Were Medieval Thieves Guilds Real? DOCUMENTARY

Its a common medieval and fantasy trope to see organized crime take the form of powerful guilds like the Thieves Guilds or Assassins Guilds of the Elder Scrolls series. But were these real?

We begin to answer this question but speaking generally about Medieval Crime and Law. Next we turn to one of the most widely attested to forms of criminal activity in Medieval daily life, banditry. We cover the various forms of bandits which might be encountered on the roads or in the forests and wilds of the past. Some of these assailants were criminals of opportunity while others were professional criminals. However a large portion of bandits were actually medieval soldiers. We then move on to talk about other common groups of law breakers such as criminal families, gangs, and mafias. All of these have quite a strong historical presence.

We then turn to the more specific form of organized crime that would rise to the level of something like a D&D thieves guild or a Skyrim assassins guild. The subject is explored by looking at three key examples from our records, the story of the Coquillards, the Garduna, and the Banu Sasan. Watch the video to learn more about whether these supposed thieves guilds were real.

Sources and Suggested Reading
Trevor Dean, Crime in Medieval Europe
Mike Dash, “Islam’s Medieval Underworld”
Norman Cohen, “Europe’s Inner Demons”
Andrew Ayton, “Robin Hood and Military Service in the Fourteenth Century”
Laura Crombie, “Archery and Crossbow Guilds in Medieval Flanders, 1300-1500”
B. Anne Tlusty, “The Martial Ethic in Early Modern Germany”
Gervase Rosser, “The Art of Solidarity in the Middle Ages”
"The Iberian Mafia de la Garduña"

#History
#FactOrFiction
#ThievesGuild

[InvictaHistory]

We've got more of these videos which take a look at the accuracy of common Medieval/Fantasy tropes:

[TheArizonaRanger.]

It's gotta be hard to pin down the history of a thieves guild considering their starting premise is to not have people know about them.

[rosameltrozo]

I'd be surprised if no proto-mafias existed or something with some resemblance to that.

[doctorlolchicken]

As a non-American, I always thought thieves guilds in D&D and fantasy novels just sounded like a medieval interpretation of the Mafia, which was really big news in the years these products were developed. It never sounded like a thing that would exist in medieval Europe. Outlaws, on the other hand, made perfect sense.

[Warwipf]

0:35 The Defias Brotherhood in WoW is actually pretty well-organized and they are also goal-driven. Their goal is to overthrow the corrupt nobles of Stormwind.

[vitaeth]

Hi, yes robber baron (or robber knights as we called them) were also type of low noble type of criminal. They also appeared in history when main ruler had weak position. In Bohemia especially in Husite wars a lot of robber knights owned small estates of fortifications and had their own land and subjects. They also attacked another landowners. If you played Kingdom Come Deliverance, You know sir Hanush, who was some time marked as robber knight.

[emilbj]

Good to know that someone at Invicta is a Gwent fan!!

[artizen]

Woah, I’m astounded at what you guys did! The animation looked so smooth, it looks almost or close to 60fps! Didn’t expect it for to take such a turn in the story as well, great visual storytelling. Had a good friend work on this, she and all the other people who worked on this did an amazing job!

[TullyBascombe]

In medieval society law was generally administered at the local level. The local authority in one locality largely dictated what was law in that area but his jurisdiction did not extend beyond his borders and he wasn't bound to honor the law of adjacent jurisdiction. There were instances in which a local ruler gave sanctuary to bandits who plundered his neighbors jurisdictions. There were even instances of churches or monasteries doing the same, the bandits would share their loot with the clerics in exchange for safe haven.

[robertstuckey]

You're just adding to my ideas about a more medievally authentic D&D campaign. I'm already planning an encounter where the party is stopped and asked to pay a toll by a local knight but when they pull out their purse the lord will try to kidnap and ransom them instead

[tlotpwist]

"I shall maketh an offer he cannot refuseth"

Victo Corleonius

[davidnagore]

When I played D&D, my DM played the thieves guilds like mafia crime families from the 1920s.

[Zumbs]

The basic problem is this: Criminals rely of some degree of anonymity. When cities are small, everyone will know everyone and be able to recognize everyone by sight or by voice.

Add to this that the medieval world was very violent, with the local lord ruling by force of arms, and often had (or took) the authority to root out the obvious challenge to his power. One might even think that the medieval lord and household had all the hallmarks of a criminal organization of thugs.

[princekalender]

Great, now I have more stuff to reasearch about. I hope you're happy, Invicta

[Biouke]

Thanks YT, another great History/Fantasy channel. Added bonus: Finally an English speaker who doesn't butcher French names (the only other I can think of is the Metatron but he cheats, he's a language teacher :p ) !
Have my sub, you glorious narrator of well-crafted short documentaries ;)

[Mankorra_Gomorrah]

I guess when you think about it, a thieves guild is just a cooler sounding mafia or any other form of organized crime. I concept of several people working together to commit crimes for mutual benefit isn’t exactly hard to think of (which is why they pop up all over the place) so it would stand to reason that there would’ve been at least a handful of people who figured working together to commit crimes that would otherwise be very risky might just pay off.

[kadinlong]

"The most promising acolyte left us, not out of the lesser folly of sentiment, but the greater folly of anger, his heart was clouded, and his balance was lost, but his abilities were unmatched, even then, we knew to watch him most carefully."-- Keeper Annals.

[cervore]

SOOO AWESOME! Great video too, every context and nitpick. As a historian, I love it

[cole]

one of the reasons, I would imagine, for thieves being put to death for expensive thefts like horses, is the idea that the likelihood they committed murder to steal such an expensive item was very high but unprovable.

[caesarshotdogchampion]

Attempt #19
Next video should be titled, “Caesar’s Parthian Campaign Part 3”