An association; a league or confederacy.

An association of merchants who have secured corporate exemption from tolls and other dues; in twelfth-century England sometimes used interchangeably with "merchant guild". By the later Middle Ages the German Hanse was a formal association of towns, as well as of merchants. (Reynolds, Susan. An Introduction to the History of English Medieval Towns, 199) Related terms: Guild / Hanseatic League

Towns that have built a townhall are part of the Hanse system. Citizens of those towns all allowed to join guilds.

That part of an elliptical or many-centered arch which has the shorter radius and immediately adjoins the impost.