Journeyman, Germany

Journeyman, Germany

The journeyman years refer to the medieval tradition of setting out on a journey for several years after completing apprenticeship as a craftsman. Moving from one town to another to gain experience from different workshops became an important part of the training of an aspirant master (see origin of: “Master Work”). The journeyman is required to be unmarried, childless and debt-free—so that the journeyman years will not be taken as a chance to run away from social obligations. At the beginning of this journey, the wanderer takes only a small, fixed sum of money with him (exactly five Deutsche Marks was common, now five Euros); at its end, he should come home with exactly the same sum of money in his pocket. Thus, he is supposed neither to squander money nor to store up any riches during the journey, which should be undertaken only for the experience.