THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY.
145
further qualification of honourable birth.
Honourable, in this sense, would embrace many
for at least two generations, and
requisites ; for instance, that his progenitors had been freemen
they had not followed any trade which was, in the eyes of this particular trade, degrading.
may be well to state that there is not an atom of proof that such a qualification was deemed
but as we do find this
necessary, and I am unwilling to assert it as an undoubted fact
tliat
It
;
requirement exacted by other craft guilds, it is quite open to us to assume its being demanded
Stipulations of this kind controlled the influx of workmen, and
by the stonemasons.
in
many
cases were very whimsical.
Trades which were usually considered dishonourable
by the others were those of^ bath attendant, barber, gravedigger, trumpeter, herdsman,
watchman, headsman, etc., and in some cities the weavers were thus classed; although in
In the cities of pure German origin, lads
others they formed the most honoui-able craft.
One
of Slav nationality were considered dishonourable.^
be found in the constitution of the Bremen shoemakers,
this craft the sons of weavers, porters, or of
The term
of indenture
was
five years,
such
and
a.d.
women
most curious
of the
1300 —
as are
wont
"
No
restrictions is to
one shall instruct in
to harbour vermin."
^
to ensure the apprentice completing his time
he
was required to deposit a guarantee of twenty florins (Art. LIX.), which possibly became the
The master did not receive the money at once, but it
master's at the expiration thereof
was deposited with a citizen, in order that if the master died the premium might be transferred
The master, on his part, was bound to perform his
with the apprentice to some other master.
duty (Art. XXXIII.), and to ensure due accomplishment, a contract in duplicate carved on
and further to obviate
into and deposited in a safe place (Art. LXIX.)
the apprentices' indentures were entered into and cancelled in the presence of
disputes
the whole lodge as witnesses (Art. LXIV.).
The apprentice received two florins yearly as
wood was entered
;
all
pocket money (Art. LXVL), and was required to promise truth, obedience, and loyalty to his
master (Art. LXV.), as well as submission to the craft and its decisions (Art. LXVII.).
The apprentice was required to complete his fuU term, or he was debarred from exercising
LXXIL), besides forfeiting the deposited twenty florins (Art. LXIV.), unless,
he wished to enter into wedlock, when he might compromise matters with his
In Art. 22 this is most emphatically laid down "Not to the
master (Art. LXXII.).
the craft (Art.
indeed,
—
extent of one week
"
could any one shorten the five years of servitude.
This term of five years,
however, was not previously, nor subsequently, universal in some districts four years appear to
have been sufficient.
We find an acknowledgment of this in the confirmation of the 1563
;
IGth September 1621, in which, summarising the
principal Ordinances of the Brother-book, he confirms the teini of five years, but also provides
that one who has only served about four years shall not be received into the Brotherhood, unless
Statutes
by the Emperor Ferdinand
he pays two
florins to
II.,
God's service, in lieu of the one year.*
In the sixteenth century
also,
there arose a lively quarrel between the lodges of Strassburg and
to the persistence of the latter in receiving apprentices for
Annaberg (in Saxony), owing
four years.°
And, finally, all this
implied in Art. LXL, and curiously enoug