The Unknown Clio: Barbers, Artillerymen, And All the Rest
There seems to be nothing in common between fragile beauticians and gunners, the merciless servants of Mars. But if you read attentively the Kyiv guild of barbers charter approved at a general guild meeting in June 1767, you will see that, before applying for membership in the hairdressers’ organization, a candidate had to properly study artillery.
Why, you ask dumbfounded. Because the very first paragraph of the guild charter reads, “Each in the fraternity of master barbers shall attend and properly carry out cannon firing during a general meeting or moreover during a ceremony organized by the Kyiv Magistrate. Those who evade this shall be punishable, with the Kyiv Magistrate’s knowledge and consent, by imprisonment and a fine of five pounds of wax.” These are the serious consequences Kyiv barbers could face for dodging their “sacred” duty!
But, after all, some of the pacifist hairdressers could refuse from this barbaric “entertainment,” could they not? Obviously not. For the strict regimentation of a medieval city was based, above all, on a guild-type organization of human communities. Craftsmen’s guilds played the role of bricks which lined the impregnable fortress of municipal government. The guilds, as social associations organized on the basis of trades, possessed considerable rights but simultaneously they had certain clearly defined commitments to the urban community.
Likewise, every individual member found a place of his own within the guild, which not only restricted his freedom but also gave him an opportunity to work in the trade of his choice. For example, item nine of the hairdressers’ charter ruled that “no outside master barbers shall work unless admitted to this community of masters...” If anybody ignored this, all his instruments could be forcibly confiscated by the guild.
Since a medieval guild was characterized by strict regimentation and anyone who wanted to earn a living by beautifying others had to enter this guild, let us look more closely at the 1767 charter of the Kyiv hairdressers’ guild. For Kyiv hairdressers can now celebrate 1767 as their official year of birth. Of course, before 1767, too, Kyiv had seen beards being shaved off and, probably, hair being styled as the fashion of the time dictated. But before that year, hairdressers were part of the tailors’ guild. Yes, tailors! And the latter, as it follows from the hairdressers’ complaint to the Kyiv Magistrate dated June 10, 1766, showed “utter contempt” for them, treating them as “not real guilders, as is the case in the guilds of other crafts that consider all their members equal to each other, but semi-members of the guild,” denying them the right to vote on guild affairs, refusing to defend their interests or give them material aid when necessary. Hairdressers were barred from participating in the elections of guild executives, such as guild masters, shop stewards and others.
No one knows how long the hairdressers had to tolerate this, but it is obvious that what prompted them to take such a bold step to defend their interests was a considerable increase in their numbers: demand creates supply. Thus, after raising all their complaints about their troubles and problems to the city fathers, the hairdressers asked permission to quit the tailors’ guild and establish their own guild.
It took the magistrate almost a year to consider this far from simple problem because the resignation of hairdressers from the tailors’ guild threatened to inflict considerable material damage to and cause a far from enthusiastic response from the latter. And it was not until April 16, 1767, that the Kyiv Magistrate, comprising the then viyt (chief justice), civil counselor Hryhory Pyvovarov, raits (municipal councilors) Ivan Nechai, Iosyp Kozelsky, Herasym Kuvenchynsky and Havrylo Rohuzsky, burgomasters Vasyl Balabukha, Danylo Velychkovsky, Opanas Oleksandrovych, Kuzma Kulish, Iosyp Vasyliovych Hudyma and Iosyp Ivanovych Hudyma decided to exclude the hairdressers from the tailors’ guild and let them establish a separate professional organization “patterned after the other local guilds.” It was precisely then that the Magistrate ordered the hairdressers to keep up and service the city artillery, obliging them by a “special written undertaking” to keep cannons in order and “duly carry out” ceremonial salutes.
The charter of Kyiv hairdressers also solemnly declared that every member of the guild organization “would neither despise his brother nor exalt his own self, and, moreover, he would respect his brothers and salute the seniors.” Further reading the charter, one can see this: if one of the hairdressers chooses to put plaster on a wound, “the other will not interfere or give his own plaster without the chief’s knowledge and consent, and those who break this rule shall be subject to a fine of five pounds of wax in favor of the fraternity.”
As we see, Kyiv hairdressers were supposed not only to know how to shave off beards and fire municipal cannons but also to be able to professionally heal wounds (in Europe generally, barbers traditionally doubled surgeons — Ed.). And, as it is clear that those masters have very little in common with today’s coiffeurs, it would be a good idea to outline the whole range of their functional duties. It is clause ten of the charter regulations that describes in detail “what the mastery of a hairdresser should consist in.” This clause set forth that one who sought the high title of a Kyiv hairdresser was to know how “to shave; let blood from veins and from under the skin; heal cuts, penetration and gunshot wounds; and show special efficiency in extracting teeth, curing the French and scabby diseases, and administering enemas.” In other words, besides knowing how to cut and style hair, a hairdresser was called upon to have at the same time the skills of a cannoneer, paramedic, dentist, venereal disease specialist, and dermatologist.
Simultaneously the Kyiv Magistrate, duly caring about the all-round professionalism of the hairdressers’ guild members, still cautioned them against healing inner- body and other “improper diseases.” As to medication itself, the Magistrate warned, “The diseases and wounds they attend to must be treated with utmost care and supervision, without any evil forethought, so that no harm be caused during the treatment of these diseases and wounds.” Violation of this injunction could entail ouster from the guild and severe punishment. The head of the hairdressers’ guild, Hryhory Khotianovsky, was vested with the power to oversee strict observance of the charter by the whole guild brotherhood.
The guild charter also set forth the procedure for a master to rent a house or a public bath and set up a workplace in it. In particular, none of the fraternity members were allowed to lay claim to premises already rented by other guilders in order to avoid a rent rise. If the ban was breached, the culprit was fined for ten pounds of wax, while the right to use the house or bath was transferred to the previous lessee. If one of the masters did not have a parlor of his own, he could work in some other guilder’s premises, that is, “as before, to work furnishing himself with his own food, tools, and soap.” But in this case he could “neither perform his masterly duties nor let blood under any circumstances” without the salon boss’ knowledge. There were also similar cautions in the clause on “youth” (apprentices). The charter provided that any master “shall not lure a youngster from another master.” An apprentice, while learning the hairdressing skills, would serve a guild member “from his third earned kopeck on, using his master’s foodstuffs and all tools.” Guild members were allowed to hire only Kyiv residents for apprenticeship. If an “outside youth” came for apprenticeship, he “shall not be admitted to the hairdressers’ fraternity without the Kyiv Magistrate’s knowledge. Instead, the guild must submit notice about him to the Magistrate and wait for a due decision.”
On June 30, 1769, the Magistrate approved the charter drafted by the hairdressers’ guild and instructed Khotianovsky, the chief of all Kyiv hairdressers, and “the future supervisors” to oversee the strict observance of all regulations, including that on the hairdressers’ artillery skills. In truth we must say: beauty and force are inseparable.
