ABSTRACT
A collaboration may last little longer than a passing dream, or it may endure for a lifetime and beyond. The guilds of craftsmen in medieval Europe were one set of social structures that lasted a fair time. Guilds were designed to ensure high standards of work and mutual support among the members, but they effectively also operated as a cartel, excluding open access to the trade. Guilds have similarly operated in other societies as well, as, for example, in India during the Gupta period or with the warraqeen system of publishing knowledge in the Islamic world. The medieval guilds, of course, largely died out as wider shifts in society rendered them obsolete – as people sought free trade and business innovation. But some guilds still outlived others. The Guild of Saint Luke for painters in Antwerp, for instance, ceased to operate only in 1795, after a decision by the local government to destroy its monopoly.
