Travelling for Knowledge: Educational Opportunities in 19^th Century Bavarian Brewing Education

2.1 The Introduction of the Wanderbuch in the Kingdom of Bavaria

In Bavaria, great changes in all parts of life were initiated at the beginning of the 19^th century. Having been a part of the Holy Roman Empire, Bavaria was affected by the oncoming events triggered by the French Revolution and the arrival of Napoleon’s troops. As a consequence of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, mediatization and secularization, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806. In consequence, many Bavarian lords, monasteries, and towns lost their independence and territories were subordinated to the newly formed kingdom of Bavaria. An extensive new administrative apparatus was set up that consisted of 15 district governments and older administrational units as well as all types of previously independent settlements that were subordinated to them.^[11]

As administrative structures changed, previously existing laws were gradually revised and adapted. For instance, most guild responsibilities fell to the town’s administration, at least for applications concerning status, master test admittance, and concessions. The guilds lost their influence and significance, which affected the traditional educational system of brewers and other crafts with the previously mentioned Wanderverpflichtung.^[12]

While we know only very little about the regulations of the journey prior to the 19^th century, the new laws regulated them in great detail. Already in 1806, the Bavarian King Maximilian Joseph I. drafted a law that suspended the necessity of travelling “internationally” for journeymen of all crafts. Supplemented by two amendments from 1807 and 1808, these texts give some indications towards common practices and reasons.^[13]

The 1806 legal text mostly concerned the boundaries of the journeymen’s travels. “Internationally” meant all territories outside of Bavaria. The Bavarian King stated that the necessity for travelling internationally was not given any more, since Bavaria was big enough to provide the necessary knowledge itself, thereby hoping to restrict international knowledge exchange to a minimum. Only one year later a more detailed legal text followed as the journeymen continued to travel internationally. The King, utterly displeased, changed the legislation, so that only those crafts were allowed to cross the borders that would benefit from technical or artisanal knowledge in those countries. If possible, they should only be allowed into allied or the Rhinelandian countries.

Again, it was only one year later, that the conditions of the journey were even further regulated.^[14] The Bavarian journeyman had to be issued a Wanderbuch (traveling journal) when declared a journeyman. He was to be informed of his obligation to travel and of its official purpose, i.e. to expand his technical knowledge (by knowledge transfer from person to person) and to improve his personal skills (by working in different breweries).

The Wanderbuch was introduced due to irregularities with the Kundschaften, which had been the original document needed for travelling and which did not document the travels without gaps.^[15] In contrast, the Wanderbuch, a small-octave booklet with 58 pages, was to chronicle the journey extensively. It was issued by the local administration of the birthplace of the traveller and contained a front page with a detailed description of the traveller together with his handwritten signature, name, date, place of birth, the profession to which he belonged, the date of issue by the local authorities, a reference to spatial and temporal validity of the document, an imprint of the currently valid travel regulations as well as blank pages for entries. As an official document, it had to be carried on the person and presented to each local authority the traveller passed along. The journeyman was obliged to keep a close track on his activities and get every travelling station, destination, work placement, and even misconduct of any kind recorded into these free pages by the local authorities. Most of the time it included the destination of the onward journey and notes on work in local breweries, occasionally also entries on health, the amount of personal travel money, or administered vaccinations. Often the first entry was written by the master where the traveller had successfully spent his apprenticeship.^[16]

Furthermore, the Wanderbuch contained temporal and spatial restrictions, initially decided by the administrative office of the respective hometown and, if need be, changed by any other administration along the way which had received written approval from the hometown administration. Generally, the brewers were required to travel for at least three years, in which they worked for at least two years outside their hometown or district. Usually, the Wanderbuch was valid for that timespan. Occasionally, it was only valid until entry into compulsory military service and was extended after the travellers had served their time in the military.^[17] In rare cases, the Wanderbüchereven had an unlimited validity.^[18]

