GENERAL — 18/262 — Construction works
Workshops sprang up around every major construction site and employed stonemasons, stonedressers, carpenters, blacksmiths, carters, rope makers, sawyers, coopers and the like. Unskilled work was done by day labourers. Stone or wooden elements and auxilliary strucutures were manufactured directly at the works on site, known as the construction yard. The craftsmen often used specialised tools such as wooden hoists, winches, pulleys and rotating cranes, powered by hand or by large tread wheels. Quite a number of people worked in construction, among whom natural and informal bonds were formed. Thre workshop also provided plenty of customers for the surrounding vendors, innkeepers, merchants, and most of the employees stayed overnight in the area. The workshop was run by a master builder who allocated tasks, managed the building process and dealth with the patroon (sponsor) of the building.
TRIVIA
— Medieval constructions were only rarely carried out by local craftsmen or trade associations and rather by itinerant workers, so-called journeymen. Unlike today, journeying was not restricted to the years of apprenticeship, but would be the norm for most workers until they decided to marry and settle down. To ensure that they would be treated equally and justly on each construction site, societies and fraternities evolved in many countries that would define a set of rules all journeymen and masters had to abide by. The 1459 Regensburg Statutes offer insights into the late medieval working code of stonecutters all throughout Germany who were part of the fraternity; the payment for craftsmen would not change depending on the construction's master, the financial support for travelling or sick workers, and how much money each member had to contribute weekly to the fraternity's funds to finance this help. The same fund would also pay for a deceased member's funeral and for court costs if a fellow got into trouble. Next to working conditions, the statutes also ensured the good honour of the fraternity. Thus, one of the rules states that workers should make confession yearly, go to Holy Communion, and not live openly “in illicit intercourse with women”.
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