Colloque - Craftsmen and Guilds in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods (12-14 sept, Luxembourg)

Colloque - Craftsmen and Guilds in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods
12-14 september 2013
University of Luxembourg

The subject of craftsmen and their institutions looks back on two centuries of research tradition, but it has long been caught up in clichés such as the guilds’ supposed backwardness and exclusiveness. In the course of the last years a paradigmatic shift has increasingly emphasised the guilds’ dynamics and social mobility. This has opened the way to a series of new studies and research questions, but currently there is no institutional framework to facilitate a systematic exchange on the subject.

The conference, which is organised by the History Institute of the University of Luxembourg and the research project “Villux”, and which is kindly supported by the Musée d’Histoire de la ville de Luxembourg, wants to provide a dialogue board for young and more experienced researchers to present their approaches to the exploration of guilds and craftsmen on an international level. The conference is particularly interested in emphasising the heterogeneity of guilds and the plural interests and strategies of their members. Making use of a wide set of regional case studies it aims at a synchronic transnational comparison but also at a diachronic exploration of the subject in order to stimulate the exchange between medieval and early modern historians.

Programme :

Thursday, September 12th 2013

13.45-14.15 - Welcome

Introduction: Theoretical considerations on guilds

14.15-14.45 : Rudolf Holbach (University of Oldenburg) - Medieval guilds in the light of economic and socio-scientific theories

Session 1: Migration and Exchange

14.45-15.15 : Elisabeth Thoß (University of Vienna) - Journeymen's migration from/to Cracow and Wroclaw from the 16th to the 19th century
15.15-15.45 : Discussion
15.45-16.15 : Break

16.15-16.45: Knut Schulz (FU Berlin) - Migration and technical exchange. The case of gunmasters (Büchsenmeister)
16.45-17.15 : Reinhold Reith (University of Salzburg) - Labour markets in premodern crafts in Central Europe. A historiographical perspective
17.15-17.45 : Discussion
19.00: Dinner


Friday, September 13th 2013

Session 2: Guilds and Women

09.00-09.30 : Maija Ojala (University of Tampere) - Sex matters? Artisan widows’ and craft trade culture in the North
09.30-10.00 : Muriel Gonzalez (University of Barcelona) - Legal regulations in early modern Cologne. Agencies of female artisans
10.00-10.30 : Discussion
10.30-11.00 : Break

11.00-11.30 : Francois Rivière (EHESS Paris) - Women craft organisations in Rouen (14th-15th century): What role could women play in economic regulation?
11.30-12.00 : Sabine von Heusinger (University of Cologne) - Medieval families as economic communities
12.00- 12.30: Discussion
12.30-14.00: Lunch break

Session 3: regional studies of guilds

14.00-14.30 : Arie van Steensel (University of Utrecht) - How and why to write a comparative history of medieval occupational guilds?
14.30-15.00 : Tineke VanGassen (University of Ghent) - The craft guilds of masons and carpenters in late medieval Ghent
15.00-15.30 : Marion Bernard (Institut national du patrimoine, Paris) - The service of the prince and social ambition: The counter example of the armourers and the sword cutlers of Paris at the end of the Middle Ages
15.30-16.00 : Discussion
16.00-16.30: Break
16.30-17.00 : Eleonora Canepari (University of Oxford) - Working for someone else. Apprentices and labourers in the early modern Roman guilds (16th to early 19th century)
17.00-17.30 : Eva Jullien (University of Luxembourg) - The craftsmen of the town of Luxembourg in the Late Middle Ages.
17.30-18.00 : Danica Brenner (University of Trier) - Painter’s guilds in the German-speaking regions during the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Early Modern Times
18.00-18.30 : Discussion
19.00 Uhr: Dinner


Saturday, September 14th 2013

Session 4: guilds, identity and social strategies

09.00-09.30 : Jasmine Killburn-Toppin (Royal College of Art, London) - Crafting artisanal identities: rebuilding projects and guild communities in early modern London
09.30-10.00 : Ricardo Cordoba (University of Cordoba) - Guild Authorities in late medieval Spain
10.00-10.30: Discussion
10.30-11.00: Break

11.00-11.30 : Jennifer Bishop (University of Cambridge) - The Goldsmiths’ Company and the regulation of social relationships in mid-16th century London
11.30- 12.00 : Katalin Prajda (Central European University of Budapest) - The social network of goldsmiths in early renaissance Florence
12.00-12.30 : Nicoletta Rolla (University of Milan) - The St. Anne’s company in 18th-century Turin
12.30-13.00 : Discussion
13.00-13.15 : Conclusion
14.30 : Optional activity: guided tour in the „Musée de la Ville de Luxembourg”

Informations pratiques :
Veranstalter: University of Luxembourg
Datum, Ort: 12.09.2013-14.09.2013, Walferdange, Campus Walferdange, Salle Montessori, Route de Diekirch, 7201 Walferdange

Kontakt:
Eva Jullien
Université du Luxembourg, Route de Diekirch
7201 Walferdange
00352 466644 6746
eva.jullien@uni.lu