Guild

A guild is a professional association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft or trade in a particular territory. The cited article says the word derives from medieval Europe, where guilds were probably at their most extensive, though it has been used to describe similar groups before and after that period and in other parts of the world, that typically the key privilege was that only guild members were allowed to sell their goods or practice their skill within a city, and that critics argued the rules reduced free competition while defenders maintained they protected professional standards. It is one half of the combined trade guild or union value. Architecture organizations recorded in the atlas as guilds are grouped under this concept.