Guilds of Brussels

The Guilds of Brussels, grouped in the Nine Nations of Brussels (Dutch: Negen Naties van Brussel; French: Neuf Nations de Bruxelles), were associations of craft guilds that dominated the economic life of the city of Brussels in the late medieval and early modern periods. From 1421 onwards, they were represented in the city government alongside the patrician lineages of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels, and later also in the States of Brabant as members of the Third Estate. Some of their guildhouses can still be seen as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Grand Place in Brussels.

Rather than being limited to a specific craft, each of the nine "nations" grouped a number of trades.

The "nations" were:

The guilds in Brussels, and throughout Belgium, were suppressed in 1795, during the French occupation of 1794–1814. The furniture and archives of the Brussels guilds were sold at public auction on the Grand Place in August 1796.

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