St. Eloy's Hospice

St. Eloy's Hospice is a guildhall in Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Between the Dom tower and the Mariaplaats in Utrecht in The Netherlands there is a unique house that bears the name: St. Eloyen Gasthuis (St. Eloy's Hospice). The house has been occupied by the Smedengilde (guild of smiths) since 1440. According to documents preserved the guild has existed since 1304, but older. The house can be visited free of charge on the second Saturday of September. The fraternity is private nowadays.

Associations of craftsmen and tradesmen, called guilds, were founded as early as in the 11th century in the Netherlands, Northern France and England. The blacksmith guild of Utrecht included the regular blacksmiths, the gold and silver smiths, the needle makers, the locksmiths, the weapon smiths, etc. These guilds were formed to provide their members with a decent standard of living by controlling competition, and on the other hand controlling the quality of the products as well. There was a severe training programme and subsequently a controlled career programme: apprentice —> Journeyman —> master.

In 1165 a canal was dug which connected the city of Utrecht with the river Vecht, and Utrecht became a very important town with a sea harbour (the present Muiden harbour) before Amsterdam was founded. Perhaps the most important fact in the guilds history in Utrecht was the so-called "Battle of the Golden Spurs" in 1302, where the French noblemen and their army were beaten by an army of farmers and tradesmen. After their victory this Belgian army marched through the lowlands to Utrecht. They forced the bishop to give up all his worldly powers by the so-called guild-letter of 1304 and installed a city council consisting of representatives of the guilds.

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