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“An Irresistible Phalanx”: Journeymen Associations in Western Europe, 1300–1800

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2009

Catharina Lis ,
Hugo Soly  and
Lee Mitzman
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The paths of historical research resemble the forces in the sea. As some topics surface and rise to ever greater heights, others may be dragged to the depths of silence and cease to affect the beating of the waves. In most western European countries, research on journeymen has suffered this second fate. Along with the decline in interest in guild-based economies, the issue of whether pre-industrial journeymen associations were predecessors (or perhaps adumbrations) of modern trade unions, which had inspired widespread debate during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, faded from the agenda following World War II. This trend does not mean that the new generation of social historians has blithely ignored disputes involving journeymen. Nevertheless, many authors designate such events as crowd movements or view them as obvious forms of traditional resistance.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of Social History , Volume 39 , supplement S2: Before the Unions. Wage earners and collective action in Europe, 1300–1850 , August 1994 , pp. 11 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1994

References

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38 Sonenscher, Work and Wages, ch. 8; Minard, Typographes des Lumières, p. 121; Schulte Beerbühl, Vom Gesellenverein zur Gewerksdiaft, pp. 128–129, 262–270.

39 Lis and Soly, “De macht van vrije arbeiders”.

40 Sonenscher, “Journeymen”, p. 90. See also his Work and Wages, chs. 3 and 8. It is significant that Sonenscher does not provide definite information on the number of suits initiated by the journeymen. While his work suggests that they did sometimes approach the courts on their own, it appears that these occasions were rare and that guild masters took journeymen to court more often than vice versa.

41 Discontent with the administration of justice was common and often led to more radical action. After the court of appeal declared their complaints about two ordinances implemented by the municipal administration of Brussels in 1683 inadmissible, even though recent events conflicted with earlier decisions, the journeymen hatters of Brabant definitely turned their Bourses communes into strike funds. Lis and Soly, “De macht van vrije arbeiders”. In 1792, the establishment of the London Friendly and United Society of Cordwainers also followed a court judgement that was considered unfair. The journeymen claimed a strike fund was necessary, for even “if the laws of this country were much more perfect than they really are, still we must purchase their protection; and it is much to be lamented that the expenses of a lawsuit far exceed any journeyman's ability. Hence it often happens that power overcomes right, and innocence itself proves no real security from punishment”. Quoted in Schulte Beerbilhl, Vom Gesellenverein zur Gewerkschaft, pp. 264–265.

42 Sonenscher, “Journeymen”, p. 97.

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47 In many German cities the Gesellenvereine remained stable organizations throughout the early modern period. See especially Schulz, Handwerksgesellen, pp. 129–162; Wesoly, Lehrlinge, “Conclusion”; Griessinger, Das symbolische Kapital.

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80 For England, see Rule, Experience of Labour, pp. 199–201, and Schulte Beerbühl, Vom Gesellenverein zur Gewerkschaft, pp. 376–379. For France: Coornaert, Les compagnonnages, pp. 214–227. For Germany: Deter, G., Handwerksgerichtbarkeit zwischen Absolutismus und Liberalismus. Zur Geschichte der genossenschafttichen Jurisdiktion in Westfalen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1987), pp. 74–76Google Scholar (with further bibliography). For the northern Netherlands: Dekker, R., “Arbeidsconflicten in de Leidse textielindustrie”, in Diederiks, H. A. et al. (eds), Annoede en sociale spanning. Sociaal-historische studies over Leiden in de achltiende eeuw (Hilversum, 1985), pp. 69–87Google Scholar, and “Labour Conflicts”, pp. 393–395. For the southern Netherlands: Lis and Soly, “De macht van vrije arbeiders”.

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90 Scholliers, E., Loonarbeid en honger. De levensstandaard in de XVe en XVIe eeuw te Antwerpen (Antwerp, 1960), pp. 145–146Google Scholar; Verlinden, C. and Craeybeckx, J., Prijzen- en lonenpolitiek in de Nederlanden in 1561 en 1588–1589. Onuitgegeven adviezen, ontwerpen en ordonnanties (Brussels, 1962)Google Scholar.

91 See, for example, Schulz, Handwerksgesellen, p. 395.

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97 Quoted in Dobson, Masters and Journeymen, p. 39.

98 Christie, Stress and Stability, pp. 132–133. For greater detail, see Schulte Beerbühl, Vom Gesellenverein zur Gewerkschaft, part III.

99 See the interesting remarks of Schulte Beerbühl, Vom Gesellenverein zur Gewerkschaft, Pp. 253–255.

100 Rule, Experience of Labour, p. 212.

101 See the pertinent remarks of Bohstedt, Riots and Community Politics, p. 215.

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115 Proesler, Das gesamtdeutsche Handwerk, pp. 35–37, 49–51; Fischer, W., Handwerksrecht und Handwerkswirtschaft um 1800. Studien zur Sozial- und Wirlschaftsverfassung vor der industriellen Revolution (Berlin, 1955), pp. 24–25Google Scholar; Griessinger and Reith, “Obrigkeitliche Ordnungskonzeptionen”, p. 173; Thamer, “On the Use and Abuse of Handicraft”, pp. 278–281; Puscher, U., “Reichshandwerksordnung und Reichsstädte. Der Vollzug des Reichsschlusses von 1731 in den fränkischen Reichsstädten”, in Müller, R. A. (ed.), Reichsstädte in Franken, 2 vols (Munich, 1987), vol. I, pp. 33–45Google Scholar, and her Handwerk zwischen Tradition und Wandel, pp. 199–202, 230–232; Deter, Handwerksgerichtsbarkeit, pp. 76–93.

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