# Need Help with Trades, Vocations & Occupations



## Ekorus (Jul 29, 2016)

Greetings!

I need help with coming up with a list of Trades, Vocations & Occupations that were present in medieval times. Below is what I've been able to find so far. If you know of any others or find one that shouldn't be there, please let me know. Thank you in advance!

*TRADES, VOCATIONS & OCCUPATIONS
*
Acrobat
Alchemist
Apothecarist
Architect
Astrologer
Armorer
Artist
Baker
Barrister
Bookbinder
Bowyer
Basket Weaver
Blacksmith
Brewer
Brick Layer
Butcher
Calligrapher
Candlemaker
Carpenter
Cartograhper
Charcoal Burner
Clerk
Clothier
Cook
Coppersmith
Cooper
Diplomat
Dyer
Engineer
Engraver
Falconer
Farmer
Fisherman
Fishmonger
Forester
Fortune Teller
Fruitier
Fuller
Furrier
Glassblower
Goldsmith
Grocer
Gardener
Grain Merchant
Grave Digger
Haberdasher
Herald
Herbalist
Hunter
Innkeeper
Interpreter
Jester
Jeweler
Lacemaker
Leatherworker
Locksmith
Mason
Mercenary
Mercer
Miller
Minstrel
Messenger
Miner
Moneylender
Navigator
Needleworker
Painter
Pardoner
Peddler
Priest
Physician
Playwright
Politician
Potter
Rat Catcher
Sailor
Scribe
Servant
Shipwright
Shoemaker
Silversmith
Soldier
Solicitor
Soapmaker
Stonecarver
Storyteller
Spy
Tanner
Town Crier
Vintner
Washer Woman
Waterman
Weaver
Wet Nurse
Wheelwright
Woodcarver
Woodworker


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## Ban (Jul 29, 2016)

monk
nun
fletcher
prostitute 
ropemaker
banker (if late medieval)
Gong farmer
Cheesemaker
barber
bailiff
atilliator (crossbow maker)
bottler
chamberlain
chaplain


Might be some more you haven't included yet on here Medieval Jobs


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## Ban (Jul 29, 2016)

Here's another site What did people do in a Medieval City?


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## Charles Parkes (Jul 29, 2016)

Ice merchant... someone has to keep the wine cool!
Horse-breeder
Thief
Doctor (manic laugh)
Courier
Wattler - better than being a dauber
Inquisitor
Whaler
Privateer... pretty Elizabethan
Lady (a full time job given the scale of the households)
Mourner... amateurs need not apply
Viking.

That was fun. Sorry about that last one.


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## skip.knox (Jul 29, 2016)

I was surprised to see bathhouse keeper nowhere on any of the lists. Nor joiners either (joiners made cabinets, chests -- they joined wood rather than nailed it).

The medieval cities site does better than the medieval jobs site. The very notion of "job" is rather post-medieval. The title of this thread hits closer to the mark. With all, the rural occupations are a bit overlooked. Woodcutter. Shepherd. Coulton's _A Medieval Village_ is a good resource for the country side of things.

A final comment, though I may be straying a bit. It is also modern to classify people in terms of their job. Instead, they classified themselves in terms of their estate, their place in the social order. So, for example, a peasant and a serf might both farm, but the relevant term was not farmer, but peasant or serf. Any number of secretaries and minor officials at a court might perform a variety of functions, but their relevant designation was cleric (clerk).  It's not really a huge deal for fiction writing, but it might give you an angle for a spin or a difference in tone somewhere.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Jul 29, 2016)

I don't see midwife anywhere.


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## skip.knox (Jul 30, 2016)

Midwifing was done, but was it really a trade or vocation? I honestly don't know. I have a suspicion it may have been an activity, but not really identified as a trade until the formalization of medical practice in the 16th-17th century. Picking nits, I know, but now I'm curious.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Jul 30, 2016)

skip.knox said:


> Midwifing was done, but was it really a trade or vocation? I honestly don't know. I have a suspicion it may have been an activity, but not really identified as a trade until the formalization of medical practice in the 16th-17th century. Picking nits, I know, but now I'm curious.



