The central guild adagio of fairness and equal opportunity amongst guild members in the medieval cloth cities in the Southern Netherlands had its impact on labour time regulation also. The city of Douai set the standard in an ordinance on shearing and cloth finishing in 1229. Shearers were allowed to shear only four and a half woollens in winter (from the 14th September until the Champagne fairs in March/April) and six woollens in the summer season. They were not allowed to start working before the bell had been tolled and they had to stop when the bell sounded vespers. It was the aldermen of the city who were to decide when the bells should be struck.
Peter Stabel, 'Labour Time, Guild Time? Working Hours in the Cloth Industry of Medieval Flanders and Artois' in: TSEG 2014 no 4