Work

The project is to introduce into scientific circulation an important and previously almost unknown to the general scientific community source – “Books of Recording Protocols of Acceptance and Release of Apprentices (1607–1717)”; and on its basis – to create a historical and demographic portrait of the tailoring guild, as well as an attempt to draw new touches of the demographic picture of Lviv in early modern times, due to the chronological boundaries of the historical source. The book of recording protocols of acceptance and release of apprentices of the tailoring corporation is one of about 30 surviving guild books of Lviv of the Early Modern period and the only one related to the outlined profession. The book covers an interesting period in the history of the city – first a time of economic growth (until the middle of the 17th century), then the turbulent years of Khmelnytsky uprising, the Swedish Deluge and other military cataclysms, that led to systemic socio-economic crisis of the Commonwealth and the decline of the city. All that could not but affect the dynamics of admission of apprentices to the tailoring guild, as recorded in the book. Its original is lost, microfilm is available to users, which is stored in the Central State Historical Archive of Lviv, TsDIAL (TsDIAL. – F. 52. – Op. 2. – Spr. 1005. – 310 sheets). Tthe ultimate goal of this project is the publication of “Book of Recording Protocols of Acceptance and Release of Apprentices (1607–1717)”. The proposed edition of the guild book may be of interest to a wide range of researchers of early modern times – specialists in the history of crafts, urban history, social anthropology, onomastics, genealogy, prosopography. The publication can serve for further study of the tailoring staff in Lviv, become the basis for a monograph, and further studies involving statistics on other guilds will give a clearer picture of the craft society in general and the population as a whole.