H a r a l d H a a r e a g r e in 872. There could, however, be no artisan-
class before thé town-life developed in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries. But the art of making clothes as well £|,s farm implements,
and the art of manufacturing (or at least repairing) arms
were generally known among the people, and on every farm the
inhabitants, as a rule, were able to help themselves. Individuals
who had acquired a greater proficiency than their neighbours,
also worked for others. Skill in building houses and ships, in
wood-carving, and especially in making weapons was held in special
esteem. I t seems, however, that after the close of the Viking age,
the art of making weapons fell into decay among the people generally,
and as a national art. — I t was the pride of the women of
that time, as of the present day, to be able to embroider with
taste. — The national homespun cloth was the material most
used by the people in the middle ages, as it is still. The well-to-do
classes, however, used a good deal of foreign, especially English
and Flemish, cloth.
From the thirteenth century we have interesting information
about the condition of handicraft in the most important town of
the country at that time, Bergen. The laws of that time mention
a number of different kinds of artisans, such as shoe-makers, furriers,
goldsmiths, comb-cutters, painters, saddlers, tailors, cuirass-makers,
sword-grinders, joiners, coopers, millers and others, to whom certain
quarters and lanes of the town were assigned, where they might
carry on their different trades. A large proportion of these artisans,
who seem to have been very numerous, had immigrated from
Germany; and the number of these immigrants increased much
during the 14th and 15th centuries, as the power of the Hanse
steadily grew, at the expense of the Norwegians, who, it would
naturally be supposed, originally formed the major part of the
artisans in Bergen, as well as in other towns of Norway.
Simultaneously with the invasion of the foreigners into the
trades of our towns, the artisan skill of the Norwegians also decreased,
especially after the middle of the 14th century. I t may
he considered as a turning-point for the better as regards the nation,
when in the years 1567 to 1559, C h r i s t o p h e r W a e k e n d o r f , the
energetic Seignior of Bergen, succeeded in breaking the power of
the Hanseatic artisans of that town, whereafter the larger part of
them left the town and were replaced by others who, although largely
of foreign extraction, at any rate became Norwegian citizens.
The corporate system has been for centuries of the greatest
importance to handicraft in Norway, as well as in other civilised
countries. As early as the 13th century, we find in our country
guilds of artisans, which, however, about the close of the century,
were suppressed by the state. Afterwards the Hanseatic artisans
introduced their corporate organisation into Norway, but when
in the 16th century, as already mentioned, many of them left
Bergen, the corporations, properly speaking, ceased to exist
there for a time. I t seems, indeed, as if' the different artisans
united in a kind of corporate association resembling the guilds ;
but towards the close of the 16th century, a great freedom of
trade was prevalent, partly with unhappy results : «Everything is
pell-mell and upside down,» says a contemporary writer. «The
tailors go fishing salmon, the barbers are beer-house-keepers and
merchants», etc. A decided change in this matter was caused by
the decree of 1621 relating to artisans, journeymen and apprentices,
by which the1 corporate organisation was firmly and ^exclusively
established; and this organisation formed the basis of the position
of handicraft, until the act of 1839 again introduced more liberal
principles. Under the corporate system every kind of artisan had a
monopoly within their own line, to which, on the other hand, they
were restricted. I t was especially forbidden in any manner to combine
a citizenship as merchant and artisan. In order to become a
master artisan it was necessary to have been apprenticed for a certain
number of years, and thereafter to have been a journeyman for a
certain length of time'; and in addition to this it was necessary to
stand a master’s test. It may be mentioned that in 1839 all artisans
were not organised in corporations, but chiefly those embracing
the most important trades and working in the old towns ; thus in
Bergen there were 14 corporations, in Kristiania 6, etc,, 46 corporations
in all. In conformity with the provisions of the act of
1839, the corporations have gradually ceased to exist, and access to
the different trades of artisans is now, also by virtue of the additional
law passed in 1866, as a general rule open to every man and
woman of the age, and fulfilling the requirements for obtaining
citizenship in a town, In 1894, however, the important provision
was introduced, that in order to obtain citizenship as an artisan, either
the tradesman himself, or the person managing his business, must
have done a probation work. The act of 1839 had done away
with the necessity of examinations outside the corporations,