Earning Dignity: Labour Conditions and Relations during the Century of the Black Death in Marseille

254 Pages·2016·2.186 MB·English

by  Francine Michaud

Earning Dignity
SEUH
38
Studies in European Urban History (1100–1800)
Series Editors
Marc Boone
Anne-Laure Van Bruaene
Ghent University
Earning Dignity
Labour Conditions and Relations
during the Century of the Black Death in Marseille

Francine Michaud
H
F
Cover illustration: Ces présentes heures, à l’usage d’Amiens (c. 1520); image provided
courtesy of the University of Calgary Special Collections (photograph by Dave Brown).
© 2016, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
D/2016/0095/5
ISBN 978-2-503-56552-1 (printed)
ISBN 978-2-503-56629-0 (online)
Printed on acid-free paper
To Gabriel and George who accompanied me all the way

Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: ‘The Acquisition of a Trade, God Willing’:
Training in Changing Times 25
1. Youth, apprenticeship, and professional expectations 26
1.1 Apprentices 28
1.2 Training 37
1.3 Age and duration 45
2. Learning and living conditions 49
2.1 Fees 49
2.2 Wages 54
2.3 The necessaries of life 56
3. Protection and authority 61
Chapter 2: Craftsmen and their Masters 71
1. Professional destinies in critical times 72
1.1 Juvenile artisans at work 73
1.2 Mobility and trajectories 77
2. Artisans’ identities: origins and opportunities 80
3. Changing labour conditions 86
3.1 ‘Time is money’ 87
3.2 What’s in the salary? The lure of hard cash and other earnings 88
3.3 The yoke of credit 89
Chapter 3: Women, Work, and the Arts 101
1. Female artisans in the workforce 103
2. Apprenticeship, employment, and authority 111
2.1 The art of the needle 111
2.2 Food production 115
2.3 Other feminine trades 118
2.4 Beyond conventional streams 119
3. Women’s work and the Black Death: from social to
domestic sphere 124
Table of Contents
Chapter 4: The Opportunities and Vicissitudes of Servanthood 131
1. Defining servanthood 134
2. The service ‘industry’ in Marseille 140
3. Work, money, and power 146
4. Evolving conditions 149
4.1. Duration 149
4.2 Wages 154
4.3 In lieu of cash: room, board, clothing – and commodity 160
5. The balance of power 164
Chapter 5: Authority and Dependency: Masters’ Right,
Servants’ Plight 173
1. Reality check: seeking justice when the conventions go wrong 174
2. The game changer: plague, money, and dignity 184
Conclusion 203
Bibliography 207
Indexes 225
viii