Apprenticeshi p – Entr y-ticket to the World of the Trade Guilds

Abstract

Admission into training represented an important turning point in a boy’s life in the pre-modern era. If the future profession was chosen wisely, a path to guaranteed material existence opened up, along with a social reputation. In most cases, the parents and the three Fates made the decision for the boy. Apart from those apprentices who completed their training at home (in the domestic workshop), leaving for training was associated with leaving home, integrating into a new life community and into a new household. The responsibility for the apprentice's livelihood, education, professional development and security was handed to the master and his wife; however, the assistants and other members of the extended household also played a role in the training process. After some time, the state, too, became aware of the significance of this process and stipulated in the guild regulations the basic guidelines for training in a craft. Later on, apprentices were included in individual forms of regular schooling (Sunday schools), and regular attendance at Sunday school and religious education became the requirement for successful completion of training. Information regarding this can be obtained from the guild regulations, books and documents. The wider historical perspective will be outlined with the help of the literature. The scope of the article will be limited to the period between the two main legal acts that regulated the trades: The Inner Austrian Trade Rules of Charles VI . (1732) and the Trades Act of 1859.