Protection, Continuity and Gender: Craft trade culture in the Baltic Sea Region (14th-16th centuries)

Abstract

Käsityöläisten yrittäjäkulttuuri Itämeren alueen kaupungeissa 1350-1620

Väitöskirjassani tutkin käsityöläisten yrittäjäkulttuuria Itämeren alueen kaupungeissa myöhäiskeskiajalla ja uuden ajan alussa. Käsityötuotanto tapahtui kodin yhteydessä olevassa verstaassa ja se oli yleensä perheen yhteinen bisnes. Käsityöläiset olivat järjestäytyneet ammattialoittain ammattikuntiin, joilla jokaisella oli omat sääntönsä. Käsityöläisammattikunnat läpäisivät elämän jokaisen osa-alueen: ne hallitsivat työmarkkinoita, järjestivät ammatillista koulutusta, osallistuivat kaupungin sotilaalliseen puolustukseen, huolehtivat osaltaan oikeudenhoidosta ja monista hallinnollisista asioista, ylläpitivät kaupunkirauhaa, järjestivät köyhäinhoitoa, tarjosivat jäsenilleen sosiaalista yhdessäoloa sekä jopa mahdollisuuden uskonnollisen hartauden osoittamiseen pitämällä yllä alttareita kirkoissa. Ammattikuntien merkitys jokapäiväiselle elämälle oli kiistaton.

Tutkimuksessa selvitän, mitkä olivat yrittäjäkulttuurin keskeisimmät elementit, arvot ja toimintatavat. Yrittäjäkulttuuria tarkastelen käsityöläisleskien kautta: mitkä olivat käsityöläisleskien mahdollisuudet jatkaa ammatissaan miehensä kuoltua ja käyttivätkö he näitä mahdollisuuksia hyödykseen. Tutkimus keskittyy Tukholman, Tallinnan, Riian ja Lyypekin kaupunkeihin noin vuosina 1350−1620.

Aiemmassa tutkimuksessa tuon ajan yrittäjäkulttuuri ja ammattikuntalaitosjärjestelmä on nähty staattisena rakennelmana, joka ei pystynyt sopeutumaan muutoksiin ja joka vahvisti patriarkaalista yhteiskuntajärjestystä sekä pyrki rajoittamaan naisten työntekoa. Tutkimukseni haastaa tämän näkemyksen ja tarjoaa uudenlaisen tulkinnan. Sen mukaan ammattikunnat tarjosivat leskille useita mahdollisuuksia jatkaa perheyrityksen pyörittämistä miesmestarin kuoltua. Yleisin ammattikunnan tarjoamista mahdollisuuksista oli vuoden ja päivän aikaraja, jonka umpeuduttua lesken olisi luovuttava ammatistaan tai siirrettävä mestarinoikeudet pojalleen tai uudelle aviomiehelle. Monet lesket jatkoivat kuitenkin ammatissaan vuosia piittaamatta virallisista säädöksistä. Tämä todistaa, että lesket olivat kiinteä osa tuon ajan kaupunkien yrittäjäkulttuuria, eikä naisjohtoisia käsityöläisverstaita pidetty mitenkään outoina.

Tutkimukseni myös paljasti, että oman edun tavoittelu meni usein ammattikunnan edun edelle, vaikka aikakausi on mielletty kollektiivisuuden ajaksi. Käsityöläisten yrittäjäkulttuuri olikin täynnä ristiriitoja: toisaalta pyrittiin takaamaan samat edut ja ammatinharjoittamisen edellytykset kaikille ammattikunnan jäsenille, mutta silti sosiaaliset erot ammattikunnan sisällä saattoivat olla suuret. Ammattikunnat harjoittivat myös voimakasta suojelupolitiikkaa, protektionismia, turvatakseen yhteiset edut. Toisaalta ne loivat hyvin joustavia käytäntöjä ja sääntöjä, jotka tarjosivat pelivaraa ja mahdollistivat kilpailun ammattikunnan sisällä. Kaikki nämä toimet tähtäsivät tuotannon jatkuvuuteen; mestarin sukupuoli oli toissijaista. Tutkimukseni tuo ilmi, että näinkin kaukainen yrittäjäkulttuuri piti sisällään paljon sellaisia elementtejä, jotka yleensä yhdistetään nykypäivän markkinatalousyhteiskuntiin eikä myöhäiskeskiajan ja uuden ajan alun talousjärjestelmiin.

