I’m compiling a list of potential careers or trades that people from the Middle Ages and before could have been occupied with. Does anyone know of any?
Or, if you just have one you know of that you’d like to share, I’d appreciate it nonetheless
[ul]
Executioner
Well, there are lots of them really (though not guillotine operators, Lukeinva). I assume that you’re using “profession” in the broad sense of any occupation, and not simply occupations that require advanced study and the use of professional judgment. Actually, I bet that, once you exclude the many professions that require post-medieval technology, most professions do date back to at least medieval times. Certainly they had bankers (by the end of the medieval period), physicians, lawyers, architects, and many of the other professions in the narrow sense.
You might want to look at the dramatis personae for Shakespeare’s plays (which are post-medieval, but things hadn’t changed all that much in the century or so since the end of the medieval period). For example, in A Midsummer-Night’s Dream the lower-class characters include a Carpenter, a Joiner, a Weaver, a Bellows-mender, a Tinker, and a Tailor.
Apothecary: A chemist, druggist, or pharmacist
From some Dungeon Master’s Guide or another.
DrCube
June 4, 2013, 10:06pm
8
You’re a few centuries too early. Or too late.
The guillotine wasn’t invented yet in the middle ages, is what I’m saying.
A guillotine (/ˈɡɪlətiːn/ GHIL-ə-teen /ˌɡɪləˈtiːn/ GHIL-ə-TEEN /ˈɡijətin/ GHEE-yə-teen) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with a pillory at the bottom of the frame, holding the position of the neck directly below the blade. The blade is then released, swiftly and forcefully decapitating the victim with a single, clean p...
bob_2
June 4, 2013, 10:34pm
9
DrCube:
You’re a few centuries too early. Or too late.
The guillotine wasn’t invented yet in the middle ages, is what I’m saying.
Guillotine - Wikipedia
The Halifax guillotine was in use early in the 13th C.
Why hasn’t anyone mentioned bankers?
Good thing you you noticed it. You have a sharp eye.
Kenm
June 4, 2013, 11:04pm
13
All ye of little faith.
No mention of friars, priests, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, popes and all their hangers on, without whom everyone would have died and gone to hell.
Good list Alessan , but you left out the most impotant one.
Fool.
Pimp, highwayman, constable, pickpocket, soldier, gravedigger, valet, shepherd, teacher, actor, bell ringer, prostitute, hunter, trapper, cattle drover and others.
Arkcon
June 5, 2013, 1:15am
16
jbaker:
You might want to look at the dramatis personae for Shakespeare’s plays (which are post-medieval, but things hadn’t changed all that much in the century or so since the end of the medieval period). For example, in A Midsummer-Night’s Dream the lower-class characters include a Carpenter, a Joiner, a Weaver, a Bellows-mender, a Tinker, and a Tailor.
Also, review the professions listed in The Canterbury Tales , for some like Summoner and Reeve that have fallen into disuse lately. Does Boccaccio’s Decameron list the professions of the tale teller’s? Because that’s likely a bigger list, and isn’t confined to English professions.
You still have Sheriffs in the US, and that is a contraction of Shire Reeve.
Wow guys, this has been more than exquisite. Thank each and every one of you for your absolutely diligent responses.
You’ve covered more than what I could have hoped to expect. I will take a look at the literature suggested- thank you very much for those!
This has been more than sufficient and enlightening. Thank you for your long list and short contributions alike; I appreciate all tremendously!
/bows in reverence
RobDog
June 5, 2013, 8:01am
20