Additionally, spatial restrictions existed and could be expanded in the course of the journey. As laid out above, travelling internationally was important to brewery education. Most brewer travellers already started with “inlands and abroad” (see tables 1 and 2 in appendix). When only “inlands” was initially allowed, meaning all areas of the Kingdom of Bavaria (including the Bavarian Palatinate), a remark was often added later into the pages that “abroad” was allowed, too. For example, the Bayreuthian cooper Johann Samuel Döring started out “inlands” and when he arrived at Schweinfurt after his military service, he received a written permit from his hometown to travel abroad with the exception of France, Belgium, and Switzerland.^[19]

The motivations of the Bavarian King to issue stricter regulations are complex. First of all, the King feared that his subjects would permanently leave his area of influence. Hence, he threatened with loss of property if the subject would not return at all Second, there was the notion that the travellers could be pressed into foreign military service, or worse, volunteer for it. Thus, volunteering for foreign military service was explicitly forbidden in the travelling statutes and the permission to travel into foreign countries was often only given after the obligatory military service at home. The existence of these regulations indicate that travel permission was indeed often used to live in foreign countries for an extended period of time or even to emigrate completely, which was not in the interest of the Bavarian King.^[20] Third, the King stated in the abovementioned regulations that these travels could do more harm than good to the education of the traveller. What the King did not mention in writing was that this also meant that his subjects could not take advanced knowledge into other countries. The opposite, of course, was keenly encouraged, which is why he had to leave a loophole at least for some crafts, and for beer brewing in particular.

As the new laws indicate, craftsmen were highly mobile at the beginning of the 19^th century, promoting (inter)national knowledge transfer, but also finding opportunities to leave their own country and taking their work force and knowledge elsewhere. In the following decades, the Bavarian King continuously tried to reform the system. While several ordinances made the regulations more and more precise in the first decades of the 19^th century, the obligation to travel was finally abolished for all crafts in Bavaria through a comprehensive reform in 1853. Although regulations for the journeyman’s voyage were still available after that, it was no longer a prerequisite for admittance to the master test, which set its use at first glance to almost zero.^[21]

Overall, after 1806 a wealth of information can be found in the Wanderbücher which illuminate the travelling routes and conditions. The introduction of the Wanderbuch did not only provide an instrument of control for the Bavarian King, but it also helps us analyse the custom of journeying in order to understand the educational system of that time.

2.2 Case Study: The Traveling Journals of Bambergian and Bayreuthian Brewers & the Traditional Support System

Since the late Middle Ages, beer from Bamberg has been famous for its taste and quality. However, while Bamberg and Bayreuth housed the oldest guilds in Upper Franconia, both towns did not have their own brewers’ guild. Instead, they belonged to the brewers and cooper’s guild in Bamberg and to the baker’s guild in Bayreuth. With the bakers brewing beer as a side job, Bayreuth became famous for their so-called Becken-Bräuer(baker-brewers).^[22]

The archives of Bayreuth and Bamberg list quite a number of Wanderbücher, either included in files or stand-alone. Bamberg lists 43 Wanderbücher for all kinds of crafts, but only five for brewers and one for coopers. In Bayreuth, 16 entries for Wanderbücher of bakers and 13 for coopers exist, but no brewers. This, in turn, has made the choice rather complicated. With regards to Bamberg, those of the brewers were chosen; for Bayreuth, only those journeymen were chosen who later either took over a brewery or a restaurant with tavern license, or who owned one of the rock cellars necessary for brewing. In essence, all traveling journals were chosen that could be undoubtedly assigned to brewers in the towns.^[23]

Tables 1 and 2 in the appendix give an overview and list all selected Wanderbücher with their references. Besides the name and travelling times, the lists also contain the official statement for the travelling area that the journeyman was originally allowed to travel in. Fig. 1 and 2 visualize the routes the journeymen took. Since the political territories differ significantly from today, the maps also show the historical boundaries that were to be observed during those travels.^[24] Although the mapped journeys were conducted over a time span of 43 years between 1817 and 1860, a strong concentration on Bavaria, Saxony, and the Rhineland can be seen. Almost none of the brewers analysed were interested in the breweries of Northern Germany and Prussia (with the exception of the Rhineland, which was Prussian at that time). Unsurprisingly, the journeys focus on those regions which already had a long brewing tradition and where industrialisation would soon spark large centres of industrial brewing for Export and Bavarian Beer. In contrast, and possibly because of the previously mentioned travel ban, some foreign countries, such as France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Holland were less attractive, even though housing famous beers and breweries.

