Aprendices - History Lab https://historylab.es Fri, 20 May 2022 07:59:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.2 https://historylab.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-icono-historylab-32x32.jpg Aprendices - History Lab https://historylab.es 32 32 The spinners https://historylab.es/the-spinners/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-spinners Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/las-hilanderas/ Velázquez's work shows an interior of women working in textiles, emphasising their profession through the fable of Arachne

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]]> Velázquez’s work depicts a craft workshop made up of women. In the foreground are the spinners, women of the village who occupy the most important place in the representation, where three generations are shown participating in the work of spinning and reeling the wool. Their bodies convey activity and liveliness as they cooperate in a manual task. In the background are three upper-class women, one of whom focuses her gaze on the mechanical workers. In the 17th century, spinning wheels and spinning were poorly paid jobs that supplied the needs of the weavers’ guilds. Although Velázquez depicts the interior of a possible tapestry factory, the spinning work did not take place inside the factory, but in the house-workshops. At that time, the ordinances of 1561 prohibited women from joining the guild (historiographically increasingly disputed), although their presence in the workshops continued. The master’s wife took over the spinning and was assisted by other women from the age of 12, as they were considered servants since they were denied the status of apprentices.

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]]> Conditions and cost of learning a craft in 16th century Zamora https://historylab.es/conditions-and-cost-of-learning-a-craft-in-16th-century-zamora/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=conditions-and-cost-of-learning-a-craft-in-16th-century-zamora Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:25 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/condiciones-y-coste-de-aprender-un-oficio-artesanal-en-la-zamora-del-siglo-xvi/ The table shows the different crafts in Zamora together with the apprenticeship time required and the annual payment paid to the master for his services during the 16th century

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]]> At the end of the Middle Ages the control of the guilds lost importance in some places due to the system of free contracting, but where they would continue to have a clear influence was in the apprenticeship period of the crafts, restricting the number of apprentices and thus systematically controlling production.
The apprentice had to pay a certain amount of money to the master to allow him to work in his workshop and also to live with him in his house, having the primary needs such as food, clothing and a place to sleep covered. Payment was usually made in instalments and agreed upon by both parties. It was also common for the apprentice, in addition to working in a trade, to have domestic tasks, depriving him of holiday periods and even receiving fines if he was absent from his work, as is shown in some letters of payment.

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