Guilds, Guild Unions, Guild Courts in Transylvanian Saxon Towns in the Sixteenth Century
Guilds, Guild Unions, Guild Courts in Transylvanian Saxon Towns in the Sixteenth Century

Summary/Abstract: Under the auspices of the Universitas, the common self-governing body of the Transylvanian Saxon towns and seats, the guilds’ statutes were revised between 1539 and 1582: obsolete rules were abolished, and new ones were introduced where they had not existed before. According to theliterature, this process marked a turning point in the relationship between the municipal authoritiesand the guilds, insofar as the town councils intervened in the guilds’ internal affairs, particularly intheir powers to judge misconduct and disciplinary offences. But even before the new regulations,the guilds’ powers were limited to settling disputes between members at a lower instance, andeven when they formed unions for common defence or drew up common statutes, they enjoyedno greater autonomy. The paper provides an overview of the activities of the guild courts, with casestudies. It seeks to show the powers the guilds had in disciplinary matters and how these changedwith the growing power of local government and the use of public authority. It argues that theauthorities’ intervention in the guilds’ powers was not so much a restriction as a clarification of theirentitlements, while ensuring that arising cases were appropriately dealt with, and that normativeregulation played an important role in this process, defining the various facts and circumstancesand transferring offences such as bodily harm, counterfeiting, and fraud to ordinary courts. At the same time, the guilds retained their power to deal with minor disputes between craftsmen, insults, and moral offences; under the pressure of the Reformation and the spread of Protestant morality, their disciplinary powers were greatly extended.

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