Page 119 - Changing Living Spaces

The Transformation of the Migratory Strategies of the Rural Population

et al. 1996, 190). For girls, the death of parents was associated with the
necessity to search for a life partner and enter into marriage. Parentless
adolescent boys preferred to enter military service, which represented a
promise of financial security. In some cases, the death of parents is men-
tioned in connection with the necessity to learn a craft (as an appren-
tice) or gain practical experience in it (as a journeyman). Another alter-
native offered to boys and girls was employment as servants or labouring
lodgers.19

Employment
Employment is mentioned not only in connection with death of parents.
It was also linked with the pursuit of economic security, which was in
turn associated with searching for a life partner, entering into marriage,
entering into service, legalizing one’s residence, incurring extraordinary
expenses, enlisting in the army, obtaining a livelihood, or taking on a
landholding.
Employment was directly related with entering into service. The re-
lease letters give evidence of some cases in which a young man from a
village, thanks to his skills or education, was employed by a lord – a no-
bleman, a military commander, county marshal, or mayor. That sort of
service involved a very different scope of employment from the duties
performed by a servant or labouring lodger.20

‘A Softer Job’
Applications for release letters sometimes included requests for a ‘soft-
er job.’ Agricultural work was physically demanding, and some individu-
als tried to avoid it by adducing hope of lighter work was a reason some-
times given by younger men applying for release into apprenticeship.
According to the orphan registers, the age of apprentices varied between
5 and 22 years. Among the most popular occupations were mason, tai-
lor, carpenter, and smith. Boys who wanted to learn crafts usually en-
tered into apprenticeships with master craftsmen in the town of České
Budějovice itself. There are also isolated cases in which application was
made for release to study at the Piarist Gymnasium (a grammar school)

19 Guilds provided networks of support for traveling male journeymen, but they
strictly controlled craft work of unmarried females, including servants, see:
Ogilvie (2003, 115; 2019, chapter 5).
20 More about servants and labouring lodgers can be found in Grulich (2008, 203–
20).

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