Building Early Modern Edinburgh: A Social History of Craftwork and Incorporation
Aaron Allen
Abstract
Masons, carpenters and glaziers were all needed to build a house, but in many cities such trades had separate companies. In Edinburgh, however, they banded together in a single incorporation to seek control of the labour market and defend their privileged position. Such issues were often contested by unfree competitors, municipal regulators and powerful customers. Therefore unity was needed to defend their position and privileges, but with ten unequal arts vying for control of the composite corporate body, how was such unity to be secured? The Edinburgh Incorporation of Mary’s Chapel looked to ... More
Masons, carpenters and glaziers were all needed to build a house, but in many cities such trades had separate companies. In Edinburgh, however, they banded together in a single incorporation to seek control of the labour market and defend their privileged position. Such issues were often contested by unfree competitors, municipal regulators and powerful customers. Therefore unity was needed to defend their position and privileges, but with ten unequal arts vying for control of the composite corporate body, how was such unity to be secured? The Edinburgh Incorporation of Mary’s Chapel looked to the models of the family and the household.
Keywords:
building trades,
corporatism,
composite corporatism,
craft guilds,
incorporated trades,
masons,
carpenters,
family,
social history,
liberalism
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2018 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781474442381 |
| Published to Edinburgh Scholarship Online: May 2019 |
DOI:10.3366/edinburgh/9781474442381.001.0001 |
