Illicit artisan work and the control of deviant economic behaviour in Lubeck and Leipzip

Abstract

The control and regulation of deviant economic activities and especially of artisan work, which was practised beside the guild-system and therefore regarded as illicit, was an important and disputed political problem in early modern towns. Because the everyday experience often displayed the incapacity of the urban political and judicial institutions to deal effectively with this problem, it was a constant source of tensions between the guilds and the political authorities. Conflicts arose especially about the question, how and by whom illicit artisans (so-called ‘Stoerer’ or ‘Boenhasen’) had to be controlled, persecuted and punished. This field was significant for maintaining political order and stability, because it concerned central responsibilities of the urban authorities: to secure the welfare and income (‘Nahrung’) of the burghers as well as to guarantee and enforce their rights and liberties (for example the guild-statutes). These aspects will be further discussed by comparing the situation and development in early modern Leipzig and Luebeck.