Journeymen Migration and Settlement in Eighteenth-century Holland

Abstract

Many crafts in premodern Europe depended on migratory journeymen. Little is known about these workers, or how craft guilds and urban authorities affected their movement. By employing novel data on thousands of journeymen from different crafts and cities in Holland, we provide the first systematic overview of journeymen migration and settlement patterns in The Dutch Republic. We find that migration and settlement patterns differed significantly by occupational sector, marital status, and skill level. The stance of urban authorities towards migrants significantly affected settlement patterns as well. This interrelation of group-level characteristics, craft guilds, and urban regulation demonstrates the significance of examining these elements in tandem.