Rural Artisans' Apprenticeship Practices in Early Modern Finland (1700-1850)

Abstract

Finland was a predominantly rural country before 1850. Its village communities, however, also required the services of craftsmen, notably blacksmiths, tailors and shoemakers. To regulate these artisans, the crown created a formal and regulated institution of ‘parish artisans’ in the 1680s that continued until the latter part of the nineteenth century. By 1700 a system had emerged of clearly organised craft training in the limited range of trades acceptable for ‘parish artisans’. This happened almost by definition outside the remit of guilds, which were located in towns. As a result, rural apprentices were not registered by any institution, but still abided by a set of rules that did not fundamentally differ from the formal rules that applied in towns. These included contracts, set terms, premiums, sharing of knowledge by the master and the apprentice accepting his authority.