While Bayreuthians also went to Saxony and further east, most Bambergians kept to Bavaria, Franconia, and the Rhenian Valley. As Upper and Middle Franconia, in particular, became the industrial centres for breweries during the 19^th century, most travellers visited, for instance, Kulmbach, Erlangen, Fürth, Nuremberg, and Bamberg. Here they could gain experience in breweries with an increasing level of automation and technologization and improve their craft knowledge of famous beers.^[25]

In general, Bavarian beer, a bottom-fermented lager beer, became increasingly popular throughout the 19^th century, creating a strong national and international demand for the beer and hence, trained brewers. Until the 1860s, Bavaria was leading in lager beer technology which set the foundation for the industrialisation of the brewing industry. Hence, journeymen visited in order to acquire this specialized knowledge.^[26] This beer style became so popular that in some countries, industrialists specifically employed Bavaria-trained brewers and brew masters in order to benefit from their technical expertise.^[27]

Concerning popular beer types, the analysed brewers were rather picky, for as late as 1826, S. F. Hermbstaedt, author of one of the earliest technical descriptions of brewing, included in his book a list of famous beers, such as Braunschweiger Mumme, Erfurter Schlunz, Broyhan or Cottbusser Bier.^[28] While there existed many different traditional regional beer specialities with different brewing and malting techniques and methods, which were described extensively in contemporary brewery literature, the travellers seemed not to have been too interested in those, rather wanting to explore the ascending Bavarian beer. Then again, while the Bambergian travellers sometimes returned to Bamberg during their journey, the Bayreuthians did not go home. While Bamberg had many larger breweries and was famous for its smoky beer, Bayreuth did not have such a good reputation for its beer.^[29] This might also be the reason why only few brewer journeymen visited Bayreuth in order to learn there.

Besides exploring new beer style(s) and large plants, one of the largest influences on destination and duration of the trip seems to be the adventurous character and family background of the individual. Some were called back early in order to sort things out back home, others travelled speedily through Europe, drifted along, travelled directly towards a job, or stayed close to home. For instance, Georg Bauernschmitt kept returning to his hometown Bamberg during his ten-year journey in order to work there, each time in a different brewery. He briefly worked in other places as well, but mostly in Bamberg, while he seemed to have used the travelling as an opportunity to see the country. From here, he undertook several shorter trips that led him through Southern Bavaria, Lower Franconia, the Rhineland, and Saxonia.^[30]

In contrast, Georg Dollhopf travelled only for three years and hastened through Bavaria, Austria, Bohemia, Prussia, and the Rhineland without returning once to his hometown in between. He also quickly went from Breslau to Berlin and further on to Hamburg, which was quite exceptional. He probably thought of emigrating to the US but changed his mind and returned home.^[31]

Karl Michel, who later founded the first practical brewer school in 1869 (see section 5 below), travelled between 1857 and 1859. Probably being the best educated of the travellers analysed, his choice of route is quite different from the others. Having visited Bavaria and Austria, he travelled intensively through Bohemia and Moravia, areas where the Bohemian and Pilsen Beers were produced that would later become nearly as popular as the Bavarian lager. While in Prague, he also unsuccessfully tried to meet the famous Professor Karl Balling who had published extensively on brewing.^[32]

Eduard Backert made his journey between 1890 and 1892, the last of the journeys analysed. As he got in contact with the first workers’ unions he decided to join and actively support them during and after his travels.^[33] Interestingly, in contrast to the others, he travelled mostly through Thuringia, Saxonia, and a little of Northern Germany, but did not go into the larger brewery centres in Bavaria. Since he was born in the South Thuringian Sonneberg, his interest in the closer vicinity might explain his decision. Moreover, in his memoirs he describes in detail discussions with employers about the unfairness and hardness of his work. Since these conditions did not improve in larger breweries, he might have looked for smaller, more artisanal ones.^[34]

