Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-f46jp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-29T00:15:12.222Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Tale of Two Theories: Monopolies and Craft Guilds in Medieval England and Modern Imagination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2009

Gary Richardson
Gary Richardson
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-5100.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Popular texts typically assert that guilds of craftsmen “monopolized” markets in medieval England. Norman Cantor's Medieval Reader declares “craft guilds' … main purpose and activity was narrow regulation of industrial productivity in order to restrain competition” (Cantor 1994, p. 278). Douglass North's Structure and Change in Economic History asserts “… guilds organized to protect local artisans … [and their strength] in preserving local monopolies against encroachment from outside competition was frequently reinforced by the coercive power of kings and great lords” (North 1981, p. 134). Henry Pirenne's Economic and Social History of Medieval Europe proclaims:

craft guilds, under a diversity of names, officium or ministerium in Latin, metier or jurande in French, arte in Italian, ambacht or neering in the Netherlands, amt, innung, aunft, or handwerk, in German, craft-gild or mistery in English, … fulfilled the need of economic protection. The pressing necessity to stand by one another, so as to resist competition from newcomers (Pirenne 1937, pp. 177–79).

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , June 2001 , pp. 217 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Albrecht, James and Jovanovic, Boyan. 1986. “The Efficiency of Search Under Competition and Monopsony.” Journal of Political Economy 94 (12): 1246–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, John Hamilton. 1971. An Introduction to English Legal History, 3rd edition. Boston: Butterworths, 1995.Google Scholar
Baker, Jonathan Hamilton and Milsom, S. F. C.. 1986. Sources of English Legal History: Private Law to 1750. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Ballard, A. 1913. British Borough Charters, 1042–1216. Cambridge: The University Press, 1913.Google Scholar
Ballard, A. and Tait, James. 1923. British Borough Charters, 1216–1307. Cambridge: The University Press.Google Scholar
Basing, Patricia. 1990. Trades and Crafts in Medieval Manuscripts. London: British Library.Google Scholar
Bateson, Mary. 1904. Borough Customs, Vol I. London: B. Quaritch.Google Scholar
Bateson, Mary. 1906. Borough Customs, Vol II. London: B. Quaritch.Google Scholar
Birdzell, L. E. and Rosenberg, Nathan. 1986. How the West Grew Rich: The Economic Transformation of the Industrial World. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bishop, Robert. 1968. “The Effects of Specific and Ad Valorem Taxes.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 82 (05): 198–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blair, John and Ramsay, Nigel. 1991. English Medieval Industries: Craftsmen, Techniques, Products. London: Hambledon Press.Google Scholar
Blair, Roger and Harrison, Jeffrey. 1993. Monopsony: Antitrust Law and Economics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Brentano, Lujo. 1870. On the History and Development of Guilds, and the Origins of Trade Unions. London: Trubner & Co.Google Scholar
Bridbury, A. R. 1982. Medieval English Clothmaking: An Economic Survey. London: Heinemann Educational.Google Scholar
Bridbury, A. R. 1962. Economic Growth: England in the Later Middle Ages. London: G. Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Britnell, R. H. 1993. The Commercialisation of English Society, 1000–1500. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Britnell, R. H. 1986. Growth and Decline in Colchester, 1300–1525. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Browne, Stephen. 1765. The Laws Against Ingrossing, Forestalling, Regrating, and Monopolizing. London: W. Griffin.Google Scholar
Cameron, Rondo. 1989. A Concise Economic History of the World From Paleolithic Times to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Cantor, Norman F. 1993. The Civilization of the Middle Ages. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Cantor, Norman F. 1994. The Medieval Reader. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Carus-Wilson, E. M. and Coleman, O.. 1963. England's Export Trade 1275–1547. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Chamberlin, E. H. 1946. The Theory of Monopolistic Competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Cheyney, Edward. 1900. English Towns and Guilds. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Cipolla, Carlo. 1976. Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy, 1000–1700. New York: Norton, 1980.Google Scholar
