Journeyman years

In the European apprenticeship tradition, the journeyman years (Wanderjahre, also known in German as Wanderschaft, Gesellenwanderung, and colloquially sometimes referred to as Walz lit. 'waltz') is a time of travel for several years after completing apprenticeship as a craftsman. The tradition dates back to medieval times and is still alive in France, Scandinavia and the German-speaking countries. Normally three years and one day is the minimum period for a journeyman apprentice. Crafts and trades in which that tradition persists to the current day, include roofing, metalworking, woodcarving, carpentry and joinery, millinery and musical instrument manufacture (including organ building).

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when the guild system still controlled the professions and trades in the visual arts, the Wanderjahre was also taken by painters, mason-architects and goldsmiths; and it was important for the transmission of artistic style around Europe. The development of late modern nations and their borders within Europe did not have much effect on the journeyman tradition until the 19th century.