The Cities

Guilds and the City

There’s a deep undergrowth of worker’s organizations - guilds. These guilds underlay the emergence of the autonomous cities in italy and the semi autonomous cities elsewhere.
1.
Christmas day 800, Charlemagne crowned emperor by the Pope. However he went on to have a lot of say over the spiritual realm. In between 800 and 1050, the emperors were having control of church, velvet glove on iron fist... they could choose bishops etc. Temporal above the spiritual. This is an era of territorial Christendom.
Most people in these societies there are not citizens with rights but serfs, servants who owed allegiance to the next guy up the feudal hierarchy.
What it general comes down to is the power of the sword.
The church managed to get itself out from under the emperor, it started with the monasteries and everyone followed, from the 11th century. By the 11th the monasteries seemed secularized, very rich liturgical life - more of a social club, so how to reform if the boss is just a baron. Starting at Cluny, a new monastery emerged, saying that they weren’t part of the hierarchy, they were answerable to the pope. With Gregory VII, reform emerged in order to refresh christianity, trying to pull clergy away from the secular. The spiritual is higher than the secular. because Mediaeval society saw itself as ONE society someone had to be the head, not two realms, so the pope had to talk in terms of higher sword.
In turn this unleashed things lower down.
From the 12th century the concept of sideways allegiance emerged... e.g. Dominicans, Benedictines. Other groups like clubs emerged, even travelers clubbed together, confraternities.
Gregorian reform meant a new religious spirit emerged.
It’s at this time the guilds arose, they were a voluntary group who would group together under a patron saint, and would follow a set of rules and would police who could join. It was a free allegiance. A guide for both secular and spiritual.
In Lombardy (a kingdom in Italy), the guilds merged together forming communes, dominating the religious and spiritual life. particularly in Italy and some of North Germany.
It basically cancels out the need for the baron - they all look after each other. They can take over things by policing themselves, by employing people for there own needs. In Lombardy it went so far that the cities declared independent from the feudal system and set about creating there own governments.
Where you had monasteries you had one allegiance to the pope and then to each other, once you had the precedent other movements emerged with this sideways allegiance. A mediaeval city was not unlike the monastery in its functioning. Additional linked to gregorian reform and additional the emergence of the mendicant friars.
Frederick III - Barbarossa (red beard) wanted to change the system and wanted his son to be emperor after him, before the pope would appoint the emperor of his choice. Barbarossa called himself Caesar, harking back to the old Roman empire. He tried to get his son appointed along side himself. This was not appreciated by the Pope, so Barbarossa set up anti-popes. He also really did not like the independent city states so waged war against them. He besezied them, he razed Milan to the ground. So a load of cities joined up, forming allegiance to give Barbarossa a bloody nose. The Lombard allegiance defeats Barbarossa at Legano in 1176.
From the 1200’s two people ran the city states, the captain of the people and a wealthy guy from another city, it was like having two mayors.
In England, guilds formed there own governments but not the cities, for example the universities formed there own governing bodies.
The guilds controlled membership of one craft, note: they could exclude.
Women, once universities emerged women could not be schooled in theology, there used to be very powerful abbesses etc.
They could also keep the jews out, before this they really weren’t particularly anti-Semitic, but to be a member of a guild you had to the a christian, so they were basically forced into money lending.
The guilds also prayed a lot, very pious putting on masses for the sick etc.
Additionally they put on mystery plays...
The first opera in Europe was put on in 1180 in a Benedictine monastery, basically it was the play on Daniel. It was meant to be funny. It didn’t have people walking round but different people playing the parts.
In 1150, a vernacular play was put on outside a church - they weren’t particularly welcome inside. Again it was meant to be a comedy.