!!!Handwerk

Crafts, Handicrafts and Trades (German: Handwerk, literally: "work by 
hand"): The German word is a generic term for the production of goods 
other than agricultural produce, particularly in the pre-industrial 
age. The crafts produce their goods in small independent units headed 
by "master craftsmen" with the aid of "journeymen" and apprentices, 
often with other family members participating in the work. In terms of 
the raw materials used and the products manufactured by them, Handwerk 
can be classified as stone and earth processing (stonemasonry, 
pottery, ceramics etc.), the processing of precious metals, iron or 
other metals, textile processing, woodworking and leather processing 
crafts. The building trade (masons, bricklayers etc.), garment-making 
(tailors, shoemakers), food and beverage processing (millers, 
butchers, bakers, brewers, distillers, confectioners etc.), the 
manufacture of luxury goods (goldsmiths, silk manufacturers), and 
various personal services (barbers, hairdressers, cosmeticians etc.), 
are also counted as being a Handwerk.

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It is now believed that the crafts and trades developed on account of 
the obligations of various groups of subjects to pay dues to their 
superiors in different forms. In the High Middle Ages, craftsmen 
concentrated in cities and market towns. The oldest documents 
regulating trades and crafts were promulgated by cities or their 
rulers: in 1211/1235 such a regulation governing the brotherhood of 
shoemakers and leather workers of Friesach was promulgated by 
Archbishop Eberhard II of Salzburg, in 1260 the guild of 
leather-workers of St. Poelten was regulated in a similar way by 
the Bishop of Passau, and in 1267 the butchers of Tulln were subjected 
to such regulations. Handwerke were organised in "Zechen" or 
"Innungen" (= guilds) which were domiciled in a city and 
comprised special groups of craftsmen of that city and of neighbouring 
cities and market towns. Initially they covered larger groups of 
craftsmen (for instance, the Leonhardszeche in Vienna covered all 
iron-working crafts) but were increasingly differentiated as division 
of labour proliferated (by 1454 Vienna counted 68 crafts organised in 
55 Zechen). These guilds regulated and supervised production, limited 
access to the crafts ("closed" guilds) and enforced membership.

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From the late Middle Ages, these strict regulations resulted in 
constant rivalry between the organised crafts in the cities and those 
in the open country ("Gaeu"-Handwerk), which were not organised. The 
rural craftsmen who were not organised in guilds and those in the 
cities and market towns who refused to join their guild were regarded 
as undesirable competitors. Under the crafts policies of Mercantilism 
and the subsequent period new regulations were issued for "non-guild" 
crafts and trades and the limitations that had been imposed by the 
guilds were eliminated, in particular for what were called "commercial 
trades" (from 1754) and for all privileged or licensed 
"manufacturers". Merchants frequently became the 
"Verleger" ("dealers") for the craftsmen, who in this way 
lost their financial independence. Up until the early 20%%sup th/%  
century these "dealers" integrated the crafts and trades, 
whether or not organised in guilds, into supra-regional markets, which 
often resulted in the development of new forms of division of labour. 
Ultimately the integration of these separate functions led to the 
establishment of large enterprises ("factories") and to the 
disappearance of the productive function of the crafts and trades. 
Even though many individual types of craft were superseded, Handwerk 
has not disappeared completely, but has often assumed a multiplicity 
of new tasks such as sub-contracting, providing services, assembling 
and repair work.  Crafts and Trades.

!Literature
H. Zatschek, Handwerk und Gewerbe in Wien, 1949; Gewerbe 
in Oesterreich, in: Christliche Demokratie 2, no. 4, 1984.


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