The journeyman years can be seen as a period between appren-ticeship and becoming a master oneself and can be documented for the different crafts not before the end of the fourteenth century.
Previous to that time, it was possible to be promoted directly into the status of master following the apprenticeship without having completed any intensive travels during the journeyman period.
These journeyman years started directly after the apprenticeship was completed and preceded the journeyman’s intention to settle in a town and become its a resident. The journeyman years became mandatory for most crafts only from the sixteenth century on. Pre-condition for this purpose was a traceable network of cities. With the development of urban landscape, the term became fashionable for the journeyman years in the second half of the fourteenth cen-tury. Isolated proves show that several crafts included journeyman years already in the first half of the fourteenth century.50
50. Cf. Knut Schulz, «Die Handwerkergesellen», in Peter Moraw (ed.), Unter-wegssein im Spätmittelalter, Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, 1985, p. 73; Kluge, Die Zünfte, cit., p. 165, 174. For further information about journeymen see Schulz, Handwerksgesellen und Lohnarbeiter, cit., p. 267-274. About the development and function of peregrination see Rainer Elkar, «Lernen durch Wandern? Einige kri-tische Anmerkungen zum Thema “Wissenstransfer durch Migration”», in Knut Schulz (ed.), Handwerk in Europa. Vom Spätmittelalter bis zur Frühen Neuzeit,
Information on the journeyman years (Wanderjahre) and on the residency requirement (Mutzeit) of the painters can be found in the regulations of several towns. The regulations stipulating the length of the journeyman years is documented in the middle of the fif-teenth and the beginning of the sevenfif-teenth centuries. The earliest regulations originate from Köln (1449), where the journeyman had to stay and work for 4 years in the city before being allowed to be-come a master. In the Regensburg regulation (1580), the residency period is set to 2 years.51 In Ulm (1549), a supplement, dated 30th July 1624, defines a journeyman period of 3 years.52 In Nördlingen (1597), we see 4 years as duration for the journeyman years, in Konstanz (1615) they account for 6 years.53
The most varying information can be found in the Straßburg reg-ulations. The duration was not yet determined in the regulations from 1516 and 1547, but first entered into the regulations in 1630:
A 3-year journeyman period was stipulated for the sons of masters and a 4-year period for all other journeymen. 54 Additional infor-mation can be found in the later regulations from 1741 and 1752 saying that every journeyman who was not the son of a master had to complete a residency period of 2 years before he could become a master.55 In Nürnberg, since 1596, foreign journeymen had to complete a 2-year residency period before they were permitted to
München, De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2009, p. 213-232; Id., «Umrisse einer Ge-schichte der Gesellenwanderungen im Übergang von der Frühen Neuzeit zur Neu-zeit», in Id. (ed.), Deutsches Handwerk in Spätmittelalter und Früher Neuzeit: Sozi-algeschichte, Volkskunde, Literaturgeschichte, Göttingen, Schwartz, 1983, p. 85-116.
51. HistA Kö, Best. 1 (HUA) U 312185 (the original charter); HistA Kö, 95 A 1, fol. 53r-56v, copy around 1550; Stadtarchiv Regensburg, Politica II, Fasz. 6 M., 2, 4.
52. Stadtarchiv Ulm, A [2508], fol. 29v-30r.
53. Stadtarchiv Nördlingen, R 37 F 4, no. 45; Stadtarchiv Konstanz, A III, vol.
24, 1-2.
54. AVCUS, Série XI, 111, fol. 5r-9r.
55. Ivi, Série XI, 111, fol. 2v; Série XI, 111, fol. 15r.
undergo their master’s examination.56 The same time can be found in the Dresden regulations (1574).57
The reason why a journeyman should go on travels was the necessi-ty to complete his professional training and to gain new skills. Such a detailed justification is found in the regulations for painters in Brieg (1605): After his graduation, the apprentice should go on travel for 4 or at least 3 years and try something new thus gaining a good practice in his art. Giving permission to the apprentices to graduate to mas-ter right afmas-ter their completed apprenticeship would cause disorder.
