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The career of a medieval craftsman typically followed a three-stage progression: from apprentice to journeyman to master. The three stages of the career were defined and regulated by the guilds, which controlled access to the trade and set the standards of skill, knowledge, and behavior expected at each stage. The apprenticeship system was a major institution of medieval economic and social life, and it was a major contribution to the transmission of technical and artistic knowledge across generations. The apprenticeship system was also a major institution of socialization, and it shaped the identity and the values of the medieval artisan class.
The standard English-language treatment is Steven A. Epstein, “Wage Labor and Guilds in Medieval Europe” (1991). The guild statutes of the Livre des métiers (Paris, c. 1268), the Florentine Capitoli of the Arte della Lana, and the surviving English indentures of apprenticeship are the primary sources.
The Apprentice
The first stage of the medieval craftsman’s career was the apprenticeship. A young man (or, less commonly, a young woman) would be bound to a master craftsman for a term of years, usually seven, during which he or she would learn the trade by assisting the master. The apprentice lived in the master’s household, worked long hours in the workshop, and received training in the various aspects of the trade. The apprentice was not paid a wage, but received board, lodging, and training in return for his or her labor.
The apprenticeship was a comprehensive training program that included both practical and theoretical components. The apprentice learned the basic skills of the trade — how to handle the tools, how to work the materials, how to perform the basic operations of the trade — and the more advanced skills of the trade — how to design, how to plan, how to supervise, how to manage the workshop. The apprentice also learned the social and religious duties of the craftsman — how to behave in the workshop, how to participate in the religious life of the guild, how to represent the trade in the public life of the town.
The apprenticeship was typically entered at the age of fourteen or fifteen, and it lasted for about seven years. The apprentice lived in the master’s household and was subject to the master’s discipline. The apprentice was expected to be obedient, diligent, and respectful, and failure to meet these expectations could result in dismissal or punishment. The master, in turn, was expected to provide adequate training, adequate food and lodging, and adequate care for the apprentice, and failure to meet these expectations could result in complaints to the guild.
The Journeyman
The second stage of the medieval craftsman’s career was the journeyman stage. At the end of the apprenticeship, the young craftsman would become a journeyman, working for wages for other masters. The journeyman was a qualified craftsman, but did not yet have the capital or the reputation necessary to set up an independent workshop. The journeyman was typically a young man in his late teens or early twenties, and he would spend several years as a journeyman working for different masters in different towns.
The journeyman’s wanderjahre — the years of travel and experience — were an important part of the training of a craftsman. The journeyman would travel to other towns, working for different masters and gaining experience in the various techniques and styles of the trade. The wanderjahre helped to transmit technical knowledge and artistic styles across Europe, and they contributed to the development of a common artistic and technical culture in the medieval world. The wanderjahre were a major factor in the success of the medieval artisan class as a producer of high-quality goods for the European market.
The journeyman was a qualified craftsman who worked for wages for other masters, but he did not yet have the right to set up an independent workshop or to train his own apprentices. The journeyman earned a wage that was typically sufficient to support a modest lifestyle, but that did not allow for the accumulation of the capital necessary to set up an independent workshop. The journeyman lived in lodgings or hostels, ate in taverns or commons, and participated in the social and religious life of the town.
The Master
The third stage of the medieval craftsman’s career was the master stage. After several years of experience as a journeyman, the craftsman could apply to become a master of the trade. The application typically involved the production of a masterpiece — a work of exceptional skill that demonstrated the candidate’s mastery of the trade. The masterpiece was examined by the guild, and if it met the standards of the guild, the candidate was admitted to membership. The new master could set up an independent workshop, train apprentices, and participate in the affairs of the guild.
The masterpiece was a major test of the candidate’s skill and knowledge. The masterpiece was typically a work of exceptional difficulty and complexity, and it required the candidate to demonstrate mastery of the basic and advanced techniques of the trade. The masterpiece was examined by a panel of masters who assessed the quality of the work and the competence of the candidate. The examination was rigorous and unbiased, and the candidates who failed the examination had to wait a period of time before applying again.
The master was a full member of the guild who enjoyed the full rights and privileges of membership. The master could set up an independent workshop, train apprentices, employ journeymen, participate in the affairs of the guild, and represent the guild in the public life of the town. The master was typically a man of some wealth and prestige in the town, and he played a major role in the social, economic, and political life of the town.
The Significance of the Three-Stage Career
The three-stage career of the medieval craftsman was a major institution of medieval economic and social life, and it had a profound impact on the development of the European economy and society. The apprenticeship system transmitted technical and artistic knowledge across generations, and it contributed to the development of a highly skilled artisan class that produced high-quality goods for the European market. The journeyman stage contributed to the mobility of labor and the transmission of knowledge across regions, and it helped to create a common artistic and technical culture in medieval Europe. The master stage provided the incentive for the acquisition of skill and knowledge, and it encouraged the master to produce high-quality goods and to train apprentices of high quality.
The three-stage career was also a major institution of socialization, and it shaped the identity and the values of the medieval artisan class. The apprentice learned the discipline of the workshop, the journeyman learned the mobility and the experience of the trade, and the master learned the responsibilities of the trade and the community. The three stages shaped the identity of the medieval artisan as a member of a trade, as a member of a guild, and as a member of a community. The identity of the medieval artisan was a major factor in the development of the medieval town and the medieval economy.
The Decline of the Three-Stage Career
The three-stage career of the medieval craftsman began to decline in the late medieval and early modern periods, as the commercial and industrial revolutions of the period transformed the European economy. The guilds began to lose power in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as the commercial revolution transformed the relations between merchants and craftsmen. The three-stage career survived in many trades until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but it was gradually replaced by more flexible forms of labor organization that were better suited to the needs of the emerging capitalist economy.
The decline of the three-stage career was a major feature of the transition from the medieval to the modern economy, and it is a major subject of modern historical and economic study. The decline of the career was accompanied by the decline of the guild system, the rise of capitalist production, and the eventual abolition of the guilds in most European countries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The decline of the three-stage career is a major subject of debate in modern historical and economic study, and it is a subject of ongoing research in the modern era.
Sources
Principal sources used in this article:
- Steven A. Epstein, Wage Labor and Guilds in Medieval Europe (North Carolina, 1991).
Further reading:
- Edith Ennen, The Medieval Town (North-Holland, 1979).
For a recent single-volume synthesis with full scholarly apparatus, see the relevant chapter of Barbara H. Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages (University of Toronto Press, 2014).