishops. We have but little information respecting the dances of this period, and it would be impossible accurately to determine as to the justice of the being forbidden. There were certainly no longer those war dances which the Franks had brought with them and which antiquarians have mentioned under the name of Pyrrhecian dances. In any case war dances reappeared at the commencement of chivalry, for when a new knight was elected all the knights in full armor performed revolutions either on foot or on horseback to the sound of military music and the populace danced round them. It has been said that this was the origin of Court Ballet, and La Colombière in his Theatre d'Honneur de la Chivalrie relates that this ancient dance of the knights was kept up by the Spaniards, who called it Moresque. The Middle Ages was the great epic for dancing, especially in France. There were an endless number of dancing festivals, and from reading the old poets and romancers one might imagine that the French had never anything better to do than to dance, and that at all hours of the day and night. A curious argument in favor of the practical utility of dancing is suggested by Jean Tabouro in his Au Chésographie, published at Langre in 1588 under the name of Toineau Arbeau. He says, dancing is practiced in order to see whether lovers are healthy and suitable for one another. At the end of a dance the gentlemen are permitted to kiss their mistresses in order that they may ascertain if they have an agreeable breath. In this matter, besides many other good results which follow from dancing, it becomes necessary for the good governing of society. Such was the doctrine of the Courts of Love, which stoutly took up the defense of dancing against the clergy. In those days, as soon as the two sexes were assembled in sufficient numbers, before or after the feasts, the balls began, and men and women took each other by the hand and commenced the performance in regular steps. The author of the poem of Provence called Flamenza thus allegorically describes these amusements. Youth and gayity opened the ball accompanied by their sister Bravery. Cowardice, confused, went of her own accord and hid herself. The tributaurs mention a great number of dances without describing them. No doubt they were so familiar that they thought a description of them needless. They often speak of the Danse au Virle, a kind of round dance, during the performance of which each person in turn sang a verse, the chorus being repeated by all. In the code of the Courts of Love, entitled Arresta Amorum, that is, the Decrees of Love, the pas de braban is mentioned, in which each gentleman bent his knee before his lady, and also the Danse au Chapelet, at the end of which each dancer kissed his lady. Romances of chivalry frequently mention that knights used to dance with the dames and young ladies without taking off their helmets and coats of mail. Although this costume was hardly fitted for the purpose, we find, in the romance of Pères Forêt, that after a repast, whilst the tables were being removed, everything was prepared for a ball, and that although the knights made no change in their accoutrement, yet the ladies went and made fresh toilettes. Then, says the old novelist, the young knights and young ladies began to play their instruments and to have a dance. From this custom may be traced the origin of the ancient Gallic proverb, après la panse vient la danse, after the feast comes the dance. Sometimes a minstrel sang songs to the accompaniment of the harp, and the young ladies danced in couples and repeated at intervals the minstrel's songs. Sometimes the torch dance was performed. In this each performer bore in his hand a long, lighted taper and endeavored to prevent his neighbors from blowing it out, which each one tried to do if possible. The dance, which was in use up to the end of the sixteenth century at court, was generally reserved for weddings. Dancing lost much of its simplicity and harmlessness when masquerades were introduced, these being the first examples of the ballet. These masquerades, which soon after their introduction became passionately indulged in at court, under Charles the Sixth, were at first only allowed during carnival and on particular occasions called charrivaries, and they were usually made the pretext for the practice of the most licentious follies. These masquerades had a most unfortunate inauguration, by the catastrophe which rendered the madness of Charles the Sixth incurable, and which is described in history under the name of the Burning Ballet. It was on the 29th of January, 1393, that this ballet made famous the festival held in the Royal Palace of St. Paul in Paris, on the occasion of the marriage of one of the maids of honour of Queen Isabella of Bavaria, with a gentleman of Vémandoir. The bride was a widow, and the second nuptials were deemed a fitting occasion for the charrivaries. A gentleman from Normandy named Eugonin de Grenzet thought he could create a sensation by having a dance of wild men to please the ladies. He admitted to his plot César, the king, and four of the principal nobles of the court. These all had themselves sewn up in close fitting linen garments covered with resin on which a quantity of toe was glued, and in this guise they appeared in the middle of the ball. The king was alone, but the other four were chained together. They jumped about like madmen, uttered wild cries, and made all sorts of eccentric gestures. No one knew who these hideous objects were, but the Duke of Orléans determined to find out, so he took a candle and imprudently approached too near one of the men. The toe caught fire and the flames enveloped him and the other three who were chained to him in a moment. They were burning for nearly an hour like torches, says a chronicler. The king had the good fortune to escape the peril because the Duchesse de Berrie, his aunt, recognised him and had the presence of mind to envelop him in her train. Such a calamity one would have thought might have been sufficient to disgust people with masquerades, but they were nonetheless in favour at court for many years afterwards. And two centuries later the author of the Orchezographie thus writes on the subject, Kings and princes give dances and masquerades for amusement and in order to afford a joyful welcome to foreign nobles. We also practice the same amusements on the celebration of marriages. In no country in the world was dancing practiced with more grace and elegance than in France. Foreign dances of every kind were introduced and after being remodeled and brought to as great perfection as possible they were often returned to the countries from which they had been imported under almost a new character. In 1548 the dances of the Bernin, which were much admired at the court of the Comte de Foix, especially those called the Danse Maresque and the Danse des Solages, were introduced at the court of France and excited great merriment. So popular did they become that with a little modification they soon were considered essentially French. The German dances which were distinguished by the rapidity of their movements were also thoroughly established at the court of France. Italian, Milanese, Spanish and Piedmontese dances were in fashion in France before the expedition of Charles VIII into Italy. And when this king, followed by his youthful nobility, passed over the mountains to march to the conquest of Naples, he found everywhere in the towns that welcomed him and in which balls and masquerades were given in honour of his visit the Danse à la Mode de France, which consisted of a sort of medley of the dances of all countries. Some hundreds of these dances have been enumerated in the fifth book of the Pantaguel of Rabelais and in various humorous works of those who succeeded him. They owe their success to the singing with which they were generally accompanied or to the postures, pantomimes or droleries with which they were supplemented for the amusement of the spectators. A few, and amongst others, that of the five steps and that of the three faces, are mentioned in the history of the Queen of Navarre. Dances were divided into two distinct classes, Danse basse or common and regular dances, which did not admit of jumping violent movements or extraordinary contortions, and the Danse par eau, which were irregular and comprised all sorts of antics and buffoonery. The regular French dance was a basse dance called the Gaillard. It was accompanied by the sound of the haute-poix and tambourine, and originally it was danced with great form and state. This is the dance which Jean Taboré has described. It began with the two performers standing opposite each other, advancing, bowing and retiring. These advancements and retireings were done in steps to the time of the music, and continued until the instrumental accompaniment stopped. Then the gentleman made his bow to the lady, took her by the hand, thanked her, and led her to her seat. The Tour d'Ian was similar to the Gaillard, only faster and was accompanied with more action. Each province of France had its national dance, such as the Bourrée of Auvergne, the Trioye of Brittany, the Brun of Poitou, and the Valls of Lorraine, which constituted a very agreeable pastime, and one in which the French excelled all other nations. This art, so ancient, so honourable, and so profitable, to use the words of Jean Taboré, was long in esteem in the highest social circles, and the old men liked to display their agility, and the dames and young ladies, to find a temperate exercise calculated to contribute to their health as well as to their amusement. The sixteenth century was the great era of dancing in all the courts of Europe, but under the Valois the art had more charm and prestige at the Court of France than anywhere else. The Queen Mother Catherine, surrounded by a crowd of pretty young ladies who composed what she called her flying squadron, presided at these exciting dances. A certain Balthazar de Beaujouio was master of her ballets, and they danced at the Castle of Blois the night before the Duke de Guise was assassinated, under the eyes of Henry III, just as they had danced at the Chateau of the Tuileries the day after Saint Bartholomew's Day. Section 19 of Manners, Customs, and Dress. