Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Word "Ehre" (Honour), And Its Derivatives,
should be free born for at least three generations back if not , he was not honest according to the view held by most of the trades . The children of the Slavs on the South East , and the Wends on the North East frontiers of the Empire , were not honest or honourable ,
and were consequently ineligible for apprenticeship , however high their worldly rank . The occupation of some classes rendered their offspring dishonest in the estimation of other trades . Nay , what was honest in one district was dishonest in another . In some cities the craft most looked up to and held in highest esteeni was that of the
weavers ; in other cities a weaver ' s son was of dishonourable birth . We thus see that dishonour , or dishonesty ( call it which you will ) , on the part of a would-be apprentice involved no moral turpitude ; it was simply the mediaeval way of expressing an arbitrary disqualification . The same analogy held good in the case of a master . If he
had not served his full time as ajDprentice , or had learnt his trade under a master who was not a member of the Gild ; if he offended against one of the numerous petty trades regulations ; if he employed journeymen who had not fulfilled all the necessary requisitions , he ceased to be fflirbar , or capable of being honoured ; he was no longer possessed of fflirbarlceit , i . e ., literally , that particular quality which rendered him capable of being honoured . The same may be said of
the journeyman . Any slig ht contravention of the trade rules deprived him of worth , or fflirbarheit . If , in order to earn his living , he took work under a master who was himself not perfectly fflirbar ; if he acce 23 ted an odd job on his own account , not being a properly passed master ; if he worked overtime ; if he took a holiday on Monday ; if he
failed on certain occasions to accompany his master to church ; if he omitted or committed any of the thousand-and-one trivialities enjoined or forbidden by the Craft , he was at once proscribed , made black , deprived of his fflirbarheit . A mere breach of trade etiquette , such as crossing the street bareheaded , or forgetting to button his coat
correctly , entailed the same degradation until he had submitted to the fine pronounced by his fellows . It is evident that in all this , abstract honesty , honour , or worth is not considered . A craftsman might be a God-fearing man , a loyal subject , orderly citizen , fond parent , dutiful son , just and upright in all his dealings , and yet not honest , not
honourable . On the contrary , he might fail in one or other of these particulars and yet be fflirbar , provided he submitted to craft law . For instance , many of the Emperors confirmed the regulations of the German stonemasons , or rather , believed that they had done so : in reality their confirmations extended to only so much of the ordinances as it was deemed politic to show them , and which they recite in their confirmatory letters . But the craft took care to claim that all and each
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Word "Ehre" (Honour), And Its Derivatives,
should be free born for at least three generations back if not , he was not honest according to the view held by most of the trades . The children of the Slavs on the South East , and the Wends on the North East frontiers of the Empire , were not honest or honourable ,
and were consequently ineligible for apprenticeship , however high their worldly rank . The occupation of some classes rendered their offspring dishonest in the estimation of other trades . Nay , what was honest in one district was dishonest in another . In some cities the craft most looked up to and held in highest esteeni was that of the
weavers ; in other cities a weaver ' s son was of dishonourable birth . We thus see that dishonour , or dishonesty ( call it which you will ) , on the part of a would-be apprentice involved no moral turpitude ; it was simply the mediaeval way of expressing an arbitrary disqualification . The same analogy held good in the case of a master . If he
had not served his full time as ajDprentice , or had learnt his trade under a master who was not a member of the Gild ; if he offended against one of the numerous petty trades regulations ; if he employed journeymen who had not fulfilled all the necessary requisitions , he ceased to be fflirbar , or capable of being honoured ; he was no longer possessed of fflirbarlceit , i . e ., literally , that particular quality which rendered him capable of being honoured . The same may be said of
the journeyman . Any slig ht contravention of the trade rules deprived him of worth , or fflirbarheit . If , in order to earn his living , he took work under a master who was himself not perfectly fflirbar ; if he acce 23 ted an odd job on his own account , not being a properly passed master ; if he worked overtime ; if he took a holiday on Monday ; if he
failed on certain occasions to accompany his master to church ; if he omitted or committed any of the thousand-and-one trivialities enjoined or forbidden by the Craft , he was at once proscribed , made black , deprived of his fflirbarheit . A mere breach of trade etiquette , such as crossing the street bareheaded , or forgetting to button his coat
correctly , entailed the same degradation until he had submitted to the fine pronounced by his fellows . It is evident that in all this , abstract honesty , honour , or worth is not considered . A craftsman might be a God-fearing man , a loyal subject , orderly citizen , fond parent , dutiful son , just and upright in all his dealings , and yet not honest , not
honourable . On the contrary , he might fail in one or other of these particulars and yet be fflirbar , provided he submitted to craft law . For instance , many of the Emperors confirmed the regulations of the German stonemasons , or rather , believed that they had done so : in reality their confirmations extended to only so much of the ordinances as it was deemed politic to show them , and which they recite in their confirmatory letters . But the craft took care to claim that all and each