The second scheduled list of the twenty-one guilds, differentiating between seven 'Greater' Guilds ( Arti Maggiori) and fourteen 'Lesser' Guilds ( Arti Minori), appeared in 1266.

The first scheduled list of Florentine guilds encompassing twenty-one guilds, appeared in 1236. The first State enactment appertaining to Guilds was not issued until 1228. The 'Seven Greater Guilds' are first mentioned distinctly (separating the Calimala from 'Wool') in 1197. Six of the nine Priori of the Signoria of Florence were selected from the major guilds, and two were selected by the minor guilds. Torre della Castagna, early headquarters of the Priori of the Guilds of Florence

During the fifteenth century city watchmen were organized by the Arti to protect closed workshops and warehouses.įrom the beginning, not all Arti were equal: to the original seven Arti Maggiori were added fourteen Arti Minori as the guild system spread. The Palazzo del Tribunale della Mercatanzia ( illustration, right) still occupies a prominent place in the piazza della Signoria, befitting the controlling role of the Arti in governing Florence.Īs elsewhere, the guilds of Florence protected its members from competition within the city by strangers and Florentine outsiders, guaranteed the quality of work through strict supervision of the workshops ( botteghe), stipulated work hours, established markets and feast days, and provided public services to its members, and their wives, widows and children. In the fourteenth century the guilds established the market tribunal called the Mercatanzia to hear causes that involved more than one of the Arti. Masters of the guilds, who possessed the means of production, took on apprentices and garzoni, the 'boys' or journeymen who might work through a long career without ever becoming a master.Įach of the Arti was ruled according to its statutes, which had the force of law, and might pass judgement in controversies among its members and with their workers.

A single capo was elected to manage all the business of the guild.Įntrance to the Arti was highly structured from the first records it was necessary to be the legitimate son of a member, to give proofs of competence in the craft involved, and to pay an entrance tax.

By 1193 there existed seven such corporate bodies, which each elected a council whose members bore the Roman-sounding designation consoli. The first of the guilds of Florence of which there is notice is the Arte di Calimala, the cloth-merchants' guild, mentioned in a document of about 1150. The guilds, medieval institutions that organized every aspect of a city's economic life, formed a social network that complemented and in part compensated for family ties, although in Florence the welfare side of the guilds' activities was less than in many cities.

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