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Docks and fisherman village, even city occupations

SeverinR

Vala
Anyone have a good site for information on what and who a person might find in a specific area of town?

I looked for medievil fishing village/jobs, didn't really find anything.

Occupations in a castle or keep frequently pop, which can help but doesn't tell it all.

I can figure out what you would find, alot of loaders, nets, and stuff. So you would net menders, boat/ship repair, but what are the official titles?
Prefer a site that provides the information, rather then just the answers.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
If you can get to a university library, or to a good public library, look for the Dictionary of the Middle Ages. It's thirteen volumes long and probably has just about everything you could think of. Don't worry if you don't have a borrower's card because it's going to be in the Reference section and you can't check it out anyway.

Beyond that, you could ask me some questions. My dissertation was on the guilds of 16thc Augsburg. Which reminds me, don't search for occupations, search on guilds. That won't get everything because many occupations were never formed into guilds, but it'll get you started.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
This is a good list and a fairly interesting site in total. One thing I noticed though [and it's just how things change over times what with there being not enough bonnets to steal and all, or its completely unrelated] but in later centuries a "Silk" was a sneak thief or pickpocket. If I remember the book right I think Dickens calls the Artful Dodger et al "Silks" as they lift men's silk handkerchiefs....
 

SeverinR

Vala
What people are called do change,
Plumber on this list works with lead. Plumber now a days works on pipes(could work with lead too, lead pipes, lead solder.)
 

Nimue

Auror
This is sort of off the top of my head, as I can't find a specific site to reference, so take this as you will. For a medieval village, there may not be that much job specialization. Probably every fisherman will mend their own nets, patch their own boats, sell their own fish--some things may be done as a community effort, like building new ships or repairing large nets.

If we're talking about a larger town or city, though, different job titles would make more sense. Shipwrights build ships and repair them (along with woodworkers), fishmongers sell fish, dockhands load and unload ships, and I don't think there is a specific word for people who make nets, but net-makers or net-weavers would do. If this is a fantasy setting, you can make up terms, as long as they're easily interpreted.

What's the context for this question? Are you looking for minor character ideas for something set in a fishing village, or are you looking for terms to list off in a description of a wharf as your protagonist visits a city?
 

SeverinR

Vala
The large city I am creating has a wharf section, so it would have alot of "shops" that smaller villages probably wouldn't have.
The site I posted provided alot of good jobs.

I have 4 sectors done, I believe there is 15, including the land baron's castle sector.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
Wouldn't the baron live in the country, not in the city? There were a few places, such as north Italian towns in the later Middle Ages, that forced the rural nobility to also hold a house in the town, but for the most part the barons preferred living in their country estates. Fewer of those annoying law thingies.
 

SeverinR

Vala
Interesting question.

I guess some might live away from people, but I'm sure some would love all the benefits of society.
It would seem difficult to run ones lands in the middle of no where. I guess it matters only if the Land baron handles his own problems or if he has someone else run the lands.
The only laws the Baron wouldn't make would be the Kings laws, of course, that would assume that the Baron follows the laws he makes for his people.
So I guess a hands on Baron would live near or in a city. Hands off, rake in all the dough, don't bother me baron would shun society.
 

SeverinR

Vala
Interesting question.

I guess some might live away from people, but I'm sure some would love all the benefits of society.
It would seem difficult to run ones lands in the middle of no where. I guess it matters only if the Land baron handles his own problems or if he has someone else run the lands.
The only laws the Baron wouldn't make would be the Kings laws, of course, that would assume that the Baron follows the laws he makes for his people.
So I guess a hands on Baron would live near or in a city. Hands off, rake in all the dough, don't bother me baron would shun society.

btw I did include a Pissprophet in my low income section in combination with the herbalist, Apothecary and Midwife(babycatcher)
 
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