Apprentissages masculins, apprentissages féminins à Venise au XVIe siècle

Abstract

Cet article est basé sur l’étude de plus d’un millier de contrats d’apprentissage et de service domestique, enregistrés auprès d’une magistrature judiciaire vénitienne, la Giustizia Vecchia. L’analyse des contrats montre les rôles des différents acteurs ainsi que le rôle de l’É tat comme garant dans les relations entre maîtres et apprentis. L’étude des âges à la stipulation du contrat, de sa durée, des origines et de la situation familiale (notamment le pourcentage d’orphelins et, surtout, d’orphelines, de père) des apprentis ainsi que du choix du métier montre les différences entre la mise en apprentissage des filles et des garçons. Tout en étant, dans l’ensemble, minoritaires et confinées surtout dans les métiers textiles, les filles reçoivent des formations plus longues et mieux payées que les garçons dans certains secteurs de l’Art de la soie.

Apprenticeship in Early Modern Venice

“…In the last decades of the sixteenth century, 56% of girls had deceased fathers, but less than 40% of boys. This strongly suggests that apprenticeship was chosen as a last resort in the case of girls, but was a normal way to enter work for boys (Bellavitis, 2006). Even though our data excludes the textile sector, the main one employing girls, more than one apprentice in three had lost their father.…”

“…In general, the age at entry affected the length of the contract. Older apprentices tended to have shorter contracts and vice-versa, even if there were some notable exceptions (Bellavitis, 2006). For example, the 1,884 apprentices who were older than fifteen years entered contracts that on average lasted for four years, whilst the contracts of the 240 apprentices who were older than twenty-five years, lasted something more than three years on average.…”

“…Some, mostly in knitting or sewing, were very young, often four to six years old: they did not lodge with their masters or mistresses but returned home every night. A wage was usually paid at the end of these contracts, mostly in money, but in some cases in goods (Bellavitis, 2006 and2012).…”

Household economies, social norms and practices of unpaid market work in Europe from the sixteenth century to the present

“…Rarely has recent research centred on the issue of the apprentices' "salary"; rather, it has focused on the link between apprenticeship and the trades, and on its evolution as these institutions have changed throughout the modern era, emphasizing the transition between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the development of a freer labour market (Epstein, 1998;Ogilvie, 2004;Wallis, 2008). It nonetheless appears that the types of remuneration of both apprentices and masters varied greatly in the early modern era and depended on variables such as the age or origin of the apprentices, the type of work and raw materials involved, and whether or not the apprentice benefited from family support (Bellavitis, 2006a(Bellavitis, , 2006b(Bellavitis, , 2006cLaudani, 2006;Minns & Wallis, 2012. Roman legal sources from the seventeenth century show, for instance, that an apprentice paid by his master could be mercilessly exploited, while an apprentice who paid his master enjoyed greater protection from bad treatment.…”