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Donna Stewart. Manners, Customs, and Dress during the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance period by Paul de Croix. Section 19. Commerce. State of commerce after the fall of the Roman Empire. Its revival under the Frankish kings. Its prosperity under Charlemagne. Its decline down to the time of the Crusaders. The Levant trade of the East. Flourishing state of the towns of Provence and Languedoc. Establishment of fares. Fares of Lundee, Champagne, Bocair, and Lyon. Weights and Measures. Commercial Flanders. Laws of maritime commerce. Consular laws. Banks and bills of exchange. French. Settlements on the coast of Africa. Consequences of the discovery of America. Commerce in the Middle Ages says Monsieur Charles Grand Maison. Differed but little from that of a more remote period. It was essentially a local and limited traffic, rather inland than maritime, for long and perilous sea voyages only commenced toward the end of the 15th century, or about the time when Columbus discovered America. On the fall of the Roman Empire commerce was rendered insecure and indeed it was almost completely put to a stop by the barbarian invasions and all facility of communication between the different nations and even between towns of the same country was interrupted. In those times of social confusion there were periods of such poverty and distress that for want of money commerce was reduced to the simple exchange of the positive necessaries of life. When order was a little restored and society and the minds of people became more composed we see commerce recovering its position. And France was perhaps the first country in Europe in which this happy change took place. Those famous cities of Gaulle, which ancient authors described to us as so rich and so industrious, quickly recovered their former prosperity and the friendly relations which were established between the kings of the Franks and the Eastern Empire encouraged the Gallic cities in cultivating a commerce, which was at that time the most important and most extensive in the world. Marseille, the ancient Phoenician colony once the rival and then the successor to Carthage, was undoubtedly at the head of the commercial cities of France. Next to her came Oral, which supplied shipbuilders and seamen to the fleet of Provence and Narbonne, which admitted to its harbour ships from Spain, Sicily and Africa until in the consequence of the Ode having changed its course it was obliged to relinquish the greater part of its maritime commerce in favour of Montpellier. Commerce maintained frequent communications with the East. It sought its supplies on the coast of Syria and especially at Alexandria in Egypt, which was a kind of depot for goods obtained from the rich countries lying beyond the Red Sea. The Frank navigators imported from these countries groceries, linen, Egyptian paper, pearls, perfumes and a thousand other rare and choice articles. In exchange they offered chiefly the precious metals in bars rather than coined, and it is probable that at this period they also exported iron, wines, oil and wax. The agricultural produce and manufacturers of gall had not sufficiently developed to provide anything more than what was required for the producers themselves. Industry was as yet if not purely domestic, confined to monasteries and to the houses of the nobility. And even the kings employed women or serf workmen to manufacture the coarse stuffs with which they clothed themselves and their households. We may add that the bad state of the roads, the little security they offered to travellers, the extortions of all kinds to which foreign merchants were subjected, and above all the iniquitous system of fines and tolls which each landowner thought right to exact before letting merchandise pass through his domains. All created insuperable obstacles to the development of commerce. The Frank kings on several occasions evinced a desire that communications favourable to trade should be re-established in their dominions. We find, for instance, Shilperic making treaties with Eastern emperors in favour of the merchants of Agda and Marseilles, Queen Brunao making viaducts worthy of the Romans and which still bear her name, and Dagoburt opening at Sandini free fares, that is to say free or nearly so from all tolls and taxes to which goods both agricultural and manufactured were sent from every corner of Europe and the known world to be afterwards distributed through the towns and provinces by the enterprise of internal commerce. After the reign of Dagoburt commerce again declined without positively ceasing, for the revolution which transferred the power of the kings to the mayors of the palace was not of a nature to exhaust the resources of public prosperity, and a charter of Seven Ten proves that the merchants of Saxony, England, Normandy, and even Hungary still flocked to the fares of Sandini. Under the powerful and administrative hand of Charlemagne, the roads being better kept up and the rivers being made more navigable, commerce became safe and more general. The coasts were protected from piratical incursions, lighthouses were erected at dangerous points to prevent shipwrecks, and treaties of commerce with foreign nations including even the most distant guaranteed the liberty and security of French traders abroad. Under the weak successors of this monarch, notwithstanding their many efforts, commerce was again subjected to all sorts of injustice and extortions, and all its safeguards were rapidly destroyed. The Moors in the south and the Normans in the north appeared to desire to destroy everything which came their way, and already Marseille, in 838, was taken and pillaged by the Greeks. The constant altercations between the sons of Louis le Debonair and their unfortunate father, their jealousies amongst themselves and their fratricidal wars, increased the measure of public calamity so that soon, overrun by foreign enemies and destroyed by her own sons, France became a vast field of disorder and desolation. The Church, which alone possessed some social influence, never ceased to use its authority in endeavouring to remedy this miserable state of things, but Episcopal edicts, papal anathemas and decrees of councils had only a partial effect at this unhappy period. At any moment agricultural and commercial operations were liable to be interrupted if not completely ruined by the violence of a wild and rapacious soldiery. At every step the roads, often impassable, were intercepted by toll-bars for some dew of a vexatious nature, besides being continually infested by bands of brigands who carried off the merchandise and murdered those few merchants who were so bold as to attempt to continue their business. It was the Church, occupied as she was with the interests of civilization, who again assisted commerce to emerge from the state of annihilation into which it had fallen. And the peace or truce of God, established in 1041, endeavored to stop at least the internal wars of feudalism, and it succeeded, at any rate for a time, in arresting these disorders. This was all that could be done at that period and the Church accomplished it by taking the high hand. And with as much unselfishness as energy and courage she regulated society which had been abandoned by the civil power from sheer impotence and want of administrative capability. At all events, thanks to ecclesiastical foresight which increased the number of fairs and markets at the gates of Abbey's and Convents, the first step was made toward the general resuscitation of commerce. Indeed, the Church may be said to have largely contributed to develop the spirit of progress and liberty whence were to spring societies and nationalities, and in a word, modern organization. The Eastern commerce furnished the first elements of that trading activity which showed itself on the borders of the Mediterranean, and we find the ancient towns of Provence and Languedoc springing up again by the aid of the republics of Amalfi, Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, which had become the rich depots of all maritime trade. At first, as we have already stated, the wares of India came to Europe through the Greek port of Alexandria or through Constantinople. The Crusades, which had facilitated the relations with Eastern countries, developed a taste in the West for their indigenous productions, gave a fresh vigor to this foreign commerce, and rendered it more productive by removing the stumbling blocks which had arrested its progress. The conquest of Palestine by the Crusaders had first opened all the towns and harbors of this wealthy region to Western traders, and many of them were able permanently to establish themselves there, with all sorts of privileges and exemptions from taxes which were gladly offered to them by the nobles who had transferred futile power to musclemen territories. Ocean commerce assumed from this moment proportions hitherto unknown. Notwithstanding the papal bulls and decrees which forbade Christians from having any connection with infidels, the voice of interest was more listened to than that of the church, and traders did not fear to disobey the political and religious orders which forbade them to carry arms and slaves to the enemies of the faith. It was easy to foretell from the very first that the military occupation of the Holy Land would not be