The world of English artisans and traders: 1600–1750

Edward Duane Burton, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine certain cultural and social aspects of the English artisan class. Studies of artisans and traders, in respect to culture and social interaction, have been largely missing from the standard historiography of early modern England. Past studies have tended to examine this group of workers from the perspective of either political or economic history, leaving little or no knowledge concerning the individuals themselves. This study is an attempt to shed more light on the common people of England, particularly as it pertains to their progress as members of the trading community. To this effect, I have utilized several first person sources such as diaries, journals, autobiographies, and even letters and other forms of correspondence. These documents aid our understanding of commoners and what types of trials and tribulations they endured in daily life. The dissertation is divided into six chapters, less the introduction, that cover topics including apprenticeship, relations with masters and journeymen, setting up shop, courtship and marriage, and recreation and leisure. The utilization of diaries and autobiographies creates a detailed examination of daily life for the artisan or trader, with the effect that this study comes across as a series of autobiographical pictures. The result of this work is that we now know more of the common people, as related in their own words.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Zook, Purdue University.

Subject Area

European history

COinS