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Apprenticeship Indentures and Apprentices in Medieval England, 1250–1500 / RHIANNON SANDY
Swansea University Author: RHIANNON SANDY
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© 2022 by Author. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.
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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.59094
Abstract
This thesis uses apprenticeship indentures to offer a novel insight into guilds and apprenticeship in medieval England. Indentures offer a unique view of idealised master-apprentice relationships, which are otherwise only visible in official records. A collection of 82 surviving indentures forms a s...
| Published: |
Swansea
2022
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Doctoral |
| Degree name: | Ph.D |
| Supervisor: | Stevens, Matthew F. ; Youngs, Deborah |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59094 |
| Abstract: |
This thesis uses apprenticeship indentures to offer a novel insight into guilds and apprenticeship in medieval England. Indentures offer a unique view of idealised master-apprentice relationships, which are otherwise only visible in official records. A collection of 82 surviving indentures forms a starting point for exploring social, economic, and legal aspects of apprenticeship in medieval England, both within and outside the guild system. Chapter 1 outlines the content of indentures and provides a guide to their general form. Indentures developed gradually in response to social, economic and legal factors; these are explored in subsequent chapters. Chapter 2 discusses the enforceability and enforcement of legislation pertaining to apprenticeship, as well as exploring the legal complexities of indentures as binding legal agreements made by minors. Chapter 3 considers apprenticeship in three ways in the context of the guild system: as a means of exploitation, as a means of exclusion, and as a means of providing technical training. No single model prevails, but the influence of each depends on geographical, economic, and temporal factors. Subsequent chapters provide an overview of the reality of apprenticeship. Chapter 4 discusses the use of behavioural clauses in indentures, which controlled apprentices’ behaviour with the primary aim of protecting masters’ reputations. Chapter 5 explores apprentices’ expectations of the apprenticeship, including provision of training. Chapter 6 presents novel estimates, based on surviving records, of the cost of maintaining an apprentice, concluding that they were not ‘cheap’ labour. Historians have not previously considered this cost. Chapter 7 uses testamentary evidence to examine close master-apprentice relationships, highlighting the importance of fictive kinship. Civic enfranchisement and its relative importance is also discussed. Overall, this thesis provides an original survey of apprenticeship in medieval England, based mainly on evidence from a previously neglected document type. |
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| Item Description: |
ORCiD identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8731-076X |
| Keywords: |
Apprentice, apprenticeship, indenture, chirograph, medieval, England, diplomatic, pre-modern, work, childhood, labour, training, socialisation, wills, bequests, economic history, labour history, legal history, social history, urban history, document studies, gender, guilds, craft guilds, craftsmen, craftworkers, behaviour, contracts, kinship, literacy, numeracy, citizenship, enfranchisement, wages, economy, trade, social mobility, Statute of Labourers, Statute of Cambridge |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |