University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1984 The guilds of early modern Augsburg : a study in urban institutions. Ellis Lee Knox University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Knox, Ellis Lee, "The guilds of early modern Augsburg : a study in urban institutions." (1984). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1136. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1136 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE GUILDS OF EARLY MODERN AUGSBURG A STUDY IN URBAN INSTITUTIONS A Dissertation Presented By ELLIS LEE KNOX Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 1984 Department of History THE GUILDS OF EARLY MODERN AUGSBURG A STUDY IN URBAN INSTITUTIONS A Dissertation Presented By ELLIS LEE KNOX Approved as to style and content by: A\ Ul -LL- i .bi\L:>-orL^i^ ^ Miriam U. Chris man, Chairperson CkJ<JS- Archibald Lew is, Member b Roland Sarti, Member }^slJ^iM..Js,lM.^ Hilda Golden, wember Steven Nissenbaum, Graduate Program Direct Department of History ELLIS LEE KNOX All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank, first of all, my professor, Miriam Usher Chrisman. She provided me with the freedom to pursue my research according to my own interests and the demands of the sources, while providing me the right guidance at the right times. Throughout my work, she provided myself and my family support and understanding for which we shall always be grateful. Thanks are due also to the Genealogical Society Library located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Although the Library is a part of the Church of 3esus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Library has always opened the doors of its excellent collection to all researchers without regard to religion. My thanks in particular to the staff at the Cont inental Europe desk for their help and patience with my endless questions. I extend a special thanks to Dr. Raymond S. Wright III, who was of invaluable assistance on more than one occasion during my research. to my Finally, I must express my gratitude wife, Debra. No one knows better the toil represented by this dissertation, for no one shared it so fully, and I thank her for being a participant rather than a spectator. i i i , ABSTRACT THE GUILDS OF EARLY iMODERN AUGSBURG: A STUDY IN URBAN INSTITUTIONS (September , 198^) Ellis L. Knox, B.A., Boise State University M.A., University of Utah Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Directed by: Professor Mi r i am Usher Chrisman This dissertation is a compa r ative study of guilds at a time when the guild system was supposedly in decline. It is not a study of decaying institutions, howeve r , but of successful ones. It compa r es the structure and function of four guilds s hoemake r s joiners, barbers and millers in the early decades of the seventeenth century. These guilds represent a cross-section of the sma II bus i nes smen and artisans of Augsburg and reflect the variety of form and activity that ex i s ted in the city. The dissertation is based on archival sources that are largely unknown and untouched. Most important of these are the petitions to the City Council written by or about guildsmen and guilds. These sources allow us to go beyond the tax books and guild regulations that form the principal sources for most guild histories. This study i V also utilizes these traditional sources, but expands upon them with the petitions to examine how the guilds actually functioned on a daily basis (the four guilds produced fifteen to twenty petitions a month). The petitions are invaluable to the social historian, for they are among the few collections of documents in the pre-modern era that speak with the voice of the common man. The guild system in the seventeenth century was not dead; it was not even ill. Contrary to nearly eve r y p r onounceme nt on early modern guilds, the evidence shows that city, guild and guildsmen generally understood one another and worked we 11 together. The system did not work flawlessly or without friction, but it did function successfully. The success came from the ability of the guilds to adapt to changing ci r cums tances, the ability of the city to concern itself with the minutiae of its business life, and the willingness of the guildsmen to communicate their problems and desires to the government. The guilds were a vital part of the city; they were not r d they excessively conservative, they we re not backwa , we re not behind the times; rather, they were in close harmony with the urban