lds fell under the control of commercial companies. One of the last
instances was the formation of the Stationers' Company by which the
printers were reduced to the rank of an industry subordinate to that of
booksellers.

[Sidenote: Legislation on gilds]

Finally came the legislative attack on the gilds, that broke what
little power they had left. There is now a tendency to minimise the
result of legislation in this field, but the impression that one gets
by perusing the statutes not only of England but of Continental
countries is that, while perhaps the governments would not have
admitted any hostility to the gilds as such, they were strongly opposed
to many features of them, and were determined to change them in
accordance with the interests of the now dominant class. The policy of
the moneyed men was not to destroy the crafts, but to exploit them;
indeed they often found their old franchises extremely useful in
arrogating to themselves the powers that had once belonged to the gild
as a whole. The town governments were elected by the wealthy burghers;
Parliaments soon came to side with them, and the monarch had already
been bribed into an ally.

To give specific examples of the new trend is easy. When the great
tapestry manufacture of Brussels was reorganized [Sidenote: 1544] on a
basis very favorable to the capitalists, the law sanctioning this step
spoke contemptuously of the mutual benefit and religious functions of
the gild as "petty details." [Sidenote: 1515] Brandenburg now
regulated the terms on which entrance to a gild should be allowed
instead of leaving the matter as of old to the members themselves.
[Sidenote: 1540] The Polish nobility, jealous of the cities' monopoly
of trade, demanded the total abolition of the gilds. [Sidenote: 1503
ff.] A series of measures in England weakened the power of the gilds;
under Edward VI [Sidenote: 1547] their endowments for religious
purposes were {541} attacked, and this hurt them far more than would
appear on the surface. The important Act Touching Weavers [Sidenote:
1555] both witnessed the unhappy condition of the misteries and,
without seeming to do so, still further put them in the power of their
masters. The workmen, it seems, had complained "that the rich and
wealthy clothiers oppress them" by building up factories, or workshops
in which many looms were installed, instead of keeping to the old
commission or sweat-shop system, by which piece work was g