SUMMER ENIGMA |
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The Middle Ages of Europe seem so remote from our own time that imagination easily imbues them with an aura of romanticism, of chivalric pageantry, of castles commanding fertile plains, of cathedrals that reach into the sky and whose carillons call sleeping towns to prayer and work.Those who lived in medieval towns and cities labored, as do we, at very real jobs, and many of them worked in the "mysteries," the term given to the craft guilds of the period, a term derived from the Latin word for occupation, "ministerium."
Secrecy was a prerequisite for joining a guild, since the guildsmen knew their livelihood would be threatened if the techniques of the trade became common knowledge, and for this reason the progress of an apprentice to journeyman to master craftsman was long and arduous.
An indenture contract of 1371 for an apprentice bowyer in England warns the new worker that
"the precepts of his master, far and near, [he] shall willingly do, concealing his secrets, and shall keep his counsel."
After seven years apprenticeship, and proving his technical skill (by producing a "masterpiece"), the apprentice was free to set up an independent shop or studio.
Are these trades still active as we enter the Twenty First century? Is there a cooper in the house?
This intriguing set of Polish stamps (Scott 1697- 1707) reproduces 16th century miniatures depicting various crafts and trades of the Middle Ages.
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