of a 'third estate' is one of the most noteworthy changes of the late Middle Ages.

The Gilds and Industrial Education.-Such a new social attitude naturally gave rise to new forms of education. An informal type of training soon sprang up in connection with the development of 'gilds.' Besides the original gild of merchants, through which the town had presented a united front and gained its privileges, separate gilds for the various crafts had been established in each town. These craft gilds were the sole repositories of the traditional lore of the vocations, and became the chief channel for transmitting it. While their number and variety differed in each town, all the gilds sought to prevent anyone who had not been regularly approved and admitted to the corporation from practicing the trade he represented. In consequence of this attempt at regulation, industrial training in the craft of each gild grew up through an apprenticeship system. This was provided upon a domestic basis. The 'apprentice' entered the household of his 'master,' and learned the craft under his direction (Fig. 15). The time necessary for this varied greatly in different crafts. For example, in Paris it took two years to learn to become a cook, eight years an embroiderer, and ten years a goldsmith. While the ap- Stages of prentice received no wages during this period, he was under the protection of the gild, and might appeal to the (1) apprentice, organization against ill-treatment or defective training. At the end of his apprenticeship, he became a 'journey- (2) journeyman' and could earn wages, but only by working for a master, and not through direct service for the public. After an examination by the gild, which might include the presentation of a 'masterpiece,' or sample of his

man, and

(3) master.

means of education was instituted

through priests of the gilds and endowments.

work, the journeyman eventually became a master. In other ways, the organization regulated and protected its craft. In order that journeymen and masters might not become too numerous, all masters, save those on the governing board of the gild, were forbidden to take more than one apprentice. The methods of practicing each trade and the hours to be devoted to it each day were specified, and the handiwork of each man carefully scrutinized. In many instances, the gild put its own stamp upon good work, and might often seize products that it considered defective.

Gild Schools. In this way there grew up a species of industrial education, with three definite stages in its organization and with inspection at every point. A more formal Before long, too, the gilds developed a more formal means of education. The existing ecclesiastical schools did not altogether meet the needs of the gilds, and they undertook the establishment of additional institutions for this purpose. Where the gilds had retained one or more priests to perform the necessary religious offices for their members, before long they also utilized these functionaries to keep a school for the benefit of their own and sometimes other children in the town. Later, endowments were furnished especially for a priest to teach school, or an amount sufficient for the purpose was paid out of the common funds of the gild. Some of these gild schools, like 'Merchant Taylors" of London, or the Grammar School at Stratford-on-Avon, where Shakespeare was educated (Fig. 16), still survive as secondary institutions. Many instances, too, are recorded where the members of a certain gild were appointed trustees of a school established by an individual, and were granted

Fig. 15.-Apprenticeship training in a gild. (The master bootmaker and his wife, two journeymen, and an apprentice.)

Fig. 16.-Gild school and church at Stratford-on-Avon. (In this 'grammar' school Shakespeare learned 'little Latin and less Greek.')

the right of appointing and dismissing the master, admitting the pupils, managing the property, and formulating statutes. In some such fashion Colet later vested the management of the famous St. Paul's school (see p. 118) in the gild of mercers.

absorbed by

schools.

Burgher Schools. As the gild organizations gradually merged with those of the towns, the gild schools were generally absorbed in the institutions known as 'burgher' Gild schools or town schools. At first these burgher schools were not the burgher very dissimilar to those established by the Church, except that they were more conveniently located, but later various types of vernacular schools arose to meet special practical demands, especially writing and reckoning. The Latin burgher schools were also somewhat practical in their course, and often admitted some pupils who desired to learn only to read, write, and reckon. Writing had become an important vocation, since printing had not yet been invented; and there was a definite demand for writers in public offices, private secretaries, letter Practical writers for the illiterate, and teachers of writing. Reckoning grew directly out of the new commercial life, and was often taught in the writing schools. It was not taught from the standpoint of theory or discipline, as was the arithmetic in the Latin schools, but for the sake of practical calculation and bookkeeping. But even all the facilities of the regular Latin and vernacular schools of the town were not sufficient to meet the demand for a more practical education. In consequence, private 'adventure' schools, taught by wandering teachers or by women, likewise often sprang up, and some teachers were even licensed by the town authorities to teach the vernacular. In most instances, however, these

course.