permanent. In consequence of this, therefore, the nearer the loss of this fine conquest seemed to be the greater were the efforts made by the maritime towns of the West to re-establish on a more permanent and lasting basis a commercial alliance with Egypt, the country which they selected to replace Palestine in a mercantile point of view. Marseille was the greatest supporter of this intercourse with Egypt, and in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries she reached a very high position which she owed to her shipowners and traders. In the fourteenth century, however, the princes of the House of Anjou ruined her, like the rest of Provence, in the great and fruitless efforts which they made to recover the kingdom of Naples, and it was not until the reign of Louis XI that the old Phoenician city recovered its maritime and commercial prosperity. Langedoc, depressed and for a time nearly ruined in the thirteenth century by the effect of the wars of the Albigencies, was enabled subsequently to recover itself. Baizier, Agde, Narbonne, and especially Montpellier so quickly established important trading connections with all the ports of the Mediterranean, that at the end of the fourteenth century consuls were appointed at each of these towns in order to protect and direct transmarine commerce. A traveler of the twelfth century, Benjamin de Tudel, relates that in these ports which were afterwards called the Stepping Stones to the Levant, every language in the world might be heard. Choulouse was soon on a par with the towns of Lower Langedoc, and the Garonne poured into the markets not only the produce of Guyenne and of the western parts of France, but those of Flanders, Normandy, and England. We may observe, however, that Bordeaux, although placed in a most advantageous position at the mouth of the river, only possessed, when under the English dominion, a very limited commerce, principally confined to the export of wines to Great Britain in exchange for oil, corn, etc. La Rochelle, on the same coast, was much more flourishing at this period, owing to the numerous coasters which carried the wines of Oni and Saint-Ange, and the salt of Bruage to Flanders, the Netherlands, and the north of Germany. Vitrae, also had its silk manufactories in the fifteenth century and Nantes, gave promise of her future greatness as a depot of maritime commerce. It was about this time also that the fisheries became a new industry, in which Bayonne and a few villages on the seacoast took the lead, some being especially engaged in whaling and others in the cod and herring industries. Long before this, Normandy had depended on other branches of trade for its commercial prosperity. Its fabrics of woollen stuffs, its arms and cutlery, besides the agricultural productions of its fertile and well cultivated soil, each furnished material for export on a large scale. The towns of Rouen and Caen were especially manufacturing cities and were very rich. This was the case with Rouen particularly, which was situated on the Seine, and was at that time an extensive depot for provisions and other merchandise which were sent down the river for export or was imported for future internal consumption. Already Paris, the abode of kings and the metropolis of government, began to foreshadow the immense development which it was destined to undergo by becoming the centre of commercial affairs and by daily adding to its labouring and mercantile population. It was however outside the walls of Paris that commerce, which needed liberty as well as protection, at first progressed most rapidly. The northern provinces had early united manufacturing industry with traffic and this double source of local prosperity was the origin of their enormous wealth. Ghent and Bruges in the Low Countries and Beauvais and Arras were celebrated for their manufacture of cloths, carpets and surge, and Cambrai for its fine cloths. The artisans and merchants of these industrious cities then established their powerful corporations whose unwirried energy gave rise to that commercial freedom so favourable to trade. More important than the woolen manufacturers, for the greater part of the wool used was brought from England, was the manufacture of flax in as much as it encouraged agriculture, the raw material being produced in France. This first flourished in the northeast of France and spread slowly to Picardie, to Beauvais and Brittany. The central countries, with the exception of Bruges, whose cloth manufactories were already celebrated in the fifteenth century, remained essentially agricultural and their principal towns were merely depots for imported goods. The institution of fares however rendered, it is true, this commerce of some of the towns as widespread as it was productive. In the Middle Ages, religious feasts and ceremonials almost always gave rise to fares, which commerce was not slow in multiplying as much as possible. The merchants naturally came to exhibit their goods where the largest concourse of people afforded the greatest promise of their readily disposing of them. As early as the first dynasty of Merovingian kings, temporary and periodical markets of this kind existed, but except at Saint-Denis, articles of local consumption only were brought to them. The reasons for this were the heavy taxes that were levied by the feudal lords on all merchandise exhibited for sale and the danger which foreign merchants ran of being plundered on their way or even at the fair itself. These causes for a long time delayed the progress of an institution which was afterwards destined to become so useful and beneficial to all classes of the community. We have several times mentioned the famous fair of Landis, which is supposed to have been established by Charlemagne, but which no doubt was a sort of revival of the fairs of Saint-Denis founded by de Gaubart and which for a time had fallen into disuse in the midst of the general ruin which preceded that emperor's reign. This fair of Landis was renowned over the whole of Europe and attracted merchants from all countries. It was held in the month of June and lasted only fifteen days. Goods of all sorts both of home and foreign manufacture were sold, but the sale of parchment was the principal object of the fair to purchase a supply of which the University of Paris regularly went in procession. On account of its special character, this fair was of less general importance than the six others which from the twelfth century were held at Trois, Provin, Lanus-sur-Main, Rimes, and Bas-sur-Obe. These infused so much commercial vitality into the province of Champagne that the nobles for the most part shook off the prejudice which forbade their entering into any sort of trading association. Fairs multiplied in the center and in the south of France simultaneously. Those of Puy-en-Valais, now the capital of the Haute-Loire, are looked upon as the most ancient and they preserved their old reputation and attracted a considerable concourse of people which was also increased by the pilgrimages then made to Notre-Dame de Puy. These fairs which were more of a religious than a commercial character were then of less importance as regards trade than those held at Bocaire. This town rose to great repute in the thirteenth century and with the Lyon market became at that time the largest center of commerce in the southern provinces. Placed at the junction of the Saon and the Rhône, Lyon owed its commercial development to the proximity of Marseille and the towns of Italy. Its four annual fairs were always much frequented and when the Kings of France transferred to it the privileges of the fairs of Champagne and transplanted to within its walls the silk manufactories formerly established at tours Lyon really became the second city of France. It may be asserted as an established fact that the gradual extension of the power of the King produced by the fall of feudalism was favorable to the extension of commerce. As early as the reign of Louis IX many laws and regulations proved that the Kings were alive to the importance of trade. Among the chief enactments was one which led to the formation of the harbor of Aig Mort on the Mediterranean. Another to the publication of the Book of Weights and Measures by Etienne Boileau, a work in which the ancient statutes of the various trades were arranged and codified and a third to the enactment made in the very year of this King's death to guarantee the security of vendors and at the same time to ensure purchasers against fraud. All these bear undoubted witness that an enlightened policy of favor of commerce had already sprung up. Philip LeBel issued several prohibitory enactments also in the interest of home commerce and local industry which Louis X confirmed. Philip LeLong attempted even to outdo the judicious efforts of Louis XI and tried, though unsuccessfully, to establish a uniformity in the weights and measures throughout the Kingdom. A reform however which was never accomplished until the Revolution of 1789. It is difficult to credit how many different weights and measures were in use at that time, each one varying according to local custom or the choice of the Lord of the Soil, who probably in some way profited by the confusion which this uncertain state of things must have produced. The fraud and errors to which this led may easily be imagined, particularly in the intercourse between one part of the country and another. The feudal stamp is here thoroughly exhibited as M. Charles de Grand Maison remarks, Nothing is fixed, nothing is uniform, everything is special and arbitrary, settled by the Lord of the Soil by virtue of his right of justesse by which he undertook the regulation and superintendence of the weights and measures in use in his lordship. Measures of length and contents often differed much from one another, although they might be