During the Middle Ages, Guilds developed, not just to ensure that workers in a particular trade had the correct degree of training and expertise, but also to protect them from exploitation and t o ensure that wages were not unduly depressed. Their role was mid-way between a trade protection society and a trade union, with additional charitable and educational functions. As the number of guild members rose, hierarchies of guild officers developed to help the Master of the Guild. Some of these officers were known as ‘Wardens’; a title borrowed from the Church, and denoting someone who looks after or protects a building or a group of people. It is still used to designate the head of some colleges at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and each Church of England parish church has two Churchwardens; lay people who assist the priest with the maintenance of the church building and safeguarding its assets .
In the Middle Ages, the churchwardens also held two of the three keys to the parish chest in which the plate and other valuables were kept, with the priest holding the third key, so the chest could only be opened when all three were present and in agreement; a system that has survived in some of the City of London Livery Companies, where they are known as Upper Warden and Lower Warden, whereas in Masonry we have a Senior Warden and a Junior Warden. In a similar system to the guilds, the Master-masons on larger building sites would have had at least one assistant to help him oversee the other workers, he was often designated as a Guardian, which developed into today’s Masonic office of Warden.
The offices can be traced back to at least the 17th century in English Lodges.
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