Väitöskirjani tarjoaa ensimmäistä kertaa laajan vertailevan tutkimuksen Itämeren alueen kaupunkien käsityöläiskulttuurista ja lesken asemasta. Lisäksi se yhdistää eri näkökulmia uudella tavalla, sillä hansakaupunkien käsityöläisiä ei aiemmin ole tarkasteltu yrittäjyyden, taloushistorian ja sukupuolihistorian näkökulmista. Tutkimukseni tarjoaa täysin uuden lähestymistavan hansa-alueen kaupunkihistoriaan, sillä aiempi hansatutkimus on keskittynyt lähinnä tarkastelemaan hansaliittoa taloudellisena ja poliittisena mahtina tai käsitellyt kauppiaita ja heidän verkostojaan.

In this dissertation I study craft trade culture in late medieval and early modern cities bordering the Baltic Sea. Research focuses on four urban communities, namely on Stockholm, Tallinn, Riga, and Lübeck. In all these cities craftsfolk formed one fourth of the inhabitants as well as the so-called middle class of the citizens. Additionally, craft organizations penetrated all spehers of life in urban settlements: they dominated labour market, influenced town topography, organized military troops, took care of juridical and administrative tasks, organized professional training, and together with merchants governed the economic sector. In addition, crafts organized poor relief, free time, and some crafts even took care of religious and devotional activities. In this research craft trade is studied from economic and gender history viewpoints. Special emphasis is on the possibilities of artisan widows to continue their trade after their husband had died. This study provides for the first time an extensive comparison of craft trade culture in four Baltic Sea cities. Furthermore, it combines two perspectives, rarely applied together in the field of craft and guild studies. In addition, the study covers the time period of circa 1350−1620, hence transcending the usual boundaries between medieval and early modern era in historical research.

The essential elements of craft trade culture are traced from three different angles. Firstly, the various urban organizations are examined, differentiated, and categorized. My hypothesis is that the possibilities of widows to carry on depended on the organization type. In previous research the various urban organizations, guilds, crafts, and devotional guilds or confraternities have not always been differentiated, which has led to misinterpretations about the position of women within these organizations. The categorization is based on my own innovation called tripartite classification. The tripartite classification is both a method of the study as well as a result of a wide-range comparison of the ordinances and statutes of the three organization types.

Secondly, the opportunities of artisan widows and the meaning of widowhood in the context of craft trade are examined. Here the viewpoint changes from the organizations to the point of view of the craftsfolk and particularly of artisan widows. By adopting different roles, as mothers and managers of household workshops, widows challenged traditional gender roles. Thus, the widow perspective is fruitful because it helps us to examine how gender relationships were constructed in craft trade culture and what role gender played in it. The normative side is discussed by studying craft ordinances: what options and possibilities did craft ordinances give to widows to continue their trade. In previous research widows’ rights articles have been seen as mere restrictions against women’s work. I challenge previous research by arguing that widows’ rights articles must be seen as opportunities, and hence widows’ rights articles ensured legal protection for widows.

Thirdly, craft trade culture is studied by taking a closer look at Lübeck. The everyday practice of craftsfolk is examined, with the help of narrative source material. In particular I ask how widows’ right articles were applied in practice and what dispute situations can be observed. In addition, the work identity of craftswomen and craftsmen is examined. It is my hypothesis that in previous research gender hierarchies and the masculinity of artisanal world has been overemphasized. Using Lübeck as a case study I shall also examine the interaction between the city council, the crafts, and individual craft members. This is significant because it helps us to detect the dynamics within craft trade culture and how various actors negotiated on norms, rules, values, and their goals.