similarly named and it would require very complicated comparative tables approximately to fix their value. The pied-de-rois was from ten to twelve inches and was the least varying measure. The fathom differed much in different parts and in the attempt to determine the relations between the innumerable measures of contents which we find recorded, a knowledge of which must have been necessary for the commerce of the period, we are stopped by a labyrinth of incomprehensible calculations which it is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty. The weights were more uniform and less uncertain. The pound was everywhere in use but it was not everywhere of the same standard. For instance, at Paris it weighed sixteen ounces whereas at Lyon it only weighed fourteen and in weighing silk fifteen ounces to the pound was the rule. At Toulouse and in Upper Languedoc the pound was only thirteen and a half ounces, at Marseille thirteen ounces and at other places it even fell to twelve ounces. There was in Paris a public scale called Poit-du-rois but this scale, though a most important means of revenue, was a great hindrance to retail trade. In spite of these petty and irritating impediments the commerce of France extended throughout the whole world. The compass known in Italy as early as the 12th century but little used until the 14th enabled the mercantile navy to discover new routes and it was thus that true maritime commerce may be said regularly to have begun. The sailors of the Mediterranean with the help of this little instrument dared to pass the Straits of Gibraltar and to venture on the ocean. From that moment commercial intercourse which had previously only existed by land and that with great difficulty was permanently established between the northern and southern harbors of Europe. Flanders was the central port for merchant vessels which arrived in great numbers from the Mediterranean and Bruges became the principal depot. The Teutonic League, the origin of which dates from the 13th century and which formed the most powerful Confederacy recorded in history also sent innumerable vessels from its harbors of Lubeck and Hamburg. These carried the merchandise from the northern countries into Flanders and this rich province which excelled in every branch of industry and especially in those relating to metals and weaving became the great market of Europe. The commercial movement formerly limited to the shores of the Mediterranean extended to parts and gradually became universal. The northern states shared in it and England which for a long time kept aloof from a stage on which it was destined to play the first part began to give indications of its future commercial greatness. The number of transactions increased as the facility for carrying them on became greater. Consumption being extended, production progressively followed and so commerce went on gaining strength as it widened its sphere. Everything in fact seemed to contribute to its expansion. The downfall of the feudal system and the establishment in each country of a central power more or less strong and respected enabled it to extend its operations by land with a degree of security hitherto unknown and at the same time international legislation came in to protect maritime trade which was still exposed to great dangers. The sea which was opened freely to the whole human race gave robbers comparatively easy means of following their nefarious practices and with less fear of punishment than they could obtain on the shore of civilized countries. For this reason piracy continued its depredations long after the enactment of severe laws for its suppression. This maritime legislation did not wait for the 16th century to come into existence. Maritime law was promulgated more or less in the 12th century but the troubles and agitations which weakened and disorganized empires during that period of the Middle Ages deprived it of its power and efficiency. The Code des Rodiens dates as far back as 1167. The Code de la Mer which became a sort of recognized textbook dates from the same period. The Loire d'Holléran is anterior to the 12th century and ruled the western coasts of France also being adopted in Flanders and in England. Venice dated her most ancient law on maritime rights from 1255 and the statutes of Marseille date from 1254. The period of the establishment of commercial law and justice corresponds with that of the introduction of national and universal codes of law and consular jurisdiction. These may be said to have originated in the 6th century in the laws of the Visigoths which empowered foreign traders to be judged by delegates from their own countries. The Venetians had consuls in the Greek Empire as early as the 10th century and we may fairly presume that the French had consuls in Palestine during the reign of Charlemagne. In the 13th century the towns of Italy had consular agents in France and Marseille had them in Savoy, in Oral and in Genoa. Thus traders of each country were always sure of finding justice, assistance and protection in all the centres of European commerce. Numerous facilities for barter were added to these advantages. Merchants who at first travelled with their merchandise and who afterwards merely sent a factor as their representative finally consigned it to foreign agents. Communication by correspondence in this way became more general and paper replaced parchment as being less rare and less expensive. The introduction of Arabic figures which were more convenient than the Roman numerals for making calculations, the establishment of banks off which the most ancient was in operation in Venice as early as the 12th century, the invention of bills of exchange attributed to the Jews generally in use in the 13th century, the establishment of insurance against the risks and perils of sea and land and lastly the formation of trading companies or what are now called partnerships all tended to give expansion and activity to commerce whereby public and private wealth was increased in spite of obstacles which routine, envy and ill-will persistently raised against great commercial enterprises. For a long time the French through indolence or antipathy, for it was more to their liking to be occupied with arms and chivalry than with matters of interest and profit took but a feeble part in the trade which was carried on so successfully on their own territory. The nobles were ashamed to mix and commerce considering it unworthy of them and the bourgeois for want of liberal feeling and expansiveness in their ideas were satisfied with appropriating merely local trade. Foreign commerce, even of the most lucrative description was handed over to foreigners and especially to Jews who were often banished from the kingdom and as frequently ransomed though universally despised and hated. Notwithstanding this they succeeded in rising to wealth under the stigma of shame and infamy and the immense gains which they realized by means of usury and ensiled them too and consoled them for the ill treatment to which they were subjected. At a very early period and especially when the Jews had been absolutely expelled the advantage of exclusively trading with and securing the rich profits from France had attracted the Italians who were frequently only Jews in disguise concealing themselves as to their character under the generic name of Lombards. It was under this name that the French kings gave them on different occasions various privileges when they frequented the fares of Champagne and came to establish themselves in the inland and seaport towns. These Italians constituted the great corporation of money-changers in Paris and hoarded in their coffers all the corn of the kingdom and in this way caused a perpetual variation in the value of money by which they themselves benefited. In the 16th century the wars of Italy rather changed matters and we find royal and important concessions increasing in favor of Castilians and other Spaniards whom the people maliciously called Negros and who had emigrated in order to engage in commerce and manufactures in Sant'Anges, Normandy, Burgundy, Agenois and Languedoc. About the time of Louis XI the French becoming more alive to their true interests began to manage their own affairs following the suggestions and advice of the king whose democratic interests prompted him to encourage and favor the bourgeois. This result was also attributable to the state of peace and security which then began to exist in the kingdom impoverished and distracted as it had been by a hundred years of domestic and foreign warfare. From 1365 to 1382 factories and warehouses were founded by Norman navigators on the western coast of Africa in Senegal and Guinea. Numerous fleets of merchant men of great size for those days were employed in transporting cloth, grains of all kinds, knives, brandy, salt and other merchandise which were bartered for leather, ivory, gum, amber and gold dust. Considerable profits were realized by the ship owners and merchants who, like Jacques Kerr, employed ships for the purpose of carrying on these large and lucrative commercial operations. These facts sufficiently testified the condition of France at this period and proved that this, like other branches of human industry, was arrested in its expansion by the political troubles which followed in the 14th and 15th centuries. Fortunately these social troubles were not universal and it was just at the period when France was struggling and had become exhausted and impoverished that the Portuguese extended their discoveries on the same coast of Africa and soon after succeeded in rounding the Cape of Good Hope and opening a new maritime road to India, a country which was always attractive from the commercial advantages which it offered. Some years after, Christopher Columbus, the Genoese, more daring and more fortunate