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Medieval Economic Competition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

Eric E. Hirshler
Eric E. Hirshler
Affiliation:
New York City
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Extract

Nineteenth-century romanticism and the hardships of capitalist individualism have caused scholars to emphasize collectivistic social and economic institutions i n the Middle Ages. Carried to extremes by the English socialists, this attitude tended to ignore or even to deny the competitive aspects of medieval production. Church authorities and guild ordinances were often cited in support of the thesis that the era was noncompetitive. Even Sombart was able to see in the medieval craftsman and tradesman a petit bourgeois who typically held to the morals prescribed by church authorities.

Type
Research Notes
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , Winter 1954 , pp. 52 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1954

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References

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22 Sometime during the fourteenth century: they are mentioned in Strasbourg for the last time during the middle of the fourteenth century.- Urkundenbuch der Stadt Strassburg, IV, Pt. II, No. 12, 215. Perhaps they later joined with the coopers;

23 Korth, Ludwig, “Verhandlungen ueber die Hauswcbcrei im Kloster der Tertiarer zu Koeln,” Annalen des historischen Vereins juer den Niederhein, Heft 56, 180–88.Google ScholarLoesch, , Zunfturkunden, II, 323-25. 327, 465–70Google Scholar.

24 No craft guild restricted the number of its journeymen or apprentices voluntarily in Cologne until the revolution of 1396; see also Kelter, Ernst H., “Wirtschaftsgesinnung des mittclaltcrlichen Zuenftlers,” Schmollers Jahrbuch, LVI (1932), 756Google Scholar; Loesch, , Zunjturlkunden, I, 41, 45Google Scholar: Urkundenbitch der Stadt Strasburg, V, Pt. I, No. 571, 476; Frankjurter Zunftur kunden, I, 226, 227-28; II, 228.

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28 Such credits were extended on the production of articles for mass consumption such as were produced by the smiths and other metal trades.- Baader, , Polizeiordnungen, p. 160Google Scholar; Kuske, , “Funtstchung,” Die Kreditwirtschalte. pp. 31 fGoogle Scholar. The fishing industry of Cologne wa s organized along these lines by the fourteenth century.- Loesch, , Zunfturkunden, II, 533, 534. See alsoGoogle ScholarBastian, Franz, “Das wahrc Geschicht des vorkapitalistischcn Kaufmanns,” Vierteljahrschrift fuer Sozial und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Beiheft 24 (1931)Google Scholar. Famous instances of regular factories were the copper and smelting works of Th. Venrath and the copper rolling mill of Jan Struys, both of Cologne.- Loesch, , Zunfturkunden, II, 304, 305, 306-7, 571 fGoogle Scholar. On the credit practices of the dry-goods merchants see Koehler, , “Einzelhandel,” Vierteljahrtchrift fuer Sozial …, Heiheft 36 (1938), pp. 91 fGoogle Scholar.

29 In 1355 the masons and carpenters demanded the exclusion of foreign masters, but the council of Culojjnc prevented such “discrimination.”-Loesch, Zunfturkunden, I, 177. In 1397, however, the masons and carpenters at the height of the reform movement succeeded in obtaining such exclusion.- Loesch, , Zunfturkfinden, II, 436Google Scholar. For estimates on how man y craftsmen were outside the guilds in Frankfort on the Main, see Buecher, Karl, Die Bevoelkerung der Stadt Frankfurt am Main in 14ten und 15ten Jahrhundert (Tubingen, 1886), passim.Google Scholar For further information on the conditions in the textile field, see Furger, Fridolin, “Zum Verlags-system als Organisationsform des Fruehkapitalismus im Textilgewerbe,” Vierteljahrtchrift fuer Sozial und Wirtschafttgeschichte, Beiheft 11 (1927)Google Scholar.

30 In Cologne there was no ban on the sale of foreign wares of good quality until 1435, with the exception of copper and tin wares on the plea of possible injury to public health.- Loesch, , Zunfturkunien, I, 21Google Scholar. The woolen weavers, with the exception of the year 1230, never attained the right to inspect foreign cloth for its quality.- Loesch, , Zunfturkjunden, II, 478Google Scholar; Schmoller, Gustav, Die Strastburger Tucher und Weberzunfl (Strasbourg, 1879), No. 50, pp. 104–5Google Scholar. After the second half of the fourteenth century many guilds were able to force on the importers inspection of foreign products for quality; this was probably done largely to prevent mixing of these goods with home products, thus altering the quality of the latter, and to prevent resale of foreign goods as wares of Cologne.- Loesch, , Zunjturkunden, I, 93Google Scholar; II, 3;;, 576; see also Ibid., I, 116, 169, 175; II, 255, 289, 423; see also Kochler, , “Einzelhandel,” Vierteljahrtchrift fuer Soxial …. Beiheft 36 (1938), pp. 48 fGoogle Scholar.