THE COLLAPSE OF ARTISANAL ECONOMY IN 18TH CENTURY FRANCE THROUGH THE LENS OF THE GREAT CAT MASSACRE BY NICOLAS CONTAT Thomas Lau HIS-241: A Western Europe, 1450-1815 April 13th, 2015 Abstract Emerging from a time of great economic uncertainty to a period intellectual revival, the European craft economy was in dire need of change. Challenged by a rapidly expanding population and religious-cultural division from the Edict of Nantes, the French artisanal economy was rendered obsolete and unable to meet market demands. Left with littler alternatives, masters introduced several highly unpopular changes to the craft economy. As a result, journeymen further vilified an already hostile class of oligarchic master that were uninvolved …show more content…
A chapter of his autobiography, as the title suggested, described a massacre of twenty five cats, all of which belonged to their master. As a somewhat fictionised account of his life, he incorporated his personal experiences onto his two characters. In the story, Leville and Jerome were two journeymen in employment of an upper class master who maintained a poor relationship with the two. The journeymen were treated far worse than the master’s twenty five house cats, working from five to seven at night, they lived on left overs and cobbler meat while their masters enjoyed gourmet food prepared daily by his chef. Night after night, the master’s howling cats deprived the two of rest. As a retribution, Leville climbed onto their master’s roof night after night and mimicked the howling noises. Left unable to sleep, their master eventually decided that the cats were witches in disguise and ordered the two to slaughter all cats in the near vicinity. The two however were specifically instructed to spare the madame’ favourite cat, la grise. Armed with printing press parts, the two went on a maniacal massacre of cats. While torturing the cats, they held mock trials and found all cats guilty of witchcraft. During one of the mock trials, the masters and his mistress entered the scene and caught Jerome …show more content…
Demand for books and rose to an unprecedented level. The production capacity of printers on the other hand was severely limited by the amount of manual labour available, demand was high but market supply simply lagged behind. As the artisanal economy was struggling to adapt to the demographic changes, masters had no choice but to introduce a number of unpopular changes to accommodate the market. Many of these changes backfired and promoted violent responses from the working class. Firstly, the consolidation of the printing shops under fewer masters led to a stagnation of career stagnation amongst journeymen wishing to advance into the ranks of Masters. Secondly, the hiring of alloues in place of journeymen permanently damaged the trusting relationship between masters and printers. Next, the adoption of timed labour resulted in longer, yet, less efficient workdays for labourers. Finally, the elimination of accommodation and boarding drove many journeymen into homelessness. Craft economy operated in an unsustainable manner and was in danger of collapse by late 18th