Cooper, R. C. H. 1985. The Archives of the City of London Livery Companies and Related Organizations. London: Guildhall Library.Google Scholar
Cunningham, William. 1885. The Growth of English Industry and Commerce. Cambridge: University Press.Google Scholar
Ditchfield, P. H. 1926. The Story of the City Companies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.Google Scholar
Dyer, Christopher 1989. Standards of Living In the Later Middle Ages: Social Change In England c. 1200–1520. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, Steven. 1991. Wage and Labor Guilds in Medieval Europe. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Epstein, S. R. 1998. “Craft Guilds, Apprenticeships, and Technological Change in Pre-Industria Europe.” Journal of Economic History 58 (Fall): 684–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, H. E. S. and Jurica, A. R. J.. 1976. Documents in English Economic History. London: G Bell, 1977.Google Scholar
Furley, John S. 1947. Town Life in the XIVth Century As Seen In the Court Rolls of Winchester City. Winchester: Warren.Google Scholar
Gross, Charles. 1890. The Gild Merchant. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Gustafsson, Bo. 1987. “The Rise and Economic Behavior of Medieval Craft Guilds: An Economic-Theoretical Interpretation.” Scandinavian Journal of Economics 35 (1): 1–40.Google Scholar
Hatcher, John and Miller, Edward. 1995. Medieval England: Towns, Commerce and Crafts, 1086–1348. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Henderson, Ernest. 1892. Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages. New York: G Bell and Sons.Google Scholar
Hicks, J. R. 1935. “The Theory of Monopoly.” Econometrica 3 (Winter): 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickson, Charles R. and Thompson, Earl A.. 1991. “A New Theory of Guilds and European Economic Development.” Explorations in Economic History 28 (04): 127–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hilton, R. H. 1992. English and French Towns in Feudal Society: A Comparative Study. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Hines, W. D. 1990. English Legal History: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature. New York: Garland Publishing.Google Scholar
Hirshler, Eric. 1954. “Medieval Economic Competition.” Journal of Economic History 14 (Winter): 52–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holdsworth, W. S. 1903. A History of English Law. London: Methuen and Co., 1938.Google Scholar
Holmes, George. 1962. The Later Middle Ages: 1272–1485. Edinburgh: T. Nelson.Google Scholar
Hopkins, A. 1950. Selected Rolls of the Chester City Courts, Late Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries. Manchester: Chetham Society.Google Scholar
Illingworth, William. 1800. An Inquiry Into the Laws, Ancient and Modern, Respecting Forestalling, Regrating, and Ingrossing. London: L. Hanford.Google Scholar
Keen, Maurice. 1990. English Society in the Later Middle Ages, 1348–1500. London: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
Knight, Frank H. 1948. “Free Society: Its Basic Nature and Problem.” In Frank H. Knight, On the History and Method of Economics: Selected Essays. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956.Google Scholar
Knight, Frank H. 1951. “The Role of Principles in Economics and Politics.” In Frank H. Knight, On the History and Method of Economics: Selected Essays. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956.Google Scholar
Knight, Frank H. 1935. “The Ricardian Theory of Production and Distribution.” In Frank H. Knight, On the History and Method of Economics: Selected Essays. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Thomas. 1970. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Leach, Arthur A. 1900. Beverley Town Documents. London: B. Quaritch.Google Scholar
Legg, L. G. W. 1937. A History of the English Coronation. Translated by P. E. Schramm.Google Scholar
Lenin, Vladimir Ilich. 1939. Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism: A Popular Outline. New York: International Publishers, 1975.Google Scholar
Lenin, Vladimir Ilich. 1987. Introduction to Marx, Engels, Marxism. New York: International Publishers.Google Scholar
Lipson, Ephraim. 1929. The Economic History of England. London: A. & C. Black.Google Scholar
London, Corporation of. 1884. The Historical Charters and Constitutional Documents of the City of London. London, Whiting.Google Scholar