still, guided by the compass and impelled by his own genius, discovered a new continent, the fourth continent of the world. This unexpected event, the greatest and most remarkable of the age, necessarily enlarged the field for produce as well as for consumption to an enormous extent and naturally added not only to the variety and quantity of exchangeable wares but also to the production of the precious metals and brought about a complete revolution in the laws of the whole civilized world. Maritime commerce immediately acquired an extraordinary development and merchants forsaking the harbors of the Mediterranean and even those of the Levant which then seemed to them scarcely worthy of notice sent their vessels by thousands upon the ocean in pursuit of the wonderful riches of the new world. The day of the caravans and coasting had passed. Venice had lost its splendor. The sway of the Mediterranean was over. The commerce of the world was suddenly transferred from the active and industrious towns of that sea which had so long monopolized it to the Western nations, to the Portuguese and Spaniards first and then to the Dutch and English. France, absorbed in and almost ruined by civil war and above all by religious dissensions, only played a subordinate part in this commercial and pacific revolution. Although it has been said that the sailors of Dieppe and en Fleur really discovered America before Columbus. Nevertheless the kings of France, Louis XII, Francis I and Henry II tried to establish and encourage transatlantic voyages and to create in the interest of French commerce colonies on the coasts of the new world from Florida and Virginia to Canada. But these colonies had but a precarious and transitory existence. Fisheries alone succeeded and French commerce continued insignificant, circumscribed and domestic notwithstanding the increasing requirements of luxury at court. This luxury contented itself with the use of the merchandise which arrived from the Low Countries, Spain and Italy. National industry did all in its power to surmount this ignominious condition. She especially turned her attention to the manufacture of silks and of stuffs tissueed with gold and silver. The only practical attempt of the government in the 16th century to protect commerce and manufactures was to forbid the import of foreign merchandise and to endeavor to oppose the progress of luxury by rigid enactments. Certainly the government of that time little understood the advantages which a country derived from commerce when it forbade the higher classes from engaging in mercantile pursuits under penalty of having their privileges of nobility withdrawn from them. In the face of the examples of Italy, Genoa, Venice and especially of Florence where the nobles were all traders or sons of traders, the kings of the line of Valois thought proper to make this enactment. The desire seemed to be to make the merchant class a separate class, stationary and consisting exclusively of bourgeois shut up in their counting houses and prevented in every way from participating in public life. The merchants became indignant at this banishment and in order to employ their leisure they plunged with all their energy into the sanguinary struggles of reform and of the league. It was not until the reign of Henry IV that they again confined themselves to their occupations as merchants when Sully published the political suggestions of his master for renewing commercial prosperity. From this time a new era commenced in the commercial destiny of France. Commerce fostered and protected by statesmen sought to extend its operations with greater freedom and power. Companies were formed at Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Rouen to carry French merchandise all over the world and the rules of the mercantile associations in spite of the routine and jealousies which guided the trade corporations became the code which afterwards regulated commerce. End of section 19 Recording by Donna Stewart, Seattle, Washington Section 20 of Manors, Customs and Dress This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Donna Stewart Manors, Customs and Dresses Manors, Customs and Dress during the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance period by Paul Lacroix, Section 20 Guilds and Trade Corporations Uncertain Origins of Corporations Ancient Industrial Associations The Germanic Guild Colleges Teutonic Associations The Paris Company for the Transit of Merchandise by Water Corporations Properly so called Etienne Boiello's Book of Trades or the First Code of Regulations The Laws Governing Trades Public and Private Organization of Trade Corporations and Other Communities Energy of the Corporations Masters, Journeymen, Supernumeraries and Apprentices Religious Festivals and Trade Societies Learned Authorities have frequently discussed, without agreeing on the question of the origin of the corporations of the Middle Ages. It may be admitted, we think a priori, that associations of artisans were as ancient as the trades themselves. It may readily be imagined that the numerous members of the industrial classes having to maintain and defend their common rights and common interests would have sought to establish mutual internal associations among themselves. The deeper we dive into the ancient history, the clearer we perceive traces, more or less distinct, of these kinds of associations. To cite only two examples which may serve to some extent as an historical parallel to the analogous institutions of the present day we may mention the Roman colleges which were really leagues of artisans following the same calling and the Scandinavian guilds whose object was to assimilate the different branches of industry and trade either of a city or of some particular district. Indeed, brotherhoods amongst the labouring classes always existed under the German conquerors from the moment when Europe, so long divided into Roman provinces, shook off the yoke of subjection to Rome, although she still adhered to the laws and customs of the nation which had held her in action for so many generations. We can, however, only regard the few traces which remain of these brotherhoods as evidence of their having once existed and not as indicative of their having been in a flourishing state. In the fifth century the hermit Ampelius in his Legends of the Saints mentions consuls or chiefs of locksmiths. The corporation of goldsmiths is spoken of as existing in the first dynasty of the French kings. Bakers are named collectively in 630 in the laws of Dagoburt which seems to show that they formed a sort of trade union at that remote period. We also see Charlemagne in several of his statutes taking steps in order that the number of persons engaged in providing food of different kinds should everywhere be adequate to provide for the necessities of consumption, which would tend to show a general that most important branch of industry. In Lombardy colleges of artisans were established at an early period and were no doubt on the model of the Roman ones. Ravenna in 943 possessed a college of fishermen and ten years later the records of that town mention a chief of the corporation of traders and in 1001 a chief of the corporation of butchers. France at the same time wrapped up a remembrance of the institutions of Roman Gaul and the ancient colleges of trades still formed associations and companies in Paris and in the larger towns. In 1061 King Philip I granted certain privileges to master chandlers and oilmen. The ancient customs of the butchers are mentioned as early as the time of Louis VII, 1162. The same king married the wife of Yves Lacobre and her heirs, the collectorship of the dues which were payable by tanners, purse-makers, couriers and shoemakers. Under Philip Augustus similar concessions became more frequent and it is evident that at the time trade was beginning to take root and to require special and particular administration. This led to regulations being drawn up for each trade to which Philip Augustus gave his sanction. In 1182 he confirmed the statutes of the butchers and the furriers and drapers also obtained favourable concessions from him. According to the learned Augustan Thierry corporations like civic communities were engrafted on previously existing guilds such as on the colleges or corporations of workmen which were of Roman origin. In the guild they were banquet at common expense. There was a mutual assurance against misfortunes and injuries of all sorts such as fire and shipwreck and also against all lawsuits incurred for offences and crimes even though they were proved against the accused. Each of these associations was placed under the patronage of a god or of a hero and had its compulsory statutes. Each had its chief or president chosen from among the members and a common treasury supplied by annual contributions. Roman colleges as we have already stated were established with a more special purpose and were more exclusively confined to the peculiar trade to which they belonged. But these equally with the guilds possessed a common exchequer enjoyed equal rights and privileges elected their own presidents and celebrated in common their sacrifices, festivals and banquets. We have therefore good reason for agreeing in the opinion of the celebrated historian who considers that in the establishment of a corporation the guild should be to a certain degree the motive power and the Roman college with its organization the material which should be used to bring it into existence. It is certain however that during several centuries corporations were either dissolved by the public notice for they almost entirely disappeared from the historic records during the partial return to barbarism when the production of objects of daily necessity and the preparation of food were entrusted to slaves under the eye of