Did Masters or Journeymen who couldn’t get a licensed spot for a shop in a town or city ever set up outside of the city for production? I remember you said once that Masters often took more apprentices than there ever would be positions for, because of the cheap labor. That sounds like it would lead to a glut of journeymen.

Good question!

Yes, they did. To quote Friedrichs’ Early Modern City:

“…This was especially the case in the rapidly expanding metropolitan centers with their sprawling outer districts – the suburbs and faubourgs outside the walls where work and residence patterns were particularly hard to control. Unlicensed artisans and unskilled workers abounded in these outer neighbourhoods, where overlarge parishes and underdeveloped institutions made it difficult to keep track of exactly who lived there.”

This was, however, a somewhat risky strategy, because (for the most part) you still had to get your goods into the city, which meant coming under the legal jurisdiction of the city once again. Not only would imported goods usually be taxed, but trading in unlicensed goods could lead to legal penalties.