Mistrovská zkouška cechů krejčích v českých zemích

This study deals with the establishment and course of the tailors’ master craftsmen exam in the historical territory of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Based on a comparison of sources pertaining to guilds – especially of the articles of the guild, official registers and books of tailoring patterns – the author analyzes the beginning of the master craftsmen exam in the Middle Ages, how its main characteristics (such as payments, the length of training, the course of the exam) were being formed, as well as the subsequent changes during the early modern age. Great emphasis is placed on masterpieces, their variety or the way they were made; to this aim, the author uses some up to now unknown or seldom used sources such as lists of masterpieces or protocols pertaining to the master craftsmen exams. A milestone with respect to researching the master craftsmen exam became the approval of the general articles of the guild in 1739, while this study compares regulations on the exams and masterpieces with the previous practice. Using the example of tailors from Mirošov u R okycan, the final part of this paper studies the course of the master craftsmen exam in the period following the issuance of the general articles of the guild.