compagnonnage

french masonic companionship

The companionship means a traditional transmission of knowledge and training system to a trade, which is anchored in communities companions . An aspiring companion is trained in a profession through a series of educational practices supervised by the community of companions he wishes to join. These multiple practices can include both school education, educational homelessness and initiation rituals. Following this period of companionship, the aspirant is accepted as a companion by his corporation, and will itself participate in the training of future aspirants 1

The term primarily refers to a branch of the labor movement French, famous for its Tour de France , which reached the height of his fame with Agricola Perdiguier the middle of the xix th  century before disappearing almost entirely as a result of the industrialization of the transformation of apprenticeship and authorization of trade unions

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France_du_compagnonnage

Companionship has also been practiced more marginally in Belgium , and in a slightly different form in Canada and Germany . But it has never been established in Great Britain , in which another form of organization, the "  friendly societies  " have succeeded the brotherhoods and corporations of the Middle Ages .

But it has never been established in Great Britain

"a unique way of transmitting knowledge and know - how"

There were probably organizations of workers and craftsmen from the beginning of these trades. The comparative study of the religions and traditions of the different countries of the world seems to show that these craftsmen transmitted themselves more or less secret knowledge, from generation to generation, since the highest antiquity. Traces of it can be found in ancient Egypt and in Roman antiquity , for example.

In France, the organization of trades under the Ancien Régime is built around corporations and three states: apprentice, journeyman and master. For companions, it was extremely difficult, unless you were a son or son-in-law, to gain mastery. In addition, the book of business written by Etienne Boileau in 1268 at the request of Louis IX , prohibited any worker to leave his master without his agreement 8 . It is by reaction to these measures that the first companies of independent companions of the corporations were born.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_d%27Ancien_R%C3%A9gime

The second half of the xix th  century saw the decline of the guilds under the combined effect of the industrial revolution which implements less dependent on manufacturing processes tricks and secrets of crafts, organization of alternating training , internal rivalries and the failure of the unification of the compagnonnages, as well as the railroad which disrupts the secular practice of the Tour de France on foot.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compagnonnage