Premium
Gilds, states and societies in the early Middle Ages
Author(s) -
Naismith Rory
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
early medieval europe
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1468-0254
pISSN - 0963-9462
DOI - 10.1111/emed.12433
Subject(s) - eleventh , middle ages , ancient history , medieval history , oath , history , hierarchy , roman empire , statute , empire , genealogy , geography , law , political science , physics , acoustics
The early medieval gilds of north‐west Europe were very different from their later medieval descendants. They were not specifically urban or economic in focus, instead being based on religious devotion, feasting and mutual protection, usually among members united by status and geography. Treatment of gilds differed sharply between the two main representatives of the tradition in the region: the Carolingian empire and Anglo‐Saxon England. In the former, gilds were vilified as coniurationes , spontaneous oath‐bound associations, which rulers feared might undermine their authority and that of the hierarchy they represented. But in the latter gilds flourished, especially in the tenth and eleventh centuries, when England produced the first gild statutes of medieval Europe. This contribution examines these two traditions, and the reasons for the break between them .