FROM APPRENTICESHIP TO MASTERY. THE VELERS´S CRAFT GUILD CASE OF BARCELONA, 1770-1834

Abstract

This article analyses the main features of the silk-weaver apprentices and masters within the Barcelona silk guild from 1770 to 1834. In this period, at least 1,482 adolescents learnt the skills to weave silk and 737 men reached the mastery. At the beginning most apprentices were peasants’ sons from different Catalan towns, but in the late 18th century sons of fathers in different trades and occupations who lived in Barcelona entered this guild. Masters were equally distributed among guild masters’ sons and those who were not, although after the War of Independence the weight of the former increased. Parents of new masters who had no previous connection with the guild had different occupations in the productive and service sectors, and although before the War of Independence peasants constituted 23% of this very heterogeneous labour group, after it they lost this position in favour of artisans’ and merchants’ sons, especially in Barcelona. Only 12.5% of apprentices became masters, but many silk masters had begun as apprentices in a workshop. These features show that this guild was not closed and that the economic crisis between the 18th and 19th century did not force it to become more closed. The current research enriches, therefore, the knowledge on the character and development of the guilds in Spain we had so far. It discusses whether they were open or closed an approach that European historiography on the subject holds from a long time ago.