From Mangons to Rewards: Butchery Animals as Revealing the Diversity of Trades in Belgian Cities in the Early Modern Period

Abstract

Focusing on the Belgian cities of Namur and Liège in the eighteenth century, this article proposes to open a discussion around legal versus illegal butchery, and the description of how it was regulated: by limiting slaughter to specific locations, specific trades, and specific times, and by the work of the people in charge of inspecting foodstuffs. At the heart of this study is the butchery animal—that is, large animals—and the profession in charge of it: the butchers. Given the importance of meat products in consumption practices, the city’s butchers had a central place: gathered in a guild, they had a privileged status, including a virtual monopoly on the slaughter of butchery animals and the sale of raw meat. However, as the meat economy was developing, master butchers were faced with a multitude of vendors who undermined their position and threatened health standards.