their master. Not till the 12th century did they again begin to flourish and as might be supposed it was Italy which gave the signal for the resuscitation of the institutions whose birthplace and which barbarism had allowed to fall into decay. Brotherhoods of artisans were also founded at an early period in the north of Gaul whence they rapidly spread beyond the Rhine. Under the Emperor Henry I that is, during the 10th century the ordinary condition of artisans in Germany was still serfdom. But two centuries later the greater number of trades in most of the large towns of the empire congregated together in colleges or bodies under the name of unions Einungen or Inungen as for example at Gosler, at Wirtzburg, at Brunswick, etc. These colleges however were not established without much difficulty and without the energetic resistance of the ruling powers in as much as they often raised the pretension so high as to wish to substitute their authority for the senatorial law and thus to grasp the government of the cities. The 13th century witnessed obstinate and sanguinary feuds between these two parties each of which was alternately victorious. Whichever had the upper hand took advantage of the opportunity to carry out the most cruel reprisals against its defeated opponents. The Emperor's Frederick II and Henry VII tried to put an end to these strifes by abolishing the corporations of workmen, but these powerful associations fearlessly opposed the imperial authority. In France the organization of communities of artisans, an organization which in many ways was connected with the commercial movement but which must not be confounded with it, did not give rise to any political difficulty. It seems not even to have met with any opposition from the feudal powers, who no doubt founded an easy pretext for levying additional rates and taxes. The most ancient of these corporations was the Parisian Haunts or Corporation of the bourgeois for canal navigation, which probably dates its origin back to the college of Parisian Note existing before the Roman conquest. This mercantile association held its meetings in the island of Lutitia on the very spot where the Church of Notre-Dame was afterwards built. From the earliest days of the monarchy tradesmen constituted entirely the bourgeois of the towns. Above them were the nobility or clergy. Beneath them the artisans. Hence we can understand how the bourgeois, who during the 12th and 13th centuries were a distinct section of the community, became at last the important commercial body itself. The kings invariably treated them with favour. Louis VI granted them new rights, Louis VII confirmed their ancient privileges and Philip Augustus increased them. The Parisian Haunts succeeded in monopolizing all the commerce which was carried on by water on the Seine and the Yon between Mont and Auxerre. No merchandise coming up or down the stream in boats could be disembarked in the interior of Paris without becoming, as it were, the property of the corporation, which, through its agents superintended its measurement and its sale in bulk and, up to a certain point, its sale by retail. No foreign merchant was permitted to send his goods to Paris without first obtaining lettre de haunts whereby he had associated with him a bourgeois of the town who acted as his guarantee and who shared in his profits. There were associations of the same kind in most of the commercial towns situated on the banks of rivers and on the seacoast, as, for example, at Rouen, Arles, Marseilles, Narbonne, Toulouse, Radisbon, Augsburg and Utrecht. Sometimes neighbouring towns, such as the great manufacturing cities of Flanders, agreed together and entered into a leagued bond which gave them greater power and constituted an offensive and defensive compact. A typical example of this last institution is that of the commercial association of the Hanseatic towns of Germany which were grouped together to the number of eighty, around their four capitals, Viz, Lubeck, Cologne, Danzig and Brunswick. Although, as we have already seen, previous to the 13th century many of the corporations of artisans had been authorised by several of the kings of France to make special laws whereby they might govern themselves. It was really only from the reign of Saint-Louis that the first general measures of administration and policy relating to these communities can be dated. The king appointed Etienne Boileau, a rich bourgeois provost of the capital, in 1261 to set to work to establish order, wise administration and good faith in the commerce of Paris. To this end he ascertained from the verbal testimony of the senior members of each corporation the customs and usages of the various crafts which for the most part up to that time had not been committed to writing. He arranged and probably amended them in many ways and thus composed the famous Book of Trades, which as Monsieur Depping, the able editor of this valuable publication, first published in 1837, says, has the advantage of being to a great extent the genuine production of the corporations themselves and not a list of rules established and framed by the municipal or judicial authorities. From that time corporations gradually introduced themselves into the order of society. The royal decrees in their favour were multiplied and the immigrants regarded to mechanical trades daily improved not only in Paris and the provinces but also a broad both in the north and the south of Europe, especially in Italy, Germany, England and the Low Countries. Etienne Boilot's Book of Trades contained the rules of 100 different trade associations. It must be observed, however that several of the most important tanners, glazers, etc. were omitted, either because they neglected to be registered at the Châtelet where the inquiry superintended by Boileau was made, or because some private interest induced them to keep aloof from this registration, which probably imposed some sort of fine and attacks upon them. In the following century the number of freight associations considerably increased, and wonderfully so during the reigns of the last of the Valois and the first of the Bourbons. The historian in the Antiquities of Paris, Henry Soval, enumerated no fewer than fifteen-hundred and fifty-one trade associations in the capital alone in the middle of the seventeenth century. It must be remarked, however, that the societies of artisans were much subdivided, owing to the simple fact that each craft could only practice its own special work. Thus in Boileau's book we find four different corporations of patin notrier, or makers of chaplets, six of hatters, six of weavers, etc. Besides these societies of artisans there were in Paris a few privileged corporations which occupied a more important position and were known under the name of Gord de Merchand. Their number at first frequently varied, but finally it was settled at six, and they were termed Lacey-scar. They comprised the drapers, which always took precedence of the five others, the grocers, the mercers, the furriers, the hatters, and the goldsmiths. These five, for a long time, disputed the question of precedence, and finally they decided the matter by lot, as they were not able to agree in any other way. Apart from the privilege which these six bodies of merchants exclusively enjoyed of being called upon to appear, though at their own expense, in the civic processions and at public ceremonials, and to carry the canopy over the heads of kings, queens, or princes on their state entry into the capital, it would be difficult to specify the nature of the privileges which were granted to them and off which they were so jealous. It is clear, however, that these six bodies were imbued with a kind of aristocratic spirit which made them place trading much above handicraft in their own class, and set a high value on calling themselves as merchants. Thus contemporary historians tell us that any merchant who compromised the dignity of the company fell into the class of the lower orders, that mercers boasted of excluding from their body the upholsterers who were but artisans, that hatters who were admitted into the sea score to replace one of the other trades, became inconsequence merchants instead of artisans which they had been up to that time. Notwithstanding the statutes so carefully compiled and revised by Etienne Boileau and his successors, and in spite of the numerous arbitrary rules which the sovereigns, the magistrates, and the corporations themselves, strenuously endeavour to frame, order and unity were far from governing the commerce and industry of Paris during the Middle Ages, and what took place in Paris generally repeated itself elsewhere. Serious disputes continually arose between the authorities and those amenable to their jurisdiction, and between the various crafts themselves, notwithstanding the relation which they bore to each other from the similarity of their employments. In fact, in this, as in many other matters, social disorder often emanated from the powers whose duty it was in the first instance to have repressed it. Thus, at the time when Philip Augustus extended the boundaries of his capital so as to include the boroughs in it, which until then had been separated from the city, the lay and clerical lords under whose feudal dominion those districts had hitherto been placed, naturally insisted upon preserving all their rights. So forcibly did they do this that the king was obliged to recognize their claims, and in several boroughs including the Bourg-la-Baye, the Beaubourg, the Bourg-Saint-Germain, and the Bourg-au-Cérra, etc., there were trade associations completely distinct from and independent of those of ancient Paris. If we simply limit our examination to that of the condition of the trade associations which held their authority immediately from royalty, we still see that