The Boot and Shoe Trades in London and Paris in the Long Eighteenth Century

pair of man's double soled leather shoes. Journeymen thought this was a major
obstacle in joining the Company. A master was required to show skills in all
three sub-trades in which shoemaking was divided (men's, women's and boots)
while, according to them, "la paire de bottes est un ouvrage et la paire de
souliers un autre". 85 The result was a dwindling number of master shoemakers
in most French cities and in Paris in particular.
In London the Company had accepted increasing specialised production, not
expecting masters to produce the whole spectrum of products. In Paris the
company promoted not only the preservation of small productive units, but also
of generic producers. This restrained on the development of subcontracting and
the separation of production from retailing. We can perhaps say that the
Compagnie was less representative of shoemakers than the Cordwainers'
company in London. The Compagnie had to deal not only with a certain number
of individuals who did not respect the rules, but also within the company it had
to deal with "l'esprit d'insubordination et d'indépendence de la plus grande
partie des maitres". Such insubordination manifested itself with producers who
"n'ont point rempli les temps d'apprentisage prescrit" or in other who
"s'accoutument a une fabriquation ricieuse, d'autres se servent des
marchandises defectiienses ou prohibées et endonnent par ce moyen leur
ouvrage a plus bas prix". The final opinion was that "de ce esprit
d'indépendance de la part des maitres, Résulte la désobeissance de Rociunaitre
les loix constitutives de 1 'existence de leur Communauté".86
2.6 Journeymen
As the efforts to retain control of craftsmen suggest, both the London
Cordwainers' company and the Parisian Compagnie des Cordonniers were
concerned with shaping the dimensions of the trade to avoid its disintegration
into the hands of thousands of unregulated, legal or semi-legal producers,
resulting in higher competition in a market in which profit margins were already
85 Legoy, 'Une corporation turbolente: les cordonniers havrais au XVIII siècle', Cahiers
Leopold Delisle, XXXJI (1982-83), pp. 160-1.
AN, F 12768: 'A Monseigneur le Controlleur Gnéral des Finances' (9th December 1782).
79