In this study I use both normative source material, craft ordinances and records of the city council, as well as narrative sources, Lübeck petition letters. I have analysed all the preserved craft ordinances from the four cities which stem from the time period of 1350−1620. These 178 craft ordinances built the core of the study, thus they set the framework within which the narrative letters are analysed. The detailed Appendices at the end of the study list all the used craft ordinances, their editions, repository places, and archival signums. This combination of sources offers a good basis to study widows’ opportunities in principle and in practice. Moreover, craft ordinances build the context in which the petition letters are analysed. Furthermore, the letters enable a deeper study of contemporary values and mentalities than the craft ordinances. Throughout the study quantitative, qualitative, and linguistic methods are used together with comparison, a case study, and tripartite classification mentioned above.

The concept of craft trade culture is understood broadly meaning the system how handicraft production was organized; how various artisans within the same profession were organized into crafts; how craft ordinances regulated various aspects of production and the everyday life of the artisans. In addition, I consider craft trade culture to include a set of norms, values, and practices that guided individual craft members. Gender is understood as a cultural and social construction, which encompasses more than just the physical differences between biological sexes. Biological differences form the base but cultural and social norms and practices that define female and male work, duties, rights, and obligations are more important. An essential element of this social gender is that its definitions vary and change according to time and space. What is feminine and what is masculine can be defined differently in various geographical areas, cultures, social contexts, and religious confessions as well as in various times. Masculinities and femininities also vary according to other categories and attributes such as profession, social status, age, personal character, and marital status, and so forth. Work and particularly work conditions were one of the factors that created, enforced, or diminished gender roles.

This study finds that craft trade culture in late medieval and early modern cities bordering the Baltic Sea was flexible and aimed for the continuation of production at several different levels. At the same time craft trade culture was a strongly protectionist culture. Furthermore, within this protectionism there existed elements, which are often used to characterize modern market economies – individual profit seeking and competition. Hence, the study reveals that craft trade culture was full of contradictions. Additionally, within craft trade culture other categories and aims outweighed the gender aspect. It was more important to ensure the continuation of production than fret over the gender of the master. Consequently, widows’ rights articles in the craft ordinances were not means to restrict widows’ and respectively women’s work. Instead, widows’ rights articles strove to secure the continuity of production and to protect craft trade production which was based on household workshops. Moreover, as we must abandon the bipolar notion of gender, we must also reject the dichotomy of comparing ‘traditional societies’ to societies with (free) market economy. The investigation conducted here reveals that craft trade culture was at the same time affected by the aims of the crafts to ensure equal premises and resources for all their members and a common well-being of its members as well as by the competition between craft members and self-interest. The majority of gender and economic historians have underlined the inflexibility of craft organizations arguing that this rigid system hindered the development of market and dynamic economy. However, the current study proves that craft trade culture was a flexible system that adapted to changing conditions and left room for negotiation.

In this study I introduce a new approach and classification to urban organization called tripartite classification. According to it, three different organization types existed in late medieval and early modern towns bordering the Baltic Sea: professional crafts, composite artisan guilds and merchant guilds, and devotional organizations, which I call devotional guilds. The analysis in this study demonstrates that the organization type clearly affected not only female membership and widows’ possibilities but other questions like political participation, military, and defence as well as religious participation.

Craft ordinances granted widows five different possibilities to continue their trade. In previous research particularly the supporters of subordination theory have considered these widows’ rights as restrictions. However, the findings of the current study do not support these notions. Widows took advantage of these possibilities and were aware of the rights granted to them in the craft ordinances. Despite the questions that widowhood raised among contemporaries, widows could run their workshops independently and/or with the help of their children and/or hired workforce. Some crafts considered widows capable of training apprentices and at least in some crafts widows participated in craft assemblies and festivities. Furthermore, the analysis of Lübeck petition letters exposes that some widows exceeded the customary time limit granted to them in craft ordinances and continued their trade for several years, even 19. This demonstrates that widows were an integral part of craft trade culture. Moreover, the main aim of craft organizations was not to restrict women’s work but to ensure the continuity of craft production and economic welfare of its members.