the causes of confusion were by no means trifling. For the majority of the high officers of the crown, acting as delegates of the royal authority, were always disputing amongst themselves the right of superintending, protecting, judging, punishing, and above all of exacting tribute from the members of the various trades. The king granted to various officers the privilege of arbitrarily disposing of the freedom of each trade for their own profit, and thereby gave them power over all the merchants and craftsmen who were officially connected with them, not only in Paris but also throughout the whole kingdom. Thus the Lord Chamberlain had jurisdiction over the drapers, mercers, furriers, shoemakers, tailors, and other dealers in articles of wearing apparel. The barbers were governed by the king's varlet and barber. The head baker was governor over the bakers and the head butler over the wine merchants. These state officers granted freedoms to artisans, or in other words, they gave them the right to exercise such and such a craft with assistance or companions, exacting for the performance of this trifling act of very considerable tax. And, as they preferred receiving their revenues without the annoyance of having direct communication with their humble subjects, they appointed deputies who were authorized to collect them in their names. The most celebrated of these deputies were the Hois des Merciers, who lived on the fat of the land in complete idleness, and who were surrounded by a mercantile court which appeared in all its splendor at the trade festivals. The great officers of the crown exercised in their own interests and without a thought for the public advantage a complete magisterial jurisdiction over all crafts. They adjudicated in disputes arising between masters and men, decided quarrels, visited either personally or through their deputies, the houses of the merchants in order to discover frauds or infractions in the rules of the trade, and levied fines accordingly. We must remember that the collectors of court dues had always to contend for the free exercise of their jurisdiction against the provost of Paris, who considered their acquisitions of authority as interfering with his personal prerogatives, and who therefore persistently opposed them on all occasions. For instance, if the head baker ordered an artisan of the same trade to be imprisoned in the Châtelet, the high provost who was governor of the prison released him immediately, and in retaliation, if the high provost punished a baker, the chief baker warmly espoused his subordinate's cause. At other times the artisans, if they were dissatisfied with the deputy appointed by the great officer of the crown whose dependence they were, would refuse to recognize his authority. In this way constant quarrels and interminable lawsuits occurred, and it is easy to understand the disorder which must have arisen from such a state of things. By degrees, however, and in consequence of the new tendencies of royalty which were simply directed to the diminution of feudal power, the numerous jurisdictions relating to the various trades gradually returned to the hand of the municipal provost-chip. And this concentration of power had the best results as well for the public good as for that of the corporations themselves. Having examined intercorporations collectively and also into their general administration, we will now turn to consider their internal organization. It was only after long and difficult struggles that these trade associations succeeded in taking a definite and established position, without however succeeding at any time in organizing themselves as one body on the same basis and with the same privileges. Therefore, in pointing out the influential character of these institutions generally, we must omit various matters specially connected with individual associations which it would be impossible to mention in this brief sketch. In the fourteenth century, the period when the communities of crafts were at the height of their development and power, no association of artisans could legally exist without a license either from the king, the lord, the prince, the abbot, the bailiff, or the mayor of the district in which it proposed to establish itself. These communities had their statutes and privileges. They were distinguished at public ceremonials by their liveries or special dress, as well as by their arms and banners. They possessed the right freely to discuss their general interests and at meetings composed of all their members. They might modify their statutes, provided that such changes were confirmed by the king or by the authorities. It was also necessary that these meetings at which the royal delegates were present should be duly authorized, and lastly, so as to render the communication between members more easy and to facilitate everything which concerned the interests of the craft, traditions of the same trade usually resided in the same quarter of the town, and even in the same street. The names of many streets in Paris and other towns of France testified to this custom, which still partially exists in the towns of Germany and Italy. The communities of artisans had to a certain extent the character and position of private individuals. They had the power in their corporate capacity of holding and administrating property, of defending or bringing actions at law, of accepting inheritances, etc. They dispersed from a common treasury which was supplied by legacies, donations, fines, and periodical subscriptions. These communities exercised in addition, through their jurors, a magisterial authority, and even, under some circumstances, a criminal jurisdiction over their members. For a long time they strove to extend this last power or to keep it independent of municipal control and the supreme courts, by which it was curtailed to that of exercising a simple police authority strictly confined to persons or things relating to the craft. They carefully watched for any infractions of the rules of the trade. They acted as arbitrators between master and man, particularly in quarrels where the parties had recourse to violence. The functions of this kind of domestic magistracy were exercised by officers known under various names, such as kings, masters, elders, guards, syndics, and jurors, who were besides charged to visit the workshops at any hour they pleased in order to see that the laws concerning the articles of workmanship were observed. They also received the taxes for the benefit of the association. And lastly, they examined the apprentices and installed masters into their office. The jurors or syndics, as they were more usually called, and whose number varied according to the importance of numerical force of the corporation, were generally elected by the majority of votes of their fellow workmen, though sometimes the choice of these was entirely in the hands of the great officers of state. It was not infrequent to find women amongst the dignitaries of the arts and crafts, and the professional tribunals which decided every question relative to the community and its members were often held by an equal number of masters and associate craftsmen. The jealous, exclusive, and inflexible spirit of caste, which in the Middle Ages is to be seen almost everywhere, formed one of the principal features of industrial associations. The admission of new members was surrounded with conditions calculated to restrict the number of associates and to discourage candidates. The sons of masters alone enjoyed hereditary privileges, in consequence of which they were always allowed to be admitted without being subjected to the tyrannical yoke of the association. Generally, the members of a corporation were divided into three distinct classes, the masters, the paid attendants or companions, and the apprentices. Apprenticeship, from which the sons of masters were often exempted, began between the ages of twelve and seventeen years and lasted from two to five years. In most of the trades the masters could only receive one apprentice in his house besides his own son. Tanners, dyers, and goldsmiths were allowed one of their relatives in addition, or a second apprentice if they had no relation willing to learn their trade. And although some commoner trades, such as butchers and bakers, were allowed an unlimited number of apprentices, the custom of restriction had become a sort of general law with the object of limiting the number of masters and workmen to the requirements of the public. The position of paid assistant or companion was required to be held in many trades for a certain length of time before promotion to mastership could be obtained. When apprentices or companions wished to become masters, they were called aspirants and were subjected to successive examinations. They were particularly required to prove their ability by executing what was termed a chef d'oeuvre, which consisted in fabricating a perfect specimen of whatever craft they practiced. The execution of the chef d'oeuvre gave rise to many technical formalities which were at times most frivolous. The aspirant in certain cases had to pass a technical examination. As, for instance, the barber in forging and polishing lancets, the wool weaver in making and adjusting the different parts of his loom. And during the period of executing the chef d'oeuvre, which often extended over several months, the aspirant was deprived of all communication with his fellows. He had to work at the office of the association, which was called the Bureau, under the eyes of the jurors or syndics, who, often after an angry debate, issued their judgment upon the merits of the work and the capability of the workmen. On his admission the aspirant had first to take again the oath of allegiance to the king before the provost or civil deputy, although he had already done so