As always Wikepedia is a good source of info - : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild

"Like journey, the distance that could be travelled in a day, the title 'journeyman' derives from the French words for 'day' (jour and journée) from which came the middle English word journei. Journeymen were able to work for other masters, unlike apprentices, and generally paid by the day and were thus day labourers. After being employed by a master for several years, and after producing a qualifying piece of work, the apprentice was granted the rank of journeyman and was given documents (letters or certificates from his master and/or the guild itself) which certified him as a journeyman and entitled him to travel to other towns and countries to learn the art from other masters. These journeys could span large parts of Europe and were an unofficial way of communicating new methods and techniques, though by no means all journeymen made such travels - they were most common in Germany and Italy, and in other countries jorneymen from small cities would often visit the capital.
After this journey and several years of experience, a journeyman could be received as master craftsman, though in some guilds this step could be made straight from apprentice. This would typically require the approval of all masters of a guild, a donation of money and other goods (often omitted for sons of existing members), and the production of a so-called masterpiece, which would illustrate the abilities of the aspiring master craftsman; this was often retained by the guild."

The guilds were charitable and supported society. Some of the funds for the Meister event were probably earmarked for sons and widows of Masters that had expired. During the Medevial period when the guilds were in full force thru somewhat of a feudal tenure the municipalities basically were empowered by the emperor, who was empowered by God, to dole out the right to practice an art, a craft or trade as deemed by the Rath, or town council. This gave the guilds the right to practice a specific art, or division thereof, craft or trade. The guild were sort of self policed and for example determined what quanity of raw materials would be purchased/stockpiled and how many Journeymen could be under the tutelage of a Meister, as well as the pay for the Journeymen. The guild had a huge sense of honor or Ehrbarkeit( http://translate.google.com/translate?hl...l%3Den%26sa%3DG ).The Adoph article confirms that the apprentices weren’t required to be paid anything but the rules of the time stated that the master “must maintain his apprentice night and day in his house, give him board and attention, and keep him under lock and key.” I'm not positive of the source but it may have originated from "The Story of Nuremberg" by C. Headlam. The Master was supposed to impart all knowledge and "black magic" of his craft to the student. Upon completion of the Lehrjahre/apprentice period, they youngster was given funds and set out on his walkabout. There looks to have been a couple rungs above or laterally with the Meister: Techniker and Ingenieur. I guess that Austria closely followed the German model.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Last edited by ellenbr; 04/05/09 10:43 PM.