Both trade and craft guilds were the main axis of economic activity in Ottoman towns. There existed guilds in every corner of the market areas, and members of each craft came together under each one of these guilds. As these towns grew, specialisation and division of labour grew leading to the creation of even more guilds. For example, in the 17th Century, at a medium sized town like Edirne, the guilds involved in leather were organised under different guilds such as shoemakers, slippermakers or bootmakers. As an example to this situation one can quote the description of the famous Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi of a parade in Istanbul in the 17th Century as saying 260,000 people of the city was a member of 1,100 guilds that existed. However it would be more appropriate to consider these figures as an indication of the states interest in guilds to control the population of the city and not as -at least partially- organisations of trade and crafts.
The master-apprentice relationship constructed the basis of the

guilds. Apprentices who started to work at very young ages would work under the supervision and strict discipline of their masters and would learn the fine skills of the crafts which were passed on to generations through this relationship.Promotion of an apprentice to the status of kalfa was subject to the approval of the guild's executive board. Such promotions would be marked with a "Wearing of the Apron" ceremony. Being the guilds most important function, regulation of the guilds were maintained through such face-to-face relationships.
The hierarchy in the foundation of the guilds was reflected in every stage of the organisation. Masters in all professions would elect one of their fellow masters (kethüda) to ensure the observation of such regulations and to manage the relationship with the state. If a group of masters from a certain guild would decide to form their own guilds, they would yet again have to choose a representative to apply to the local judge (kadı). The masters of guilds had the right to re-elect the same representative. In addition, in every guild there existed a religious representative (şeyh) who had no other responsibilities. On top of all such representatives was the city reprasentative (şehir kethüdası). Another position within the guild was a representative (yiğitbaşı) to implement the interior regulations who ranked below the master representative. Such a representative would be elected from among the experienced masters and would stand for the master representative whenever necessary.
The interior representative would supply and distribute the required raw materials, control the quality of the production, and deliver such products to the shops or other guilds. In such activities, expert representatives (ehl-i hibre) selected from among new masters would assist the interior representative. Such experts played a vital role in guilds such as silk weaving which required intense quality control and expertise. In larger and sophisticated guilds these experts actually formed the management board. The most important function however, of hierarchy of the guilds at the city level was to allocate shares of the tax burden set out by the state among the guilds and their masters and to collect and deliver to the state such collections.
Despite the effort of the guilds to restrict competetion among members and control the production, some guilds already had economic and social differences by the beginning of the 16th Century.Such differences existed not in small towns but larger cities in which the guilds produced for larger markets.
One of the best examples of this situation is Bursa silk weavers guilds which produced silk fabrics from Persian yarn and sold it within the empire and outside the empire to far away markets. A survey conducted by the state when silk yarn could no longer be imported due to the Ottoman-Iran war of 1586, showed that 483 silk looms in Bursa were shared between 25 masters. Among these masters some had only one to ten looms. There existed on the other hand masters who were capable of running and financing of wages and raw material costs of 50 to 60 looms. The capitals of such masters were estimated at around 2,500 to 3,000 Venetian gold coinIt is understood from justice records that in the 15th and 16th Centuries capitals of most of the masters in Bursa involved in silk weaving was already

numbers of manufacturers who were after a larger slice of the cake were and thus produced outside the guilds, was steadily increasing. Consequently, the disturbed masters of the guilds applied to the central government claiming masters outside the guilds were violating the rules of the guilds. The inevitable happened and the central state sided up with the guild hierarchy. Such manufacturers were barred from entering guilds and disallowed to form any organisations outside the guilds. Thus the central government was giving approval to the monopolistic position the guilds already held.
To be continued...

Guilds, given the static conditions of the societies before capitalism, should be evaluated as organisations of different professions which provide stability and security for its members while controlling and regulating market and production conditions. And at the same time, would attach a special importance to social solidarity between its members. As an example to this solidarity one can point out to the funds set up to assist those members in need. They, through their political power on local authorities, have managed to restrict either trading or production activities outside their body, establishing themselves as monopolies.
The sole economic concern of the loncas indeed was not just to maintain their monopolistic positions or to protect its members against competetion from outsiders. They also sought to prevent competetion within themselves. To do so the loncas would restrict its members from outgrowing the others. They had tight and detailed regulations on many aspects of their trade or production, mainly on provision and distribution of raw materials, working hours and conditions, sales prices, wages and quality. The loncas had a very important role in Medieval Europe. The townships demonstrated approval of the existance of the guilds because of their contribution to their tax revenues, provision of political support, and large share of involvement in production and trade. Thus the local authorities have backed up to the best of their ability, the monopolistic position of the guilds and have supported the rules and regulations set up by the guilds while obstructing any production or trade outside them.
The development, differentiation and popularity of the guilds reflected a certain stage at the development of production activities, specialisation, technology and in general, powers of production in towns. But as centuries passed by, it was understood that this monopolistic structure shaping under the static conditions and restricting free competetion in times previous to capitalism , was holding back the growth of the powers of production. Consequently it can be said that transformation of feodalism into capitalism advanced only at places where the economic and political powers of the guilds were limited or restricted.

in excess of 1,000 Venetian gold coins.
Apart from overseas markets and large city markets, the demands of the palace, especially those of the army and the navy constituted yet another important source of revenue for the accumulation of wealth of the guild wool weaving industry in Thessaloniki sets a very good example of this situation. The Sephardique Jews who escaped from the atrocities of 15th Century Inquisitions in Spain established themselves in this city as wool weavers revitalising this industry. The felt produced here accomodated the local demand and was exported to the Balkans and even beyond the Danube River. But the largest proportion of the production was sent to Istanbul for use by the Janisseries.
In the 15th and 16th Centuries it was inevitable that frictions would develop between those guilds whose masters have accepted to work under strict regulations and those who either had not been able to join a guild or those who had joined a guild but continue production outside the guild to increase their profits and capitals. We know that in Bursa as the market for silk fabrics expanded, the