Lopez, Robert. 1971. The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, 950–1350. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1976.Google Scholar
Lopez, Robert and Raymond, Irving. 1955. Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World: Illustrative Documents Translated with Introductions and Notes. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Maitland, F. W. 1898. Township and Borough. Cambridge: University Press.Google Scholar
Maitland, F. W. and Pollock, Fredrick. 1895. The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I. Cambridge: University Press, 1968.Google Scholar
Marshall, Alfred. 1890. Principles of Economics: An Introductory Volume. London: Macmillan Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl. 1868. Das Kapital. In Elster, John, ed., Karl Marx a Reader. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge 1987.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl. 1844. The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. In Elster, John, ed., Karl Marx a Reader. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge 1987.Google Scholar
Masschaele, James. 1993. “Transport Costs in Medieval England.” Economic History Review 46 (Spring): 266–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCloskey, D. N. 1985. The Rhetoric of Economics. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
McKisack, May. 1959. The Fourteenth Century, 1307–1399. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.Google Scholar
McNeill, William. 1953. History of Western Civilization: A Handbook. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969.Google Scholar
Menger, Carl. 1950. Principles of Economics. Glencoe, NY: Free Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Mill, J. S. 1884. Principles of Political Economy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965.Google Scholar
Milsom, S. F. C. 1969. Historical Foundations of the Common Law. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Milsom, S. F. C. 1985. Studies in the History of the Common Law. London: Hambledon Press.Google Scholar
Milsom, S. F. C. 1986. Sources of English Legal History: Private Law to 1750. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Mokyr, Joel. 1990. Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress. Oxford: University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, Ellen Wedemeyer. 1985. The Fairs of Medieval England: An Introductory Study. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.Google Scholar
Munro, John. 1977. “Industrial Protectionism in Medieval Flanders: Urban or National?” In Miskimin, Harry A., Herlihy, David, and Udovitch, A. L., eds., The Medieval City. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Munro, John. 1990. “Urban Regulation and Monopolistic Competition in the Textile Industries of the Late-Medieval Low Countries.” In Aerts, Erik and Munro, John, eds., Textiles of the Low Countries in European Economic History, Proceedings of the Tenth International Economic History Congress: Session B-15, Studies in Social and Economic History 19. Leuven: Leuven History Press.Google Scholar
Munro, John. 1994. Textiles, Towns, and Trade. Essays In the Economic History of Late-Medieval England and the Low Countries. Aldershot, UK: Variorum.Google Scholar
Meyer, E. F. 1940. “Boroughs.” In Willard, J. F. and Morris, W. A., eds., The English Government at Work, 1327–1336. Cambridge: Mediaeval Academy of America.Google Scholar
Myers, A. R. 1952. England in the Late Middle Ages. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991.Google Scholar
North, Douglass C. 1981. Structure and Change in Economic History. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
North, Douglass C. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
North, Douglass C. and Thomas, Robert Paul. 1973. The Rise of the Western World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1982. The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Palmer, W. M. 1931. Cambridge Borough Documents, Vol. I. Cambridge: Bowes and Bowes.Google Scholar
Pirenne, Henri. 1925. Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade, translated by Halsey, Frank. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Pirenne, Henri. 1937. Economic and Social History of Medieval Europe. New York: Harcourt, Brace.Google Scholar
Pooley, Ernest 1945. Guilds of the City of London. London: Collins, 1947.Google Scholar
Postan, Michael. 1972. The Medieval Economy and Society: An Economic History of Britain in the Middle Ages. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.Google Scholar
