The same guilds were both promoted and condemned as state competitors.

Evidence

The oldest German guilds offered their members effective legal protection, and thus replaced the protection of the state. For this reason, the Danish kings promoted them, since they saw in them a support of the public order. But, on the other hand, for the very same reason, the guilds also were considered to be competitors of the state: they were condemned in this capacity by the Prankish capitularies more particularly, because they were designated as conspiracies. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 9064

Categorization

• CANDY: Same institution viewed as both pillar and conspiracy — clean paradox for a light conversational nugget.
• XREF: Mirrors Milgrom’s analysis of medieval institutions as complements/competitors to state enforcement.