Pressure and privilege An economic approach to the remuneration of ironworkers and their relations with building yards through the study of accounting records (mid-14th – early 16th century)

The great construction sites of the late Middle Ages and their accounting open a window on the work of certain urban blacksmiths and allow us to use an economic approach to scrutinize the links between these craftsmen and these sites. The stability of the actors as well as some discontinuities reveal seemingly favored situations of quasi-monopoly and at the same time the possible ascendancy of these clients over the craftsmen, reflected in their remuneration.