KøbenhavnskeSværdfegereTreAarhundreder_1957

K Ø B E N H A V N S K E S VÆR D F E G E R E

værk denied army contracts to the indepen­ dent sword-cutlers so their craft was senten­ ced to death. In the follow ing period, the not very extensive demands for private side-arms from officers and courtiers was met by the braziers and goldsmiths until a revival o f the sword-cutler’s craft came about as part o f the arts and crafts movement o f the 19 th century. The social level o f the sword-cutlers seems to have varied between that o f wealthy gold­ smiths, tailors and hatters on one side and that o f finer locksmiths on the other. A large number o f poor masters, such as are met with among cobblers and tailors, did not easily develop within a profession working mainly for well-to-do customers. The great families o f sword-cutlers even obtained social ad­ vancement for their descendants: the Plock- ross fam ily in the 19 th century mainly be­ longed to the official class, and a son o f the elder Weidenhaupt, Andreas Weidenhaupt, was a sculptor o f contemporary fame, profes­ sor in the Royal Academy, and, for a shorter period, director o f the same. The percentage o f sword-cutlers who were immigrants throughout the period is prob­ ably typical o f the artisans as a whole in Den­ mark. The Kopper and Schritzmeycr families came to Denmark under Christian IV in the first h alf o f the 1 7 th century and the names o f Baumann and Neuhaus are known in con­ nexion with other professions in the same century. The name o f Plockross is not Danish and seems to have come to Denmark under Christian V. In the 18 th century, masters like Rønnow, Wagner, Weidenhaupt and DorfF- ler were Germans by birth. In 17 18 Nicolai W u lf came to Copenhagen from the town o f Malmo in the former Danish province o f Scania. Among the new masters in the late 1 8 th century a considerable number were Swedes. The majority, however, were Danes, and the sword-cutlers’ guild affords good ex­

amples o f the innate propensity o f craftsmen to induce sons take over the profession o f their fathers. Instances o f encroachment upon the sword- cutlers’ profession from hatters and ironmon­ gers are referred to in 170 2 , 1708 and 1 7 1 5 . In 1 7 7 1 , the alderman forwarded a petition from all the guilds to the K ing; a special complaint from the sword-cutlers and some other guilds shows that the problem had re­ mained the same. The exclusive spirit o f the old guilds are reflected in some incidents which took place in the 18 th century: In 1 7 1 4 Christian W ag­ ner, born at Jena, took out his licence as a sword-cutler in Copenhagen but failed to produce a certificate o f legitimacy so the other masters would not acknowledge him, the alderman denied him the right o f taking O O apprentices and the journeymen treated him with contempt. In 1 7 1 7 the alderman made fruitless efforts to procure a working journey­ man for a w id ow o f the guild who wanted to continue her late husband’s workshop, and one o f the journeymen who had been obsti­ nate was put into jail. N ext year another w idow tried to run her workshop with the help o f a brazier, claiming that the alderman had been unable to give her a working sword- cutler as promised. Finally, a series o f quarrels arose between the masters. Jacob Kopper and Anders Lihme were fined for having made a separate contract to supply 700 broadswords for colonel Eberhertz’ regiment. This Jacob Kopper was in several respects and outstanding figure by character and wealth. In 17 1 9 he was paid 679 Rixdollars for a golden broad­ sword made for the King and he seems to have attempted to shake oft the yoke laid upon all artisans by the inherited prejudice o f guild spirit. The question o f the quality o f the master­ piece aroused fierce discussions in 1720 when