Middle Ages - Blog Posts

Common Occupations in the Middle Ages

Almoners: ensured the poor received alms.

Atilliator: skilled castle worker who made crossbows.

Baliff: in charge of allotting jobs to the peasants, building repair, and repair of tools used by the peasants.

Barber: someone who cut hair. Also served as dentists, surgeons and blood-letters.

Blacksmith: forged and sharpened tools and weapons, beat out dents in armor, made hinges for doors, and window grills. Also referred to as Smiths.

Bottler: in charge of the buttery or bottlery.

Butler: cared for the cellar and was in charge of large butts and little butts (bottles) of wine and beer. Under him a staff of people might consist of brewers, tapsters, cellarers, dispensers, cupbearers and dapifer.

Carder: someone who brushed cloth during its manufacture.

Carpenter: built flooring, roofing, siege engines, furniture, panelling for rooms, and scaffoling for building.

Carters: workmen who brought wood and stone to the site of a castle under construction.

Castellan: resident owner or person in charge of a castle (custodian).

Chamberlain: responsible for the great chamber and for the personal finances of the castellan.

Chaplain: provided spirtual welfare for laborers and the castle garrison. The duties might also include supervising building operations, clerk, and keeping accounts. He also tended to the chapel.

Clerk: a person who checked material costs, wages, and kept accounts.

Constable: a person who took care (the governor or warden) of a castle in the absence of the owner. This was sometimes bestowed upon a great baron as an honor and some royal castles had hereditary constables.

Cook: roasted, broiled, and baked food in the fireplaces and ovens.

Cottars: the lowest of the peasantry. Worked as swine-herds, prison guards, and did odd jobs.

Ditcher: worker who dug moats, vaults, foundations and mines.

Dyer: someone who dyed cloth in huge heated vats during its manufacture.

Ewerer: worker who brought and heated water for the nobles.

Falconer: highly skilled expert responsible for the care and training of hawks for the sport of falconry.

Fuller: worker who shrinks & thickens cloth fibers through wetting & beating the material.

Glaziers: a person who cut and shaped glass.

Gong Farmer: a latrine pit emptier.

Hayward:  someone who tended the hedges.

Herald: knights assistant and an expert advisor on heraldry.

Keeper of the Wardrobe: in charge of the tailors and laundress.

Knight: a professional soldier. This was achieved only after long and arduous training which began in infancy.

Laird: minor baron or small landlord.

Marshal: officer in charge of a household’s horses, carts, wagons, and containers. His staff included farriers, grooms, carters, smiths and clerks. He also oversaw the transporting of goods.

Master Mason: responsible for the designing and overseeing the building of a structure.

Messengers: servants of the lord who carried receipts, letters, and commodities.

Miner: skilled professional who dug tunnels for the purpose of undermining a castle.

Minstrels: part of of the castle staff who provided entertainment in the form of singing and playing musical instruments.

Porter: took care of the doors (janitor), particularly the main entrance. Responsible for the guardrooms. The person also insured that no one entered or left the castle withour permission. Also known as the door-ward.

Reeve: supervised the work on lord’s property. He checked that everyone began and stopped work on time, and insured nothing was stolen. Senior officer of a borough.

Sapper: an unskilled person who dug a mine or approach tunnel.

Scullions: responsible for washing and cleaning in the kitchen.

Shearmen: a person who trimmed the cloth during its manufacture.

Shoemaker: a craftsman who made shoes. Known also as Cordwainers.

Spinster: a name given to a woman who earned her living spinning yarn. Later this was expanded and any unmarried woman was called a spinster.

Steward: took care of the estate and domestic administration. Supervised the household and events in the great hall. Also referred to as a Seneschal.

Squire: attained at the age of 14 while training as a knight. He would be assigned to a knight to carry and care for the weapons and horse.

Watchmen: an official at the castle responsible for security. Assited by lookouts (the garrison).

Weaver: someone who cleaned and compacted cloth, in association with the Walker and Fuller.

Woodworkers: tradesmen called Board-hewers who worked in the forest, producing joists and beams.

Other medieval jobs included:

tanners, soap makers, cask makers, cloth makers, candle makers (chandlers), gold and silver smiths, laundresses, bakers, grooms, pages, huntsmen, doctors, painters, plasterers, and painters, potters, brick and tile makers, glass makers, shipwrights, sailors, butchers, fishmongers, farmers, herdsmen, millers, the clergy, parish priests, members of the monastic orders, innkeepers, roadmenders, woodwards (for the forests). slingers. Other Domestic jobs inside the castle or manor:

Personal atendants- ladies-in-waiting, chamber maids, doctor.

The myriad of people involved in the preparation and serving of meals- brewers, poulterer, fruiterers, slaughterers, dispensers, cooks and the cupbearers.

By Lise Hull READ MORE

I've got a protagonist and an antagonist who are part of small rival kingdoms with their own armies. Guns and other such items don't exist (and I have a plausible explanation). They want to kill each other. How can I allow them to enter in combat with each other multiple times and have both of them walk away alive and able to fight another day (even if it takes a few months of recuperation) and still make it realistic? They're both trained in combat, one uses a spear and the other uses a sword. I need to keep them alive for Plot but also need them to fight for Plot and I don't know how to write them realistically fighting without dying. Also there's magic involved so healing is slightly less of a problem but necromancy doesn't exist.

So, something useful to remember about most feudal societies: There are much larger pressures acting upon the individual participants. You could have two kingdoms who want to eradicate one another, but, aren't able to because it would result in fatal reprisals from other powers.

Narratively, stories like this tend to operate in a bipolar structure (in this case, bipolar literally means that there are two relevant powers, your protagonist's faction or alliance, and those who they're arrayed against.) However, in many historical cases like this, there would be a wide array of other competing states (or kingdoms, if you prefer.)