Incapable people would be supported whereas others who have been practicing for a long time to work in their art would be pushed aside and consequently be prevented from earning their living.58
Already in 1490, the regulations for the painters in Krakau con-tained the explicit request to the journeymen to visit foreign coun-tries in order to acquire experience in their craft before they gained the mastership. The travelling period was supposed to last for 2 years.59 According to the regulations of Krakau (1783), an artist was supposed to visit bigger towns to accomplish his skills. In excep-tional cases, it was possible that a work placement of 2 years could substitute 2 journeymen-years.60 The regulations of Salzburg (1688) requested travelling for 3 years abroad («3 jahr ausser landts»).61
56. StA Nü, RSt. Nbg., Rep. 52b, 259, fol. 920r.
57. StA Dr, RA C XXIV, 274b, fol. 275r.
58. Archiwum Państwowe w Opolu, Cechy miasta Brzegu, Sig. 95, 4: «Nach aus-gestandenen lehrjahren aber, wenn er inn beÿsein der maler undt goldtschmie-de losgezehlet, sol er dreÿ ogoldtschmie-der vier jahr inn goldtschmie-der wangoldtschmie-derschafft waß mehrers sich versuchen, damit er inn der khunst wolgeübt werde undt nicht durch unzeitige unordnung, wann er baldt nach ausgestandenen lehr jahren zuem meister recht ge-lassen werden solte, untüchtige leute befödert undt andere, die sich inn der khunst lange zeit geübet undt was redliches gelernet, verdruckt undt inn ihrer nahrung verhindert werden möchten».
59. Biblioteka Jagiellońska, Kodeks Baltazara Behema, Kraków ms. 16, fol. 273r-v:
«Und zo ein junger awslernet zo zal her wandern ij yor yn ander lant, das her fer-tigk wirt ÿn zeinem hanttwergk eer wenne her meister wirt».
60. Archiwum Narodowe w Krakowie, 29/658/1277.
61. Landesarchiv Salzburg, OU 1688 IV 07.
In Dresden (1574), however, an applicant for the mastership, who considered himself capable to pass with his masterpiece alone and without the experience extended travels would gain him, had the opportunity to free himself of this obligation by the payment of 30 taler to the guild.62
In other guild regulations, e.g., Danzig (1612), an applicant whose masterpiece failed was obliged to go on an additional travel to com-plete his training63. There were similar regulations in Thorn (1621), Przemyśl (1625), and Salzburg (1688). In the regulations of Graz (1622) a travel as a journeyman for 2 additional years was requested.64
Such stipulations show that the travels were generally considered an indispensable phase of the educational training for a painter in order to gain the qualification necessary to pass with his masterpiece later on. Warranting work of good quality from a master’s hand was the reason to commit to these long periods of travel where the painter was able to hone his talent.
During his travels, the artist was supposed to encounter new art directions and acquire techniques unfamiliar to him before. By do-ing so he introduces his new abilities and skills either in his original or next hometown as a master. Thus, the travels of a journeyman became part of an exchange of knowledge considered necessary and as consequence were included to the guild regulations. Since the journeymen travelled all over the German speaking area and, at times, even to Italy and the Netherlands, a communication of artis-tic styles beyond their original borders became possible.
At times, the birthplace and the town where an artist finally settled
62. StA Dr, RA C XXIV, 274b, fol. 275r: «So er aber soviel gelerndt, das er durch seine meisterstuck bestehen köndt und er nicht gewandert hett, auch nicht wan-dern wolt, sol er dreissigk thaler vor die dreÿ jar inn die lade geben».
63. Archiwum Państwowe w Gdańsku, Fond, 300 C, Sig. 612, 9: «und würde solche seine arbeit bewilligungk des wercksherrn verworffen, sol er nach ein iahr zu wandern schuldig sein und besser lehrnenn».
64. Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv Graz, A. Graz, Stadt, K. 58, H. 430: «Woferne aber das khunnststuckh von unnß nit passürlich erkhent, so solle er noch zwaÿ jahr lanng der khunsst nach raissen».
can be identified allowing us to draw conclusions about migrato-ry movements of painters. Besides church records, certificates of apprenticeship are important sources. As described in Chapter 2, such certificates were required when a journeyman wished to settle and become a master in another town. These documents therefore provide valuable information about the journeyman’s origin and the duration of his apprenticeship. Additionally often a birth certificate was required to testify the marital birth and a respectable family background, as well as character references to document the person-al integrity. The knowledge of the artists’ birthplaces, the town they had been trained in, and the place they handed in their certificates enables to reconstruct their migratory movements.
Key factors for the migration directions of artists were require-ments such as language and dialects. According to the dominant view of research, the German-speaking region was divided into 2 migration zones: the Low German and the High German area.
