Conducts research and collects data on the global history of labour, workers, and labour relations

Tour de France

6 July 1469
Source: 
wikimedia

In 1469 we find reference already to a Tour de France among some journeymen, and Dijon was an  important stop on this tour of no prescribed route. Itinerant journeymen traveled to learn their trades, but also, through mobility, to ensure access to the labour market. Pubs were meeting points where fellow journeymen socialized, found short-term credit (often in pawn, usually from the owner), lodging, advice, information about masters, and jobs. They often slept two or three to a bed, and idled away the hours playing cards, rolling dice and drinking.

James R. Farr, Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914 (Cambridge 2000) 208 and 262