All
who joined these corporations bound themselves to work only as the ruler
of the guild permitted. Nor were outsiders allowed to compete with them
in their own branches, so exclusive was the protection of the guild.
Each confraternity had its altar in some particular church, whose patron
saint became the protector of the guild. And indeed the constitution of
the guild included even political rights and obligations--military
service among the rest, like other feudal institutions. Each town had
its own special corporations, which thus led to the formation of
separate schools of art; while travelling apprenticeships gave the
opportunity to all of acquiring knowledge not accessible at home.
Members were accustomed to travel and to attach themselves to the
service of various princes, receiving appointments as "varlets" or
"escripvains" or "enlumineurs," which sometimes obliged them to resign
their membership. Occasionally they became political agents and even
ambassadors.
It will be remembered that, some pages back, we noticed the fact that in
Western illumination generally the design of the page depended upon the
initial letter, or that at least the initial was the principal object of
it. In the thirteenth century, although the initial had very much
diminished in size, the same principle still prevailed.
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