Cronenberg scythe privilege

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The Cronenberger Sense privilege was a guild - a privilege that in 1600 the forging , grinders and merchants of Bergisch offices Elberfeld , Beyenburg and Bornefeld of Duke Johann Wilhelm of Jülich-Cleves-Berg was awarded.

With this privilege, the manufacture and sale of scythes within the duchy were limited to the craftsmen and traders belonging to the guild . In contrast to a purely craft guild, the merchants were expressly members of the Cronenberg scythe guild and had to submit to the guild rules. For example, members of the guild were forbidden to practice their craft or to have their trading seat anywhere else than within the three Bergisch offices.

The main production of scythes, like the guild court, was in Cronenberg , today a district of Wuppertal , where blacksmiths and grinders have specialized in scythes manufacture since the late Middle Ages. Every year on October 3rd, the St. Ewaldi Day (Sanktorum Ewaldorum), a scythe consecration took place in Cronenberg with a procession , a fair and at the same time a meeting of the scythe bailiff with his councilors and craft messengers as well as the blacksmiths, cutters and merchants from the whole brotherhood .

The Cronenberg scythes were widely known for their quality and were exported to many different European countries. The scythe in the Cronenberg coat of arms also testifies to the importance of scythe manufacture for Cronenberg. The main purpose of the privilege was to ensure equal and adequate economic conditions for the members of the guild and to protect them against free competition. The rules also ensured a certain quality standard and thus the good reputation of the Cronenberger products.

From around 1700 the scythe industry got into increasing difficulties, the competition from regions that were not subject to strict guild rules (e.g. the Mark ) increased. The so-called “blue”, that is, high-quality all-steel sensors from Styria , also increasingly gained market share. More and more manufacturers in the Bergisches Land switched to other products such as nails, tools and other small items of hardware.

After Napoleon Bonaparte occupied the Duchy of Berg , the scythe privilege was revoked by the French administration in 1809.

literature

  • Cronenberger Fabrikanten Verein eV (Ed.): Cronenberg - From history and economy , Wuppertal-Cronenberg 1970
  • Wilhelm Engels / Paul Legers, From the history of the Remscheid and Bergische tool and iron industry , Remscheid 1928