It kinda was blended with other things, if my memory serves me right. A "wise woman" of the village who had herbal knowledge and such would serve as a midwife. It is an important role people played, though. 

I think. I'm not an expert.


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## skip.knox (Jul 30, 2016)

That's my recollection. But I'm not comfortable being too certain because I know there are entire books written on medieval women in medicine and on the history of midwifery, so I'm sure there's a more definitive answer out there.

But it takes me back to my previous point. We moderns love hierarchies and boxes. We expect clear definition. The Middle Ages (indeed, most pre-modern societies) were gloriously messy and unconcerned with our preoccupations. Also, any time we talk medieval, we have to keep in mind we are talking multiple cultures across a thousand year span. "Call the midwife" might--almost certainly did--have different connotations in 7th century Gaul than in 15th century Hungary. Many writers are content to let late medieval England stand for "the Middle Ages" and that's fine. Even there, the notion that midwife was a trade needs both definition and substantiation.

It's much easier to identify trades that were incorporated into guilds.


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## Caged Maiden (Jul 30, 2016)

Okay, my specialty: Tailors, seamstresses (who made your undergarments, not your outer clothes), hatters, fan-makers, etc.. Atailor would specialize in a kind of garment, for example, dressmakers, coat-makers, etc. and in a household, women of the upper class often had their ladies in waiting sew garments for the household staff. As garments got more complex toward the 16th century, tailors were more specialized. If you were poor, you took whatever was given to you and patched it yourself.

Also, sanitation. Night soil collectors rolled teams of oxen and wagons through the street, collecting chamberpot contents, which were then carted out to the fields.

Lamplighters (if you have oil lamps), and oil deliveries to big houses.


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## Charles Parkes (Jul 31, 2016)

Liked fan makers

What about make-up manufacturers? "What, you're the one who keeps us supplied with arsenic? Keep up the good work."


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## Russ (Jul 31, 2016)

I didn't see teachers, university professors or tutors there, all important.  

As an aside Washer Woman was often a polite way of saying "prostitute" in that period.


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## K.S. Crooks (Jul 31, 2016)

This site donjon; RPG Tools has a generator for demographics, which includes vocations. There is also generators for worlds, inns, dungeons, random adventures and other things a writer can use for ideas.


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## skip.knox (Jul 31, 2016)

So what did women who actually washed clothes call themselves?


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## Russ (Aug 2, 2016)

skip.knox said:


> So what did women who actually washed clothes call themselves?



Escorts?


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## CupofJoe (Aug 2, 2016)

skip.knox said:


> So what did women who actually washed clothes call themselves?


Shiny and Clean!


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## SeverinR (Aug 9, 2016)

DragonOfTheAerie said:


> It kinda was blended with other things, if my memory serves me right. A "wise woman" of the village who had herbal knowledge and such would serve as a midwife. It is an important role people played, though.
> 
> I think. I'm not an expert.


I believe in smaller communities and poor areas, the older "experienced" women(20+ with 3 or more kids) went to help the younger inexperienced women(13+ with none or 1 other child) give birth.  They did the work as a midwife, but didn't expect payment or payment was a product or service the family could do for them.

I do believe the larger cities had people that probably made a living in this occupation.


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## SeverinR (Aug 9, 2016)

skip.knox said:


> So what did women who actually washed clothes call themselves?


43 - *laundress* - also known as lavender


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## skip.knox (Aug 9, 2016)

I wonder how old "laundress" is as a term. Lavender is French, which made me wonder about German. I have an 1888 edition of Adler, which gives _Wascherinn_ but which also has _Wascher_, so we have both genders represented there.

Every trade has its own interesting history (said the guy who wrote his dissertation on guilds, so "interesting" may have a different resonance for me here!)


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## S.T. Ockenner (Nov 13, 2020)

Russ said:


> I didn't see teachers, university professors or tutors there, all important.
> 
> As an aside Washer Woman was often a polite way of saying "prostitute" in that period.


How rude!


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