Sometimes an application for the dispensation of the travelling duty was made, indicating why the journey could not be completed or even done altogether. Heinrich Brust had been called back by his parents in 1836, because they desperately needed him back at their brewery. A new Wanderbuch was issued in 1836 and he moved almost directly to Austria, where he took on employment. In October 1837, however, another message from home made him come back again. Yet another Wanderbuch was issued, but since both parents were too ill to run the family brewery and not wealthy enough to pay a journeyman to do the work, his parents started an appeal for dispensation for him. After 21 months of travelling, the dispensation was granted. Similar cases can be found throughout the Wanderbücher.^[35]

Another factor influencing traveling routes was the wars that were being fought all over Europe, often with troops travelling through Bavaria and the neighbouring countries. In the Napoleonic Wars between 1800 and 1815 Bavarian troops participated and battles took place inside or close to the kingdom such as the battles at Abensberg, Regensburg, and the Völkerschlachtclose to Leipzig, with troops passing through to get to Silesia or Austria.^[36] After a few decades of peace, the German wars of unification between 1866 and 1871 stirred the countries and Bavaria was either invaded by Prussians or Frenchmen.^[37] Travellers were sent home because of general conscription; others had to deal with consequences of war such as food shortages, road blockages, or destroyed settlements (and breweries), and marauding troops.

Closely related, inner political activities were unsettling such as the Hambacher Fest in 1832 or the Revolution in the Palatine (belonging to Bavaria at that time) in 1848 and the ensuing proceedings around it.^[38] These developments had a strong influence on the choice of route. While some journeymen wished to participate and get active in politics, others wanted to stay out of trouble. For example, motivated by the start of the war against Italy (as part of the German wars of unification), the aforementioned Karl Michel left his position at a brewery in the Rhineland in order to get back home to Bavaria.^[39]

Natural disasters and epidemics also presented obstacles. Sometimes, roads were blocked or settlements inaccessible. Cholera occurred frequently in Europe: In 1831, it spread through Berlin, Prussian provinces, Poznan and Silesia. In fact, Prussia saw seven waves until 1854; between 1852 and 1860 it spread through many parts of Europe, too.^[40] To prevent diseases from spreading, whole towns were shut down and journeymen could not enter (or leave) and were forced to go to an alternative destination. In the course of these events, sometimes vaccinations were administered to the travellers and noted in the travelling book, such as Johann Samuel Döring’s vaccination in 1843.^[41]

Besides Wanderbücher, memoirs of some travellers also illuminate the travel experience. For some, forming a travelling party was regarded advantageous and sometimes a journeyman even got carried away by the ideas of their fellow travellers. Eduard Backert recalled being persuaded by a colleague to go to the Hanse towns, but they had to stop in Lüneburg due to a spreading disease. Baptist Messerschmitt also has several entries in his Wanderbuch, suggesting that he reconsidered his destinations before arriving there. Several times, he gave a destination, but changed his mind mid-ways and went somewhere else – which was, of course, noted in his traveling journal.^[42]

Since travelling was expected to be done on foot and only a limited amount of initial travel money was supposed to be taken with the journeyman, the travellers needed a strong supportive system of some kind to accomplish the task of yearlong long-distance travel, especially because they were not allowed to return home to their own families in between.^[43] Hence, the journeymen were supported by their fellow craftsmen and the guilds. Generally, a journeyman could enter every brewery he passed. This so called einwandern was made in a traditional pre-formulated way and a certain behaviour was expected from both sides. The local brewer was obliged to present him with a gift and to help him on. The gift varied, but usually comprised at least one Bavarian Maas (measure) of beer and sometimes food, accommodation for the night, or work.^[44] This way, the journeymen tasted many different (inter)national beers and saw a lot of different breweries.

