Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Craftsman
(1,155 words)

1. Urban guild crafts

Guild crafts and trades were the backbone of early modern urban life. Their exponents made up over a third of urban inhabitants, and in more industrialized towns of England, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, the figure even exceeded half, with by far the majority of full citizens. Even where manufacture flourished, as in the Paris of the Colbert period (1665-1683) or in Berlin during the reign of Frederick the Great (1740-1786), guild masters and journeymen still outnumbered l…

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Schultz, Helga, “Craftsman”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_020665>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170206



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