roviding food of different
kinds should everywhere be adequate to provide for the necessities of
consumption, which would tend to show a general organization of that most
important branch of industry. In Lombardy colleges of artisans were
established at an early period, and were, no doubt, on the model of the
Roman ones. Ravenna, in 943, possessed a College of Fishermen; and ten
years later the records of that town mention a _Chief of the Corporation
of Traders_, and, in 1001, a _Chief of the Corporation of Butchers_.
France at the same time kept up a remembrance of the institutions of Roman
Gaul, and the ancient colleges of trades still formed associations and
companies in Paris and in the larger towns. In 1061 King Philip I. granted
certain privileges to Master Chandlers and Oilmen. The ancient customs of
the butchers are mentioned as early as the time of Louis VII., 1162. The
same king granted to the wife of Ives Laccobre and her heirs the
collectorship of the dues which were payable by tanners, purse-makers,
curriers, and shoemakers. Under Philip Augustus similar concessions became
more frequent, and it is evident that at that time trade was beginning to
take root and to require special and particular administration. This led
to regulations being drawn up for each trade, to which Philip Augustus
gave his sanction. In 1182 he confirmed the statutes of the butchers, and
the furriers and drapers also obtained favourable concessions from him.

According to the learned Augustin Thierry, corporations, like civic
communities, were engrafted on previously existing guilds, such as on the
colleges or corporations of workmen, which were of Roman origin. In the
_guild_, which signifies a banquet at common expense, there was a mutual
assurance against misfortunes and injuries of all sorts, such as fire and
shipwreck, and also against all lawsuits incurred for offences and crimes,
even though they were proved against the accused. Each of these
associations was placed under the patronage of a god or of a hero, and
had its compulsory statutes; each had its chief or president chosen from
among the members, and a common treasury supplied by annual contributions.
Roman colleges, as we have already stated, were established with a more
special purpose, and were more exclusively confined to the peculiar trade
to which they belonged; but these, equally with the guilds, possessed a
common exchequer, enjoyed equal rights and privileges, elect