Craft-guilds of the thirteenth century in Paris

Craft-guilds of the thirteenth century in Paris by Fred B. Millett is a historical study written in the early 20th century. The book examines the organization, regulation, and social-economic role of Parisian craft gilds in the later Middle Ages, drawing especially on Étienne Boileau’s Livre des Métiers to portray how trades were structured, policed, and integrated into urban and feudal life.

The study defines the gild as an oath-bound industrial body of masters, valets (journeymen), and apprentices, largely non-political and focused on protecting work, standards, and market position. After noting debates on origins and early privileges, it centers on Boileau’s codification of over a hundred crafts, then details apprenticeship contracts, term lengths, fees, family exemptions, discipline of runaways, and the rights and limits of hired workers, including early flashes of labor tension. It traces the path to mastery—skill, capital, purchase of trading rights where required, formal oaths—and the pivotal oversight of jurés, who inspected work, enforced rules, and represented the craft, under the broader authority of royal officers. Work rhythms followed the church calendar, with bans on night work for many trades; strict quality controls governed materials, processes, and measurements, backed by seals, surprise inspections, confiscations, and fines. Selling customs favored markets over hawking and curtailed “foreign” competition; anti-monopoly clauses sought to prevent price-fixing and corners. The book explains fiscal burdens (hauban, tonlieu, coutume), the onerous watch duty with partial exemptions, and the confréries that organized worship, charity, and mutual aid. It closes by weighing benefits—training, quality assurance, social solidarity, and consumer protection—against rigid apprenticeship, restrictive entry to mastery, heavy dues, excessive regulation, and routine-bound production.