The border ran between Köln and Kassel but did not continue eastwards. Central Germany in fact seemingly was a sort of a cen-tral link. Migration can be proven from Saxony to Silesia, Austria, Westfalia, Lower Saxony and vice versa. Thus, Saxony was a geo-graphical hub between the North, Northeast and the South.65 In the Post-Reformation age, the religious confession played an important role, as well. The artists preferred to settle in places where they were
65. Cf. Hektor Ammann, «Vom Lebensraum der mittelalterlichen Stadt. Eine Untersuchung an schwäbischen Beispielen», Berichte zur deutschen Landeskunde, 1963, 31, p. 313-314; Id., «Wirtschaftsbeziehungen zwischen Oberdeutschland und Polen», Vierteljahresschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 1961, 48, p.
439; Wilfried Reininghaus, «Wanderungen von Handwerkern zwischen hohem Mittelalter und Industrialisierung», in Gerhard Jaritz, Albert Müller (eds.), Migra-tion in der Feudalgesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main, Campus, 1988, p. 186-187;
Rainer Elkar, «Schola migrationis. Überlegungen und Thesen zur neuzeitlichen Geschichte der Gesellenwanderungen aus der Perspektive quantitativer Untersu-chungen», in Id. (ed.), Handwerk in Mittel- und Südosteuropa. Mobilität, Vermitt-lung und Wandel im Handwerk des 18. bis 20. Jahrhunderts, München, Südosteuro-pa-Gesellschaft, 1987, p. 95.
allowed to practice their own religion. Still, religious denomination was only seldomly noted as requirement in the guild regulations for painters. The catholic religion was compulsory according to the regulations in Wien (1676, 1720)66, Lemberg (1597), Prag (1669, 1674, 1734, 1736), Rheine (1716), and Krakau (1748).67 On the other hand, the regulations of Königsberg (ca. 1550, 1598), and Riga (1638) required the Lutheran confession.68
Several artists left their hometowns because of religious prosecu-tion. Some of the Polish towns, especially Danzig, were places of emigration destination for non-Catholic artists from the Nether-lands during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.69 In Germany, besides Frankfurt and Nürnberg, the city of Leipzig was a popular emigration destination for religious refugees from the Netherlands.70
Along with the information on journeyman years and the resi-dency period, we also find further requirements for a journeyman to become a master in the regulations. In Ingolstadt (1564), for in-stance, a journeyman who wished to become a master was required to show that he was of legitimate birth, to present an apprenticeship certificate, to pay the master’s fee, to have purchased 2 buckets for putting out fires, and to create a reception piece, called a master-piece at that time.71
66. Stadt- und Landesarchiv Wien (hereinafter SLA Wien), Sch. 46, no. 9; Sch.
45, no. 7.
67. Archiwum Narodowe w Krakowie, Oddział na Wawelu A. Dzied. Perg. VI5;
Stadtarchiv Münster, Fürstentum Münster, Gilden und Zünfte, No. 68; Národní archiv, Praha, Stará manipulace, MP 106; Archiv Národní galerie v Praze, AA 1203;
Ivi, AA 1205; Ivi, AA 1202; Archiwum Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków, Oddział Akt Dawnych, 384.
68. Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, HA XX, EM, 81, c 2, Nr. 399, fol. 1r; Ivi, Nr. 400, fol. 10v; Latvijas Nacionālais Arhīvs - Latvijas Valsts Vēstures Arhīvs Rīga, 224/1/1809.
69. Cf. Janusz Palubicki, Malarze Gdańscy. Środowisko artystyczne w gdańskich ma-teriałach archiwalnych, Gdańsk, Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku, 2009.
70. Cf. Gustav Wustmann, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Malerei in Leipzig vom XV.
bis zum XVII. Jahrhundert, Leipzig, Seemann, 1879.
71. Stadtarchiv Ingolstadt, A XIV 28.
The certificates of legitimate birth and the completed apprentice-ship were indispensable requirements for the status of master. They were either documented by the journeyman himself or examined through an enquiry at the guild where he had completed his appren-ticeship. For this case, the aforementioned entry-books for the ap-prenticeships were useful. A pursuant confirmation was waived only if the journeyman was originally from Ingolstadt and was known to the masters there. The journeymen who were masters’ sons or who had married masters’ widows or daughters were privileged by the guilds: As a one-off entrance fee into the guild they needed to pay only one-third of what other journeymen had to pay. This payment went half to the guild and half to the communal treasury.
In contrast to the admission fee, usually no preference was shown towards the sons of masters or those who had married a master’s widow or daughter concerning the masterpiece. In such cases, the guild regulations mostly applied to all alike. One of the few excep-tions was Leipzig (1577). According to the regulaexcep-tions, the son of a master only had to produce one of the three masterpieces usually required from the applicants for the mastership.72