Guilds didn’t evolve over protecting wages per se, but as a means to monopolize the supply of their labor by limiting those that could enter their trade. They w

Guilds didn’t evolve over protecting wages per se, but as a means to monopolize the supply of their labor by limiting those that could enter their trade. They were a monopoly of labor and similarly motivated by those that had monopolies of steel or the railroads. Guilds were about protecting their business by excluding or marginalizing competition and using their power to further protect their own bottom line from competition.