on commencing his apprenticeship. He then had to pay a duty or fee, which was divided between the sovereign or lord and the brotherhood, from which fee the sons of masters always obtained a considerable abatement. Often too the husbands of the daughters of masters were exempted from paying the duties. A few masters, such as the gold smiths and the cloth-workers, had besides to pay a sum of money by way of guarantee which remained in the funds of the craft as long as they carried on the trade. After these forms had been complied with, the masters acquired the exclusive privilege of freely exercising their profession. There were, however, certain exceptions to this rule, for a king on his coronation, a prince or princess of the royal blood at the time of his or her marriage, and in certain towns the bishop on his installation, had the right of creating one or more masters in each trade, and these received their license without going through any of the usual formalities. A widower or widow might generally continue the craft of the deceased wife or husband who had acquired the freedom and which thus became the inheritance of the survivor. The condition, however, was that he or she did not contract a second marriage with anyone who did not belong to the craft. Masters lost their rights directly they worked for any other master and received wages. Certain freedoms too were only available in the towns in which they had been obtained. In more than one craft, when a family holding the freedom became extinct, their premises and tools became the property of the corporation, subject to an indemnity payable to the next of kin. At times and particularly in those trades where the aspirants were not required to produce a chef-dove, the installation of masters was accompanied with extraordinary ceremonies which no doubt originally possessed some symbolical meaning but which, having lost their true signification, became singular and appeared even ludicrous. Thus with the bakers, after four years' apprenticeship the candidate on purchasing the freedom from the king issued from his door escorted by all the other bakers of the town bearing a new pot filled with walnuts and wafers. On arriving before the chief of the corporation he said to him, Master I have accomplished my four years, here is my pot filled with walnuts and wafers. The assistance in the ceremony having vouched for the truth of this statement the candidate broke the pot against the wall and the chief solemnly pronounced his admission, which was inaugurated by the older masters emptying a number of tankards of wine or beer at the expense of their new brother. The ceremony was also of a jovial character in the case of millwrights who only admitted the candidate after he had received a caning on the shoulders from the last elected brother. The statutes of the corporations which had the force of law on account of being approved and accepted by royal authority, almost always detailed with the greatest precision the conditions of labor. They fixed the hours and days for working, the size of the articles to be made, the quality of the stuffs used in their manufacture, and even the price at which they were to be sold. Night labor was pretty generally forbidden, as likely to produce only imperfect work. We nevertheless find that carpenters were permitted to make coffins and other funeral articles by night. On the eve of religious feasts the shops were shut earlier than usual, that is to say at three o'clock, and were not opened on the next day with the exception of those of pastry cooks, whose assistance was especially required on feast days, and who sold curious varieties of cakes and sweet meats. Notwithstanding the strictness of the rules and the administrative laws of each trade, which were intended to secure good faith and loyalty between the various members, it is unnecessary to state that they were frequently violated. The fines which were then imposed on delinquents constituted an important source of revenue, not only to the corporations themselves but also to the town treasury. The penalty, however, was not always a pecuniary one, for as late as the fifteenth century we have instances of artisans being condemned to death simply for having adulterated their articles of trade. This deception was looked upon as of the nature of robbery, which we know to have been for a long time punishable by death. Robbery on the part of merchants found no indulgence nor pardon in those days, and the whole corporation demanded immediate and exemplary justice. According to the statutes, which generally tended to prevent frauds and falsifications, in most crafts the masters were bound to put their trademark on their goods, or some particular sign which was to be a guarantee for the purchaser, and one means of identifying the culprit in the event of complaints arising on account of the bad quality or bad workmanship of the article sold. Besides taking various steps to maintain professional integrity, the framers of the various statutes, as a safeguard to the public interests, undertook also to inculcate morality and good feeling amongst their members. A youth could not be admitted unless he could prove his legitimacy of birth by his baptismal register, and to obtain the freedom he was bound to bear an irreproachable character. Artisans exposed themselves to a reprimand and even to bodily chastisement from the corporation for even associating with, and certainly for working or drinking with, those who had been expelled. Licentiousness and misconduct of any kind rendered them liable to be deprived of their mastership. In some trade associations all the members were bound to solemnize the day of the decease of a brother, to assist at his funeral, and to follow him to the grave. In another community the slightest indecent or discourteous word was punishable by a fine. A new master could not establish himself in the same street as his former master, except at a distance which was determined by the statutes, and further no member was allowed to ask for or attract customers when the latter were nearer the shop of his neighbor than of his own. In the Middle Ages religion placed its stamp on every occupation and calling, and corporations were careful to maintain this characteristic feature. Each was under the patronage of some saint who was considered the special protector of the craft. Each possessed a shrine or chapel in some church of the quarter where the trade was located, and some even kept chaplains at their own expense for the celebration of masses which were daily said for the souls of the good deceased members of the craft. These associations, animated by Christian charity, took upon them to invoke the blessings of heaven on all members of the fraternity, and to assist those who were either laid by through sickness or want of work, and to take care of the widows and to help the orphans of the less prosperous craftsmen. They also gave alms to the poor and presented the broken meat left at their banquets to the hospitals. Under the name of Gasson, or Campagnon de Devoir, this surname was at first specially applied to carpenters and masons who from a very ancient date formed an important association which was partly secret and from which free masonry traces its origin. The companions, notwithstanding that they belonged to the community of their own special craft, also formed distinct corporations among themselves with a view to mutual assistance. They made a point of visiting any foreign workmen on his arrival in their town, supplied his first requirements, found him work, and, when work was wanting, the oldest companion gave up his place to him. These associations of companionship, however, soon failed to carry out the noble object for which they were instituted. After a time the meeting together of the fraternity was but a pretext for intemperance and debauchery, and at times their tumultuous processions and indecent masquerades occasioned much disorder in the cities. The facilities with which these numerous associations possessed of extending and mutually cooperating with one another also led to coalitions among them for the purpose of securing any advantage which they desired to possess. Sometimes open violence was resorted to, to obtain their exorbitant and unjust demands which greatly excited the industrious classes, and eventually induced the authorities to interfere. Lastly these brotherhoods gave rise to many violent quarrels which ended in blows and, too often in bloodshed between workmen of the same craft, who took different views on debatable points. The decrees of Parliament, the edicts of sovereigns and the decisions of councils, as early as the end of the fifteenth century and throughout the whole of the sixteenth, severely proscribed the doings of these brotherhoods. But these interdictions were never duly and rigidly enforced, and the authorities themselves often tolerated infractions of the law, and thus license was given to every kind of abuse. We have frequently mentioned in the course of this volume the political part played by the corporations during the Middle Ages. We know the active and important part taken by trades of all descriptions in France and in the great movement of the formation of communities. The spirit of fraternal association which constituted the strength of the corporations, and which exhibited itself so conspicuously in every act of their public and private life, resisted during several centuries the individual and collective attacks made on it by craftsmen themselves. These rich and powerful corporations began to decline from the moment they ceased to be united, and they were dissolved by law at the beginning of the Revolution of 1789, an act which necessarily dealt a heavy blow to industry and commerce. End of Section 20 Recording by Donna Stewart, Seattle, Washington