Postan, Michael. 1973. Medieval Trade and Finance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Postan, Michael. 1987. “The Trade of Medieval Europe: The North.” In Cambridge Economic History of Europe, Volume II: Trade and Industry in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Postan, Michael and Rich, E. E., eds. 1952. Trade and Industry in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pounds, N. J. G. 1974. An Economic History of Medieval Europe. London: Longman, 1994.Google Scholar
Ricardo, David. 1821. On Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Richardson, Gary. 2000. Did Manufacturing Guilds Monopolize Markets in Medieval England? UC Irvine Department of Economics Working Paper. 10.Google Scholar
Richardson, H. G and Sayles, G O.. 1941. Select Cases of Procedure Without Writ Under Henry III. London: B. Quaritch.Google Scholar
Richardson, H. G and Sayles, G O.. 1964. The Governance of Mediaeval England From the Conquest to Magna Carta. Edinburgh: University Press.Google Scholar
Richardson, H. G and Sayles, G O.. 1966. Law and Legislation From Aethelberht to Magna Carta. Edinburgh: University Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, Joan. 1933. The Economics of Imperfect Competition. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Rorig, Fritz. 1967. The Medieval Town. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Rothschild, K. W 1942. “Monopsony, Buying Costs, and Welfare Expenditures.” Review of Economic Studies 10 (Winter): 62–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowley, Trevor. 1986. The High Middle Ages: 1200–1550. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Salzman, Louis. 1923. English Industries in the Middle Ages. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Samuelson, Paul. 1967. “The Monopolistic Competition Revolution.” In Kuenne, Robert, ed., Monopolistic Competition Theory: Studies in Impact. Essays in Honor of Edward H. Chamberlin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Scott, Jonathan. 1917. “Limitations of Guild Monopoly.” American Historical Review 22 (04): 586–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph. 1954. History of Economic Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1776. The Wealth of Nations. New York: Collier & Son, 1965.Google Scholar
Smith, Lucy. 1902. “Town Life.” In Barnard, F P., ed., Companion to English History (Middle Ages). London: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Smith, Toulmin and Smith, Lucy. 1869. English Gilds: The Original Ordinances of More Than One Hundred Early English Gilds. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stephenson, Carl. 1933. Borough and Town: A Study of Urban Origins in England. Cambridge: The Mediaeval Academy of America.Google Scholar
Stigler, George. 1982. “The Economists and the Problem of Monopoly.” American Economic Review 72 (05): 1–11.Google Scholar
Swanson, Heather. 1983. Building Craftsmen in Late Medieval York. York: University of York.Google Scholar
Sweezy, Paul. 1937. “On the Definition of Monopoly.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 51 (02): 362–63.Google Scholar
Tait, James. 1936. The Medieval English Borough: Sstudies On Its Origins and Constitutional History. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, M. A. 1926. Calendar of Plea and Memorandum Rolls of the City of London. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thrupp, Sylvia. 1942. “Medieval Guilds Reconsidered.” Journal of Economic History 2 (11): 164–73.Google Scholar
Thrupp, Sylvia. 1967. The Merchant Class of Medieval London 1300–1500. New York: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Unwin, George. 1908. The Guilds and Companies of London. London: Methuen & Company.Google Scholar
Walford, Cornelius 1888. Guilds: Their Origin, Constitution, Objects, and Later History. London: George Redway.Google Scholar
Waugh, Scott. 1991. England in the Reign of Edward III. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Weinbaum, M. 1943. British Borough Charters, 1307–1660. Cambridge: University Press.Google Scholar
Weintraub, Sidney. 1949. “The Theory of Consumer Monopsony.” Review of Economic Studies 17 (3): 168–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West, Edwin G. 1987. “Monopoly.” In The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, Volume 3. New York: Macmillian.Google Scholar
Westlake, H. F. 1919. The Parish Gilds of Mediaeval England. New York: Macmillian.Google Scholar
Whitelock, Dorothy. 1955. English Historical Documents, c.500–1042. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.Google Scholar
Zacour, Norman. 1976. An Introduction to Medieval Institutions. New York: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar