Guild representatives (mesteres)

The representatives of the guilds, or guild representatives (mesteres) as they were also called, were the craftsmen who belonged to the so-called House of the Twenty-Four (Casa dos Vinte e Quatro, assembly of the craft guilds). Every year, in January, the people’s judge (juiz do povo, elected representative of the craft guilds) presented to the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) the list of the four guild representatives who were to take part in the work of the councillors. They could be rejected if they had not served for at least six years in the House.

In former times the guild representatives attended council sessions seated on low chairs beside a table separate from that of the councillors (vereadores). In 1803, however, the juiz de fora (crown-appointed judge from outside the district) José Júlio Henriques Gordilho allowed them to sit at the council table. This prompted protests from the municipal procurator (procurador do concelho) João da Câmara Leme, who considered the concession degrading to his rank as a fidalgo (nobleman of the lesser nobility).

On 7 August 1811 the Council resolved that the guild representatives should return to their former places, but they appealed against the resolution and succeeded in having it annulled. For about a year the representatives of the crafts stopped attending council meetings, because they considered themselves wronged by the decision the councillors had taken concerning them.

In former times the guild representatives were held in low regard by the councillors, who often went so far as to insult and humiliate them. At the beginning of the 19th century, however, their situation improved considerably, owing to the profound social changes that took place in our country before the liberation movement of 1820.

The guild representatives ceased to sit among the councillors after the proclamation of constitutional principles in Madeira in 1834, and the House of the Twenty-Four, which they represented, was abolished by the decree of 7 May of the same year. The Constitutional Council elected on 3 November 1822 had no guild representatives.