Musée du
Compagnonnage
de Tours

The word ‘Compagnonnage’, in the singular, encompasses several associations or gatherings. In reference to the code of duty and usages that nurture them (the Devoir), they go under the names of: compagnons du Devoir, compagnons du Devoir de Liberté, compagnons des Devoirs, compagnons des Devoirs Unis.

Ensuring professional improvement of its members is not the only goal of the guilds; it also seeks to educate them. In the past, the “Règles” and “Devoirs” – the regulations posted in the inns and taverns where journeymen met – were composed of numerous articles designed to ensure the cohesion of the group and promote moral values among its members.

Journeying is characteristic of Compagnonnage. It means that the young worker is to sojourn in various towns where his association offers boarding and the help of elders to find employment for a few months. The idea is to provide the opportunity to gain a rich human and practical experience.

An initiation society, as defined by ethnologists, is a society that recruits its members through stages marked by secret rites. It sets a sharp distinction between the status of profane and initiated; the passage from the former to the latter is performed during a ceremony called initiation, or more to the point among compagnons: reception.

The word ‘compagnon’ derives from two Latin words : ‘cum’ (with) and ‘panis’ (bread). A compagnon is someone with whom you share bread. Compagnons have a duty to help and succour one another; this obligation is based within the notion of fraternity.

From time immemorial, all human societies have had their rites and symbols; they are constituent parts of civilisations: funerary rites, religious rites, military rites, judicial oaths, matrimonial rites, greeting rites, etc. Symbols are just as numerous. Both are perceived as self-evident by a vast majority. Like any other initiation society, the Compagnonnage has its own rites and symbols but, as these are less publicised and are enacted by a restricted number of people, they arouse curiosity.

During the largest part of its history, the Compagnonnage concerned only crafts practised by men. The necessary physical strength (building trades, tannery, bakery, etc.), the dangers linked with the long journey and the socio-cultural environment made the admission of young women in the craft brotherhoods unthinkable.

The Compagnonnage is not just a vocational training association nor is it a Mutual Aid insurance nor a workers’ union. It is not a religion, nor a sect nor a secret society. Some of its traits are similar to freemasonry but there are important differences too.