elvendisgrace
Acolyte
I'm writing a story about a miner set in the Middle Ages. There are roughly 50 miners working at the mine, but I feel it may be too much. Historically, how many miners would be involved in a mine?
I don't think miners were universally paid well. I've visited the quarry mine in Beer, UK (where pretty much all stones for English cathedrals was mined), and they were paid about as bad as you could find. The only people who worked in the mines were those who had no other options left. Pay was poor, and life expectancy was terrible. Mainly from working very long days in grueling conditions. Breathing in rock dust without protection while hammering loudly on rocks is not good for you at all. I can definitely imagine this being true in other locations. Owners of mines probably did very well for themselves, but I can imagine condition in the mine were similar to what you now find in 3rd world mines.Mostminers were very well paid but lived short lives.