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German History in Documents and Images
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The Flags of the Guilds (1815)
Guild flags, etching from 1815. Over the centuries, the guilds had developed into a pillar of the existing economic order. As this etching makes clear, they had their own elaborate system of signs and insignia. In the period leading up the revolution of 1848/49, the power of the guilds became increasingly subject to criticism as advocates of occupational freedom challenged their validity.