Published: 2025-12-28

Craft guild exclusivism in Kraków: based on historical sources on guild organization in the fourteenth–sixteenth centuries

Mateusz Król
Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
Section: Studies and Materials
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM73.2025.3.001

Abstract

In the studies on the history of Kraków craft guilds published at the turn of the twentieth century, the phenomenon of exclusivism was noted, but not comprehensively discussed. Based on the analysis of normative sources, the author clarifies its nature, concluding that the obligation of guild membership and the tendency towards the closure of craft corporations were fundamental to their functioning and constituted a key means of defending their economic interests. When extra-guild production generated competition, efforts were made to suppress it by enforcing the requirement of guild membership. Since admission to a guild lay within the competence of the masters, they imposed various barriers upon candidates, admitting only as many as were needed to satisfy consumer demand, while preserving for themselves a guaranteed market.

Keywords:

barriers, craft guilds, exclusivism, corporatism, Cracow, city, craft

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Król, M. (2025). Craft guild exclusivism in Kraków: based on historical sources on guild organization in the fourteenth–sixteenth centuries. Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej, 73(3), 295–314. https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM73.2025.3.001

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