This paper discusses the importance of religion as a factor influencing the inclusion and exclusion of foreigners from the guilds in the city of Strasbourg, in the eighteenth century. In the Ancien Regime society, religion - as well as social status, family ties, gender, sponsorship and financial reserves, language and rights of the bourgeoisie - was a part of the decisive factors to include or exclude the foreigners on the access to economic, political or social resources of the cities. In this paper, the construction and preservation of religious boundaries are examined through the examples of carpenters and boatmen guilds in the multi-confessional city of Strasbourg.
inclusion; exclusion; religion; guilds