ИСТИНА

This paper is dedicated to the price of the right to work as a master and of the masters’ privileges – the purchase of the right to be a master (la maîtrise) in Reims in the 17th century. The purpose of the research is to compare the purchase with the traditional way to become a master, included apprenticeship, labour as a journeyman, creating a masterpiece. But the price of the purchase has to be compared not only with the master’s fee but also with others fees – of an apprentice, a journeyman, a fee for the opening of shop, as well as the expenses for a masterpiece and jurors’ salaries (for rating of masterpiece). The crafts distrusted the masters, who purchased la maîtrise, first of all, their professional skills. However the crafts submitted to the royal prerogative to grant the rights and accepted such masters. According to «Listes des maistrises», connected with the coronation of Louis XIV (1654), the birth of the dauphin (1661), etc., the prices, paid for some maîtrises in Reims, can be compared with the prescriptions of crafts’ statutes. The research shows different needs for different professions in Reims: a lot of patents were purchased by tailors, shoemakers, carpenters and weavers, less – by bakers and butchers. Special attention could be paid to different prices of the same patent for different purchasers.