The Way in Which the English Civil War Affected the Guilds of Chester
by The following discussion will also explore the short – term and the long – term affect of the English Civil Wars upon the Guilds of Chester. In many respects the assumption that the civil war harmed the majority of guilds given its associated social and economic consequences is an understandable one to reach, whether or not it is justified by any degree of evidence or well – established facts.
The Guilds of Chester were arguably at the start of the English Civil Wars in 1642 at least a highly important component of the social and economic structures within Chester and the local area surrounding it. The Guilds of Chester were at the beginning of the 1640s organisations whose members included the wealthiest and the most influential men (women were of course excluded) inside the city limits of Chester itself. That the Guilds of Chester were regarded as being important was not particularly surprising at that point in time. After all the Guilds had been a bastion of artisan and skilled workers privileges right across the country despite their importance already been in gradual decline. Despite that gradual decline it would not have been too unreasonable in 1642 to assume that the Guilds of Chester would remain at the hub of their local surrounding area, as they had been since the Middle Ages. At the start of the 1640s Chester had a dozen or more Guilds related to the various crafts, industries, and trades within the city. For example there were guilds for brewers, drapers, metal workers, furniture makers, tailors, as well as merchants.
The Guilds of Chester had been central to the local administration of the city as well as its organisation; it’s apprentices and the majority of its tradesmen. The Guilds of Chester had survived the drastic culling of such religiously based organisations during the reigns of Henry VII and Edward VI. To a large extent the Guilds of Chester had survived if not thrived until the outbreak of the civil war because they deemed to be useful organisations economically, socially, and also politically. Guilds were organisations, which tended to defend the privileged positions of their membership and apprentices from workers that were not members of these bodies. Guilds were not as strong in areas that already started to industrialise like Birmingham, Coventry, and London. Places with weak guilds were politically more radical. Chester with its powerful guilds was strongly Royalist.
Indeed it was the capacity of the guilds to organise and mobilise economic, manual, and military resources that made them useful for Parliament as well as for the Royalists. Throughout England the majority of guilds assisted the rival sides either through enthusiasm or because they were forced to do so. For example the guilds of Coventry and London were strongly inclined towards supporting the Parliamentary forces in contrast to those of Chester that were overwhelmingly Royalist in their sympathies. The Guilds of Chester would eventually suffer for their loyalty towards Charles I due to Parliament winning the civil war.
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