The honor of craftsmanship: journeymen, handicraft guilds and group formation in Germany from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries

Abstract

This article aims to explore the connection between German journeymen and the honor of their craft guilds, and the reason why journeymen and guild masters held on so persistently to this notion of honor. The concept of the honor of the craft guild took shape in southern Germany between the years 1450 and 1500. It comprised a wide range of strict views surrounding the details of one's birth, gender, marriage practices, freedom from debt and rejection of thieving. From the beginning of the sixteenth century onward, these craftsmen began to discriminate against 'dishonorable' people-including executioners, skinners and others. Through the use of strikes, boycotts, or the threat of such actions, journeymen supported notions of honor with more tenacity than guild masters. Yet their actions could achieve legitimacy only after receiving approval from the entirety of assembled guild members. The growing connection between artisans and honor derived not from economic circumstances as demonstrated by the 'closing off of the craft guild', but rather was dependent upon social context. In fact, journeymen wanted to distinguish themselves from other members of the lower social order and 'dishonorable' people through organizing associations and forming homogeneous groups.