Gervase Rosser’s ‘The Art of Solidarity in the Middle Ages: Guilds in England 1250-1550’

By Cerys Croxen-John, a Third Year History Student

Gervase Rosser’s ‘The Art of Solidarity in the Middle Ages: Guilds in England 1250-1550’ illuminates the intentions and nature of medieval English guilds while exploring individual autonomy and identity within the sphere of guilds. Rosser presents guilds as ethical collectivism modelled on coenobitic monasticism, giving primacy to the theological motivations of guilds. Rosser posits guilds filled the social and religious needs of its members and the wider society after the Black Death demographically decimated and socially transformed Europe. The work’s central argument contends guilds were formational spaces of solidarity where piety was not merely a front for economic furtherment. 

Rosser aims to shift the historical focus away from the separation of the medieval guild’s economic, social and religious functions. Rosser avers guilds cannot be understood without taking their pious spirituality seriously. This institutional analysis of guilds campaigns for a move away from European metanarratives that have imbued the previous historiography, for example, the modern concept of the ‘individual’ as universally applicable. By deconstructing these metanarratives in relation to guilds, Rosser argues guilds were regulated frameworks of interaction that accommodated the social needs of the time, needs Parishes were fundamentally unable to fulfil. Rosser’s work arguably contributes to a broader approach to ‘de-institutionalise’ the historical study of fraternity.  In addition, the author explicitly criticises scholarly works that identify piety as an individualist characteristic. Rosser attributes this to the modern ‘cult of the immured self’ arguing this is a historical hindrance and denies the agency of collective religious motivations and actions. In essence, Rosser calls for a change in the historical understanding of collective religious behaviour and consciousness in regard to medieval guilds. Rosser utilises a wide variety of sources both primary and secondary – for example other historians’ work, literature, art, statutes, extending far beyond medieval guilds. The author’s extensive knowledge of guilds instils confidence in the reader in Rosser’s ability to guide them through the world of guilds and adds credibility his postulations. 

Rosser’s work boldly establishes England’s guild experience in the context of medieval Europe, alluding to a pan-European guild consciousness. Interestingly, the work was published in 2015 as European unity crumbled in the face of Brexit. While the writing and research for the book commenced prior to the Brexit vote, the contemporary concerns about solidarity, identity and cooperation which culminated in the triggering of Article 51, permeate the work itself. Rosser overtly connects English medieval guild’s history to current discourses centred around the state, community membership and individual identity. The work, almost ironically, brings the reader back to a harmonious medieval Europe; in regard to the chronology, structure and moral motivations of its guilds. A stark contrast to the circumstances at the point of publication. 

The book employs a thematic structure in historicizing guilds. Each chapter focuses on a different theme; ‘Immunity’, ‘Ethics’, ‘Friendship’, ‘Sacrament’, ‘Trust’ and ‘Community’. This thematic approach facilitates a broad and thoughtful analysis. Moreover, the structure allows Rosser to focus on the primacy of the work - medieval community and identity - without being distracted by nuanced debates on definitions of medieval guilds and the role of parishes, that have dominated historiography. Ultimately, the thematic structure allows Rosser to present a series of self-contained arguments. Each chapter layers Rosser’s hypothesis, illuminating different ways guilds fulfilled social and economic functions while emphasising their theological intentions. This structure provides fluidity and allows the reader to navigate the reality of guilds with relative ease. 

The first chapter, ‘Immunity’, lays the foundations for the arguments presented in the book, Rosser details historiographical debates around guilds and theorises guilds as social and moral spaces for the formation of individualities. Rosser chronicles the nineteenth-century perception of guilds as amalgamations of modernity and industry. The increased attention on individual and community in a unified Germany and the debates around private liberation of consciousness between Catholics and Protestants are also detailed in this chapter. Rosser convincingly urges the reader to abandon these frames of reference from previous debates. Rosser posits such debates are unhelpful as they are the product of contemporary political frameworks that hold no footing in medieval England. In the stead of such frameworks, Rosser encourages the reader to make the individual and community the focal point. This is skilful writing on the part of the author, as Rosser urges the reader - historically versed or not - to abandon previous historiographical assumptions, thus positioning the reader to be more receptive to his hypothesis. 

Successive chapters address guilds in relation to their moral and religious intentions. Rosser illuminates the role that guilds played in forming moral individual identities while simultaneously establishing fraternal solidarity. ‘Ethics’ investigates guild’s legislated behaviours using statues to understand the ethical actions of guild members. This observation of the collective focus on morality is contextualised against the twelfth-century moral revolution started by Peter Abelard. The chapter also details how guild members compared themselves to each other in a continuous quest for morality, creating a space where the individual and the community worked in tandem. In ‘Friendship’, Rosser elucidates how such relationships have been paid little scholarly attention. Rosser emphasises the importance of guilds as spaces where such relationships could form; individual isolation deconstructed by the collective movement towards piety and the formation of a spiritual community. ‘Sacrament’ analyses the significance of the fraternity feast in constructing the guilds’ identity of its members. The fraternity feast, Rosser posits, collectivised the guild’s heterogeneous members physically and consciously in a common goal of religiosity. In the penultimate chapter ‘Trust’, Rosser turns the reader's attention to the more formal function of guilds - regulation of trade. Rosser hypotheses the control guilds exerted on economic exchanges was less than guild statues suggest. In addition, considerable emphasis is placed on the role of trust between the membership in relation to economic interactions. Finally, Rosser concludes with ‘Community, highlighting the extensive charitable works institutions created by guilds; such as schools and hospitals. Rosser pays specific attention to the enduring nature of such edifices in the context of ecclesiastical and theological transformation - the Reformation. A necessity for mutuality, Rosser postulates, it what facilitated such endurance. 

However, Rosser’s erudite work is not one without flaws. Rosser’s analysis is founded on an eclectic sample of principally English primary sources. The reader is left pondering whether the conclusions Rosser derives from such a sample - representing English medieval guilds as a synecdoche of European guilds - is at best; stretched, and at worst; unsubstantiated. Secondly, the significance of medieval art in formulating solidarity in the twenty-first century is a connection insinuated by Rosser, albeit a tenuous one and ultimately deserving of more explanation. Finally, Rosser continually refers to guild members as both men and women; an undisputed reality. Yet, the questioning of the relationship between the community and the individual Rosser genders to be a masculine one. 

Despite the issues with Rosser’s work, one must attribute a substantial amount of credit to the author. Rosser presents an engaging and pioneering historical analysis of the function of medieval guilds in regard to the individual and community. For anyone seeking to understand medieval fraternity and its spiritual and social implications and motivations, Rosser’s work is a substantial contribution to the debate.

Cover Image Credit: Morgan Harper on Unsplash

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