I was reading about guild formations and what guilds there were around during the late medieval era. I was curious how come I'm not finding any guilds that didn't have names with some kind of flair the way they named various free companies during the 100 year war. I mean if warriors would take on a cool name for their group, why not people who crafted things?
A guild was a trade organization. It came out of the medieval concept of the amount of business within a town as being firmly limited. That firm limit meant it was necessary to regulate competition in order to keep the tradesmen from starving, as they would otherwise tend to keep lowering their prices to compete. The guild would regulate the prices, regulate the quality of the goods, limit the number of tradesmen allowed to carry on business within the town, and would also provide some support and aid to the members in case of need: the watchmakers guild in Geneva, for example, would often act as a bank, loaning out money for materials and supplies against watches and watch parts not yet made. Guilds also had to ask permission of the town government to form. A guild was therefore 1) a town organization and 2) a trade organization. So, no, there weren't any named something else...the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers ( shoemakers) have stayed the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers. There is at least one example of a guild continuing on as a charitable institution, after its trade had vanished, but the Worshipful Company of Bowyers has never re-branded itself.
Hey there,
Just to let you know, your question is fine, and we're letting it stand. However, you should be aware that questions framed as 'Why didn't X do Y' relatively often don't get an answer that meets our standards (in our experience as moderators). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it often can be difficult to prove the counterfactual: historians know much more about what happened than what might have happened. Secondly, 'why didn't X do Y' questions are sometimes phrased in an ahistorical way. It's worth remembering that people in the past couldn't see into the future, and they generally didn't have all the information we now have about their situations; things that look obvious now didn't necessarily look that way at the time.
If you end up not getting a response after a day or two, consider asking a new question focusing instead on why what happened did happen (rather than why what didn't happen didn't happen) - this kind of question is more likely to get a response in our experience. Hope this helps!