Furthermore, memoirs of travellers state that Herbergen seemed to be “everywhere”, offering accommodation and additional services such as cooking and washing for money. ^[45] Entries in early address books give an impression of the far-spread international infrastructure that once existed and created the opportunity to travel for longer periods of time and over longer distances. For example, in 1835, the address-book of Munich listed seventy different crafts with their related Herberge addresses.^[46] Also, advertisements indicate the continuation of a brewers’ Herberge, for instance, in Munich, until at least 1878.^[47]

In addition, the guilds of larger towns or cities had their own accommodation where every journeyman was supposed to go first and ask which brewer would hand out the gift and who had work to offer. Sometimes the landlord went out and asked around whether help was needed, sometimes they had a board with the names of brewers that were looking for workers. A master’s widow could claim priority, as jobs were offered from top to bottom of the list and a widow needed a brewer professional to be allowed to continue her brewery.^[48] This system made travelling easier since there was always a place to stay for a foreign journeyman and information on how to proceed.

Most Franconian Brewers from Bamberg and Bayreuth took the opportunity and visited brewery-related places. All of those analysed here went international at some point. The ritual of einwandern and the system of Herbergen supported the brewers and made it much easier to travel, indirectly supporting knowledge transfer. Young brewer journeymen travelled into the unknown on a long and arduous quest for knowledge. Together with memories and official legal regulations, the documentation in the Wanderbücher creates a picture of hardship and dangers, but also of opportunities. The aspiring brewers concentrated on the places where contemporary popular beers were made, industrial buildings and complexes were set up, and the newest technology was used. For a long time, there was no alternative to this procedure, but slowly starting in the first half of the 19^th century, educational alternatives for brewers began to develop. This was reflected in an article in the Münchner Tagblatt from 1850.^[49] The reporter weighed the arguments, deeming the journeymen’s travels out-of-date because by now, in contrast to the Middle Ages when this custom was said to have originated, other possibilities for education supposedly existed.^[50]

3.1 Private Initiatives: Cajetan Georg von Kaiser’s Lectures and Karl Michel’s Brewery School

One of the earliest examples of private initiatives were the lectures of Cajetan Georg von Kaiser, professor in applied chemistry at the polytechnical school in Munich. Kaiser saw the need to teach specialised brewery courses already in 1837. Specializing in the new and quickly expanding zymotechnical studies, he started his brewery lectures in his spare time at home in his living room. His contacts to Professor Justus von Liebig and Gabriel Sedlmayr Jr. helped him and until 1870, he supposedly taught more than 1,000 students, at least 300 of which also did internships at the Spaten brewery of Sedlmayr Jr.^[64] 471 students were from Southern Germany, 284 from Northern Germany, 117 from Austria and 123 from other foreign countries.^[65]

His impressive student numbers illustrate the early (inter)national impact private initiatives could have and how much personal commitment could influence knowledge transfer. He is also an early example of the gradual changes in the educational system, scientification of brewing and teaching at a fixed, stationary location with a fixed curriculum.

Karl Michel, who had travelled extensively through Austria, Bohemia, and the Rhineland (see Fig. 1), founded the first practical (and private) brewery school in Southern Germany, if not worldwide.^[66] As a private educational initiative from a traditionally trained brewer, the school was aimed at the interested, better educated craftsman. Michel was born in the Bavarian town of Weißenburg as the son of a brewer and started his education at his parents’ brewery. Interestingly, he also studied at the aforementioned Royal Brewery Academy at Weihenstephan.^[67]

As discussed in the last section, when Michel started his specialised brewery school, not many educational alternatives existed. Accordingly, he was supported by the brewing industry at large as well as important scientists and editors such as G.E. Habich.^[68] Already in 1877, Michel added a small experimental station and information point for local breweries. Four years later, he relocated his private school to Munich, where its successor still exists today. On the occasion of his 30^th teaching anniversary, a commemorative publication was compiled and the numbers and origin of the students were included: In 30 years, Michel had taught 2,489 students. While the nationality of nine was unknown, 2,415 came from Europe, 58 from America (49 from North America, 8 from South America), five from Asia and two from Africa. In Europe, 2,050 were from the German countries (1,181 Bavarian), 120 from Austria-Hungary, 80 from Switzerland, 56 from Sweden, and 42 from Russia.^[69] Michel taught students from all over the world, not even half of his students were local Bavarians. His teaching had a global impact, with an unusually high number of students from Sweden and Russia, but also some from Asia and Africa.