The entire system maintained (relative) stability, because any aggressive action by one participant would leave them weakened and vulnerable to other nearby powers. In European history, this stability was further, “encouraged,” by the Roman Catholic church, whose scribes were often responsible for reading and writing the diplomatic missives sent between lords, with those communications not always, completely reflecting the original intent of their illiterate kings.

So, while full mobilization against a rival kingdom is an option, it's a very dangerous one, even if your king feels they're in a relatively strong position with their other neighbors.

And then they want to kill each other. This is pretty reasonable. However, it's very dangerous for your character.

There a lot of social structures in Medieval Europe were designed to keep anyone from killing the nobility. A bit part of that is the risk of reprisal from your neighbors, or a larger power. Defeating a hostile king on the battlefield would often see them captured and ransomed back to their relatives (or in some cases, simply held hostage for years because their relatives were happy with their new throne, and didn't want to cough up the cash to recover their lost lord.)

If your king wants to kill their rival, they're going to need a very good cover for that slaying, or they'll be branded as a kingslayer, and may face serious consequences, up to and including the loss of their title, excommunication, or a coalition of the dead king's relatives coming for them, with the assistance of other kings who aren't eager to be the next name on your character's hypothetical climb to the top.

Also, again, if we're using Medieval Europe, there are a lot relatives spread around. The nobility in Europe mingled and intermarried, creating a fairly complex web of different blood relations. So, while your character's rival may not have any relatives at home, it's quite possible that he'd have siblings and cousins in dozens of other nearby kingdoms, and potentially even be a blood relation of your characters as well.

There are exceptions to this, such as if they're a non-royal usurper, but in that case, they wouldn't have any protections, and your character would probably have a pretty easy time forming an impromptu alliance to stomp them out, before “restoring” someone with a legitimate claim to that throne. In that case, if their rival really was a peasant usurper, your character could probably get away with executing them on the battlefield with little fanfare. However, if they're actual nobility, even if their claim is shaky, that kind of a killing could have serious consequences.

So, the short version is, your character probably can't politically afford to kill their rival. It really is that simple, and they'd need to find a way to politically insulate themselves against the consequences, or make sure that their rival's death in battle looked like a normal casualty, and not a directed murder.

-Starke

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I struggle coming up with hobbies for my medieval characters to have. Is there a list or something out there? How many are characters expected to have?

A quick google search brought me here. That might help?

There’s no minimum or maximum number of hobbies for a character to have, just like there isn’t for any actual person. Look at yourself, your friends, your family. What seems typical to you?

Also, how big a part are hobbies actually going to play in your fic? Do they need to be mentioned at all?

Sir Galahad from Arthurian Legend.

The red part of his outfit is a Gambeson, a type of padded fabric armour worn by itself or under metal plate armour. ^_^

(I'm also slightly proud of how weird that sword hilt design ended up.)

Who knows Wynncraft too? That's great there, I love being there. I love that medieval feeling there. But that's not only the case for me in video games like Minecraft. In any case, I also like to listen to the Wynncraft Music just relaxing or while I am writing my stories to get the perfect feeling. I always write with music in the background or some kind of sounds and melodies because they transport me even more into the world of history and you feel very strongly. This makes writing my books even more fun! The Middle Ages are a magical time, isn't it?Who knows Wynncraft too? That's great there, I love being there. I love that medieval feeling there. But that's not only the case for me in video games like Minecraft. In any case, I also like to listen to the Wynncraft Music just relaxing or while I am writing my stories to get the perfect feeling. I always write with music in the background or some kind of sounds and melodies because they transport me even more into the world of history and you feel very strongly. This makes writing my books even more fun! The Middle Ages are a magical time, isn't it?

Tonaroasty (Tóin an Róistigh, something along the lines of 'The bottom end of de Roche lands') is a medieval ghost village in Co. Galway I accidentally came across when out to shoot a stone circle on a barrow (I did take photos of it too). Judging from the onomastics (and from the satellite photos clearly showing rectangular foundations and what seems to be a cross-shaped church) it was an Anglo-Norman settlement, so built no later than 12th c. This also gives us a clue about how and why it ended. When the Black Death reached Ireland, the Gaels were in a more advantageous position than the Normans as they lived in less crowded conditions and did not have any religious prejudice about cats (hence, less rats and less fleas carrying plague). The Norman settlers were traditionally living in a more compact way, were in frequent contact with people from crowded castles, and the relationship between cats and folk Christianity soon turned to be rocky at best (to put it very mildly). Therefore, the plague was feasting on them at will, and it was one of the factors that contributed to the subsequent Gaelicisation of the surviving Anglo-Norman nobility. The plague hypothesis also explains quite neatly why the site has not been used for settlement again ever since.

Life in 1372 was so boring, you couldn't even whip and nae nae. You just died.

Birch bark letter no. 202: spelling lessons and drawings by Onfim (aged 6 or 7), c.1240–1260. Source: Wikimedia commons

Find out more about this drawing in my Artfully Learning post: "Ancient Art Education"

𝑀𝑦 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝐽𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑦𝑛, 𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘, 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑛, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑙𝑒. 𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟; 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑧𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜. 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠, 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝐻𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒… 𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡.

—William Thatcher, A Knight’s Tale -The Letter

—Joan of Arc

A small painting with miniature details.

Some Robin Hood designs! Heroes and villains!

Left to right is Maid Marion, Little John, Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, (then bottom to top) Alan-a-Dale, Much the Miller’s Son, and Will Scarlett; and for the villains Guy of Gisborne, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Prince John

I made a comic, a minifigure recreation of Moss controversy by @pocketss

Horse riding.