The guilds of crafts were midway between public and private
Institutions, they were founded when the towns expanded
and they were mainly involved in controlling their own
field. In fact they attended to the class affairs and,
at the same time, they warranted the authorities about
the quality of the products by carrying out inspections
and by repressing abuses.
Moreover, the Guilds had the task to guarantee the assistance
to poor people or to those who constantly risked to become
poor; for these reasons, during the XVI century it was
important offering the associates new services such as
dowries, sanitary assistance, help in case of indigence
or a decorous funeral service.
Another typical activity of the Guilds was promoting the
veneration of Patron Saint: therefore, in those years,
several guilds churches were built, sometimes replacing
other ancient ruined churches – in Rome there are
several examples such as S. Maria di Loreto for the bakers,
S. Maria della Quercia for the butchers or S. Lorenzo
in Miranda for the chemists -; these churches were not
only the seat for the fraternity affairs but, above all,
they represented the reference point, the heart and the
identity of the guild.
The Goldsmiths Guild was one of the major fraternities
in Rome; it was probably established around the second
half of the XIII century. According to some papers, it
was up and running at the beginning of the XV century,
but the real written history of the guild started in 1509
when the Goldsmiths decided to change their old statutes
and to build the church in Via Giulia for venerating their
Patron Saint, S. Eligio.
Year by year, century by century, the papers and the documents
issued by the University were stored in this seat and
today they make up the precious Collegio archive.
The Historical Archive keeps papers since 1509 and it
is one the few guild archive still existing in Italy;
it is a complete archive because nearly no documents has
been lost and therefore it is very important to know the
economical history of Rome.
The archive is approximately composed by 200 volumes and
one thousand single papers dated from 1509 up today, without
interruptions.
The Minister of Cultural Estate is now reorganizing the
documents dated from 1870 up today.
The Statutes that governed the life of the art of goldsmiths
are certainly among the most significant items. The first
Statutes of 1509 are transcribed on two papers dated 1550
and 1612, handwritten, on parchment, in a very ancient
Italian slightly revised in the seventeenth century copy.
The statute starts with the most important element, the
papal approval, the bull where the Pope Giulio II approves
the new Statutes and, above all, gives the area for building
the Church “Un loco idoneo per edificare una conveniente
ecclesia … . Et in quella adunare et ordinare quelle
che risultino ad onore ed utilità degli orefici
et construere dicta ecclesia nella via Giulia, sub invocazione
de sancto Eligio la quale de mandato nostro se fabbrica
apresso al Tevere con opera assai somptuosa …”.
The names of the members at the time of the statutes approval
let us know where the artisans came from; the largest
part were from Rome but they also came from Florence,
Milan, Genoa, France and Spain. We mention Caradosio,
Bernardino Passeri and G. Pietro Crivelli, among the others
personages.
This Statute set up the powers of the guild, headed by
5 officials: one Camerlengo and 4 Consoli whose primary
task was controlling the goldsmith market; in fact, at
that time, it was absolutely forbidden practising the
art of a goldsmith or opening up shop without the permission
of the University, that issued a license called “Patente”
after a scrutiny.
The work in the shops was inspected periodically by the
Consoli, who had the authority to sequestrate the suspicious
objects, to verify their good quality and realization
and, in case of fraud, to judge the guilty directly. In
fact at that time, and up to the end of the XVIII century
when some reforms sanctioned the principle of the assurance
of the right, there existed several judging organs because
it was still in force the typical Middle Age principle
that warranted an individual the right to be judged by
a court of his peers. Consequently, the Consoli had the
authority to judge the fraud perpetrated in the goldsmith
field.
The legislative power of the fraternities during those
centuries is clearly certified by a document stored in
the archive, which is called “Breve” in the
papal diplomatics but it is commonly referred to as “Bolla”
(bull); in this bull the Pope Paolo V, in 1622, grants
the Collegio the privilege, or the authority, of saving
the life of a prisoner sentenced to death on the occasion
of S. Eligio feast; prisoners convicted of intentional
murder, lese majesty, forgers, coiners and heretics were
not included.
That was quite a common privilege for the guilds; in fact
it seems that butchers set free Benvenuto Cellini from
prison (at that time the Goldsmiths didn’t have
this privilege yet).
The statute is particularly important for the documents
related to the early laws aimed to control the correct
manufacture of gold and silver objects.
Since at that time the Papal State had no regulations,
the first rules were issued by the Collegio: about this
item the percentage of precious metal, the stamping, the
kind of weights to be used.
The Collegio kept on prescribing rules up to the second
half of 1600 and the rules settled by the Statute became
gradually part of the official laws of the government.
On 1739, the Statute drawn up on 1509 was reformed for
the first time.
The Console of the Collegio was a prestigious figure;
they were often summoned to the Papal Mint to verify and
estimate the quality of coins, before putting into circulation.
From the beginning of ‘400 up to 1870, the goldsmiths
controlled all the coins issued by the Papal Mint.
Among the documents stored in the archive, we mention,
for their particular characteristics, the Registri where
the notary of the Collegio wrote all the deliberations
related to the goldsmith filed and the parchment with
the authorization given to the goldsmiths by the Cardinal
Camerlengo of the Papal State (the title is equivalent
to the actual Prime Minister) to clean on one’s
own the public ground near the shop, thus giving the goldsmiths
the possibility to recollect the metal or stone filings
by filtering and selecting the dust.
The proceeds from the sale of filings were employed for
the church od S. Eligio.
Another historically relevant document is the list of
the patented professors, where all the names of the goldsmith
masters are written together with the number of their
Patente, the address of the shop, the date of their death
or the one of expiration of business and other specific
notes.
The present members, with their care and enthusiasm, exploit
this historical archive; perhaps it is less evident and
known compared to a monument or a church, but it is the
real historical memory of the association.