Rotting from the inside: the decline of retail guilds in Portugal, 1755–1833

Abstract

ABSTRACT The end of early modern professional guilds is attributed to inherent inefficiencies (an incapacity to solve economic problems) or to state intervention. Governments became powerful enough to dispense the financial support of the guilds and put an end to their privileges and monopolies. This is the dominant view within Portuguese scholarship, especially in relation to craftsmen and artesans. This article focusses, however, on retailing guilds and their internal developments, arguing that the individual disruptive behavior of many Portuguese shopkeepers was as damaging to the corporative structure as was any sort of state policy. At the same time, it also argues that the corporative crisis did not extend to the economic sector itself. In fact, while the guild framework was crumbling, Portuguese retail businesses seemed to persist and prosper. Finally, the article argues that this prosperity was linked to broader changes in fashion and material culture taking place throughout Europe.