environment that sustained them. TABLE OF CONTENTS Ac k n ow 1 e d g eme n t Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 1 I I . THE SOURCES 19 III. THE CI TY ZfO IV. CRAFT 74 V. GUILD 137 VI . CRAFTSMAN 192 VI I . THE PETI TIONS 249 VIII. CONCLUSION 293 BIBLIOGRAPHY 336 vi LIST OF TABLES 1. Size of the Guilds in 1610 19^ 2. Size of the Guilds in 1615 194 3. Size of the Guilds in 1619 I9i^ ^. Age Structure of the Guilds in 1610 197 5. Age Structure of the Guilds in 1610 - Percentages 197 6. Age Structure of the Guilds in 1615 198 7. Age Structure of the Guilds in 1615 - Percentages 198 8. Age Structure of the Guilds in 1619 199 9. Age Structure of the Guilds in 1619 - Percentages 199 10. Age Structure of the Guilds - Three Year Average 200 11. Age Structure of the Guilds, Three Year Average - Percentages .... 200 12. Age at Mastership - 1610, 1615 and 1619 204 13. The Wealth of the Guildsmen, 1611 209 U. The Wealth of the Guildsmen, 1611 - Per cent ages 210 15. Location of the Guildsmen within the City - 1610 217 16. Location of the Guildsmen within the City 1610 - Percentages 217 17. Location of the Guildsmen within the City 1610 - Index of Concentration 217 18 . Number of Masters with Resident Sons of Mi 1 i tary Age, 1610 221 19. Number of Masters with Resident Sons of Military Age, 1610 - Percentages 221 20. Number of Masters with Resident Sons of Mi 1 i tary Age, 1615 221 21. Number of Masters with Resident Sons of Military Age, 1615 - Percentages 221 22. Distance in Kilometers Travelled by Journeymen, 1615 and 1619 Combined 232 23. Distance in Kilometers Travelled by Journeymen, 1615 and 1619 Combined - Percentages 232 2^. Distance in Kilometers Travelled by Journeymen, 1615 233 25. Distance in Kilometers Travelled by Journeymen, 1615 - Percentages 233 26. Distance in Kilometers Travelled by Journeymen, 1619 23^ vi i 27. Distance in Kilometers Travelled by Journeymen, 1619 - Percentages 23^^ 28. Direction of Home Towns in 1615 and 1619*!!!."] 235 29. Direction of Home Towns in 1615 and 1619 Percentages -''** 235 30. Towns Producing More Than Two Journeymen 1615 and 1619 Combined 236 31. Guild Composition in 1645 ! 239 32. Distribution of Crafts within the City - 1645' 239 33. Religious Affiliation of the Guilds - 1645 ... 239 34. Status of the Petitioners 251 35. Status of the Petitioners - Percentages 251 36. Subject of the Petitioners 256 37. Status of the Petitioners - Percentages 256 vi i i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure r 1 . A Shoemake 's Shop hq * 2 . Bed Frame ' I j 2 3. Free-Standing Cabinet ( Kas ten ) 112 ^. Interior of a Joiner's Shop \[\ 113 5. Joiners at a Construction Site (Interior) .... lU 6. Joiners at a Construction Site (Exterior) .... 115 7. Waterwheel for a Grain Mill 116 8. Millstone and Hopper Mechanism 117 9. Grain Mill (Interior) 118 10. Bathhouse with Food and Entertainment 119 11. Rural Bath 120 12. Schropf en at a Bathhouse 121 13. Aderlassen at a Bathhouse 122 14 . Amputat ion of a Leg 123 15. Amputation of a Leg 124 16. Cauterizing a Wound 125 17. Barber Shop (Interior) 126 18. Setting Limbs ( S t r eckung ) 127 19. Barber's Tools 128 20. Surgery on the Battlefield 129 Map 1. Historical Districts in Augsburg 63 2 . Mi 1 1 s 64 i X ) ABBREVIATIONS GSLM Geneaological Society Library Microfil m JGOR Jahrbuch fur Geschichte der oberdeutsche Reichsstadte (also entitled Es s 1 i nger Stud i en VSWG Viertel Jahrschrift fur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte ZBLG Zeitschrift fur Bayerische Landesgesch i ch te X CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The history of guilds no longer attracts much attention, nor has it for several decades. This is ironic in view of the fact that urban history and social history are both well established fields, receiving a great deal of attention, and that guild history has much to contribute to our understanding of both subjects. Guilds and guildsmen have been ignored for a variety of reasons, one of which is that they were not part of the social extremes of wealth and poverty. The rich and powerful have their historians, the poor and oppressed have theirs, but the merely average seem to inspire little interest. Further problems contribute to the lack of works on guilds and to the highly restricted topics covered in the few works that do appear. The study that follows discusses the misconceptions and limitations found in many guild histories, and seeks to rectify them by examining four different guilds in Augsburg during the early seventeenth century.