Barataria (Oct 2009)
The brotherhood-guild during the late Middle Ages and 16th and 17th centuries. The case of the brotherhood of surgeons, barbers, phlebotomists and doctors in Spain and in the New Spain / La Cofradía-Gremio durante la Baja Edad Media y siglos XVI y XVII, el caso de la Cofradía de cirujanos, barberos, flebotomianos y médicos en España y la Nueva España
Abstract
Brotherhoods and guilds are types of voluntary associations hardly distinguishable from one another. Guilds and brotherhoods emerged as necessary craftsmen’s associations, merchants and professionals looking for the defense of their trading interests in the face of encroachment by aliens and unqualified individuals. Their emergence during the High Middle Ages and the Low Middle Ages explain their tight loyalty to religious commitments, since the social life of those materialistic scenarios was totally influenced by religion. In this article we raise as a working hypothesis the study of the symbiotic relationship between both and we propose the concept of brotherhood-guild to design them. The five stages in their development are studied, some of their features, and later we portray their emergence in Spain, finally dealing with the question corresponding to the San Cosme and San Damian brotherhood, where physicians, surgeons, barbers, phlebotomists and pharmacists were joined together just as a brotherhood without the elements of the guild. In the final part I make a comparative study of features assumed by this type of voluntary association in New Spain, and pinpoint the survival of brotherhoods in some cities, specially the one of San Cosme and San Damian, aswell as the devotion to these two saints.
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