Comparing Michel’s student numbers to the numbers of Vienna-Mödling of almost the same period (see section 4), Michel had three times as many students as the highly reputed brewery school at the Francisco-Josephinum. Similarly, the enrolment of international students at Michel’s school is striking and bearing in mind that in other countries brewery schools (or agricultural schools with brewing programmes) were mostly founded after 1880, these numbers are even more impressive.

Leading one of the first brewery schools, Michel could build on his international reputation as he published extensively in academic circles und skilfully used advertising in newspapers.^[70] At that time it was common to advertise the start of a new course or teaching season in a newspaper to attract students. Interestingly, the schools did not necessarily restrict themselves to their vicinity or home country. For example, in 1884 Michel advertised the new course in the Viennese newspaper Das Vaterland.^[71] In the following year, this add could also be found in the newspaper Prager Abendblatt.^[72] Strikingly, by that time, Prague and Vienna had their very own brewery schools and surely Michel was not the only one to advertise internationally. Having a high number of students was important, since private and public schools needed the tuition fees in order to finance themselves. A highly competitive market in brewing education began to emerge.

3.2 The Advent of Experimental Stations

Since the beginning of the 19^th century, chemistry had developed from a purely auxiliary science to an independent academic subject and devoted itself, amongst other things, to the study of fermentation – at that time referred to as zymotechnical studies. By 1848, the processes of fermentation had largely been deciphered.^[73]

Until the end of the 19^th century, chemists had developed a wide range of useful chemical analyses and yet, most brewers did not have access to them in theory or in practice. While these were taught in some of the already described courses above, laboratories and other specialised equipment needed were expensive. To meet the growing demand, so-called experimental stations were started.

Often, these were connected to brewery schools, as was the case with Karl Michel’s school described above. When the German brewers discussed the foundation of an experimental station in Munich at the third national brewers conference in 1876, Michel referred to the excellent results of his small station and how much the brewers would benefit from an institution larger than his.^[74] Prof. Dr. Lintner (Weihenstephan) also strongly promoted his idea of an experimental station for the German brewers in Munich. It was to provide analysis of raw materials, water, barley, hops, yeast, wort, and beer. Also, it was supposed to test instruments, saccharometers, and thermometers for proper functionality, offering visitations to the breweries and advice on the problems at hand. All services were to be paid in addition to an annual membership fee.^[75] With most members coming from larger breweries, these services were mainly aimed at them, to the continuing exclusion of the smaller breweries. However, the number and reach of experimental stations soon expanded.

A similar range of tasks was assigned to the Versuchsanstalt für Bierbrauerei der Bayerischen Landesgewerbeanstalt Nürnberg, founded in Nuremberg in 1887. Although privately funded at first, the school received public grants in May 1888 and was certified as state-approved.^[76] Ultimately, the experimental station in Nuremberg specialised in the needs of smaller and medium-sized breweries in Bavaria. It offered the same services as the station in Munich but used the public money primarily to subsidize the services for smaller breweries. The scientists dedicated themselves to informing and training the large number of small brewers that could not afford to visit a brewery school or brewing courses. For this purpose, they travelled across Bavaria, giving speeches on the latest innovations and holding brewery courses. They also visited at breweries and gave advice for improvement. Together with their publication and presentation activities, they played an important part in the education of brewers.^[77]

Additionally, these institutions also tried to give access to knowledge by editing journals and giving short, affordable brewery courses or evening’s lectures. These institutions had a huge national impact offering scientific knowledge to a wider range of brewers of different status, and especially to the large amount of smaller Franconian and Bavarian breweries that could not afford expensive training. Internationally, their impact was limited, as their services were usually restricted to their national members, but they were used as a prototype for foundations of the same sort in other countries.