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  1. Musée du compagnonnage
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  3. Corporations
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Genealogy

WARNING : The nominal basis of compagnons which you are about to consult is the result of diverse sources (archives of the retirement fund of “Le Ralliement des compagnons du Devoir”, lists of weavers and saddlers, compagnons who died in 1914-1918 War, compagnonnique press…). In principle, you will not find compagnons who are still alive. This database does not include every compagnon which ever existed. The records are often incomplete, for lack of sources. Nonetheless, this database is regularly updated. You can help us completing the records by sharing your own family information, and you can even illustrate them with portrait photos. Thank you for your support.

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Corporations

Another wrong track taken by many novice genealogists is the confusion of the term “guild” with that of “corporation”. The latter term was used until 1791 to designate institutions responsible for regulating the practice of trades and crafts in most cities. With their own set of regulations and administered by elected “Masters”, the corporations were official bodies under the watchful eye of judicial institutions and the police. The word “corporation” was never used under the Ancien Régime when Jurande, Maîtrise and Confrèrie were the commonly employed terms. If “Companions” of the Tour de France were allowed to join such organisations once they had become masters, having first proven their professional skills and paid substantial fees for the right to set up their own workshops, they no longer had contact with their original guilds which, it should be remembered, only impacted on a few years of their lives. The guilds was sometimes referred to as “counter-corporations” during the Ancien Régime, when guild associations functioned very much as modern-day workers’ unions do.

Statuts des règlements des orfèvres de Troyes
Governing statutes of the goldsmiths of Troyes

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Musée du
Compagnonnage
de Tours

8 rue Nationale
37000 Tours
Tél. 02 47 21 62 20

  • Home
  • The guilds
    • History
    • The masterly hand
    • The reigning spirit
  • Practical museum
    • Opening and admission
    • Groups
    • Library
    • Agenda
    • Actualités
    • Photo gallery
  • Young visitors
    • Families
    • Schoolchildren
  • Genealogy
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