Lady NoBo’s Textile Tales March 2010

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Guild Origin

During the Middle Ages – the years between 1100 and 1400 – was a period of fine craftsmanship. For some people, this period may bring images of knights with lances and damsels in distress. For many others, the Middle Ages are a reminder of three of its most pervasive institutions – guilds, masonry, and the apprenticeship system for the learning of craft. The manner by which we perceive work has its roots in the guilds. It is a concept that sees the craftsman or craftswoman working manually, controlling the work process, sourcing the materials, providing the tools, and creating a product born of technical knowledge and artistic skill. The development of guilds during the later Middle Ages was a crucial stage in the professional development of artists. The power of the artists during this period was not based on their individual capacities as was developed during the Renaissance, but their willingness to join together and act as a collective. Guilds were founded on one of the oldest and most persistent themes in the histories of societies: that people who share the same trade or occupation find it beneficial to band together in mutual cooperation. – Elbardic Publishing.

FORBIDDEN – In medieval Europe, it was illegal for women to belong to either the weavers’ or tailors’ guild. – Women’s Work: Textile Art from the Bauhaus, Sigrid Wortmann Weltge

Published by Margaret B. Russell

Focus - natural fibers, naturally colored and naturally hand-dyed. Specialty - researching and weaving with the wools of primitive, rare, and threatened British sheep breeds.

One Reply to “Lady NoBo’s Textile Tales March 2010”

  1. This is a very interesting, Margaret. Particularly the part about women being forbidden to belong to the weavers’ or tailors’ guilds. However, in my mind’s eye I can see the wives and daughters of the guild members working away in their husband’s shops……

    Thanks for writing this.

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