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Common Jobs in a Medieval City

medievalists.net

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Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#91

Post by mbg721 »

credit_guy wrote: post #58
WFHRenaissance wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely a blacksmith in almost every city, but probably fewer blacksmiths per city than the other jobs. Metal tools are built to last, and are expensive, so it was probably often a low volume high cost kind of business where production could be covered by a minimal number of smiths.

My Dad was born before WW2 in a village in Eastern Europe, which was probably closer to a medieval village than to a 21st century one. He told me that a blacksmith would ask for 3 plum trees to do a certain job, presumably in order to make charcoal. I don't think there was anything special about plum trees, other than the local availability: people were (and still are) growing plum trees in order to make spirits. Giv…

What was the purpose in making the customers give up the opportunity to make spirits, if the charcoal wasn't any more special? Was demand high and the blacksmiths wanted to reduce the volume of low-priority requests?

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#92

Post by gumby »

stevenjgarner wrote: post #55

It surprises me that all 10 jobs still exist, while there are several more recent occupations that no longer exist (albeit they were not that common): Milkmen, Elevator operator, Switchboard Operator, Ice Cutter, Bowling Pin Setter, Film projectionist, Lamplighter, Leech collector, Alchemist, Bematist, Redsmith, Daguerreotypist, Town crier

Milkmen, elevator operator, and switchboard operator were extremely common occupations in their heydays, all of which overlapped with my childhood.

I only stopped milkman service here in Palo Alto a couple of years ago (though the dairy downtown shut down maybe 30 years ago). It turned out to be a direct milkman->teenager pipeline which was better than walking to the grocery store twice a day.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#93

Post by selfhoster11 »

stevenjgarner wrote: post #55

It surprises me that all 10 jobs still exist, while there are several more recent occupations that no longer exist (albeit they were not that common): Milkmen, Elevator operator, Switchboard Operator, Ice Cutter, Bowling Pin Setter, Film projectionist, Lamplighter, Leech collector, Alchemist, Bematist, Redsmith, Daguerreotypist, Town crier

Milkmen definitely still exist in the UK, and likely other places.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#94

Post by c54 »

JackFr wrote: post #70
WFHRenaissance wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely a blacksmith in almost every city, but probably fewer blacksmiths per city than the other jobs. Metal tools are built to last, and are expensive, so it was probably often a low volume high cost kind of business where production could be covered by a minimal number of smiths.

They must have been quite prolific then. There's a reason Smith is the most common surname in the English speaking world.

Ive heard the possibly apocryphal reason for this is that invading armies would kill or appropriate workers in other professions but keep around the trained blacksmiths working the forge and producing weapons and tools for war. Smiths survived the waves of conquerors.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#95

Post by apcragg »

JackFr wrote: post #74
dotancohen wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of extraordinary interest is the fact that the blacksmith made his own charcoal and presumably other consumables and tools. From whence his anvil? Would you mind sharing some more details, such as where was the village? This is exactly the type of history story that I enjoy telling my children. If you'd prefer to share privately, my Gmail username is the same as my HN username. Thank you!

> Of extraordinary interest is the fact that the blacksmith made his own charcoal True. In medieval Europe charcoal burner was typically a very specialized profession. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcoal_burner#Medieval_charc... "During the Middle Ages, charcoal burners were ostracised. Their profession was considered dishonourable and they were frequently accused of evil practices. Even today there is a certain d…

Both of those lines have no citation so while I wouldn't doubt it, that page seems unreliable.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#96

Post by Aerroon »

errcorrectcode wrote: post #46
mastazi wrote: post #32

6th to 10th place are interesting: 6 – Tailors 7 – Notaries 8 – Barbers 9 – Retailers 10 – Stonemasons More notaries than barbers, retailers and stonemasons!

Barber-surgeons.

For those who don't know: barbers were also surgeons and dentists until around the middle of the 18th century. Not only did they cut your hair they also pulled out your teeth and performed surgery on you.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#97

Post by irrational »

gumby wrote: post #92
stevenjgarner wrote: post #55

It surprises me that all 10 jobs still exist, while there are several more recent occupations that no longer exist (albeit they were not that common): Milkmen, Elevator operator, Switchboard Operator, Ice Cutter, Bowling Pin Setter, Film projectionist, Lamplighter, Leech collector, Alchemist, Bematist, Redsmith, Daguerreotypist, Town crier

Milkmen, elevator operator, and switchboard operator were extremely common occupations in their heydays, all of which overlapped with my childhood. I only stopped milkman service here in Palo Alto a couple of years ago (though the dairy downtown shut down maybe 30 years ago). It turned out to be a direct milkman->teenager pipeline which was better than walking to the grocery store twice a day.

Why are you going twice a day? We drink 3 gallons of milk a week, but only go once a week.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#98

Post by credit_guy »

dotancohen wrote: post #66
credit_guy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Dad was born before WW2 in a village in Eastern Europe, which was probably closer to a medieval village than to a 21st century one. He told me that a blacksmith would ask for 3 plum trees to do a certain job, presumably in order to make charcoal. I don't think there was anything special about plum trees, other than the local availability: people were (and still are) growing plum trees in order to make spirits. Giv…

Of extraordinary interest is the fact that the blacksmith made his own charcoal and presumably other consumables and tools. From whence his anvil? Would you mind sharing some more details, such as where was the village? This is exactly the type of history story that I enjoy telling my children. If you'd prefer to share privately, my Gmail username is the same as my HN username. Thank you!

I'm not sure if the blacksmith was making his own charcoal, or exchanging the wood for charcoal from someone who specialized in that. My Dad's village was about 250 km from this village [1] where people make charcoal even these days (one of the last remaining charcoal burning sites in the world). It's possible back in the day there were much more numerous such sites, so one would not have to travel far.

But even if they had, trade over large distances was surprisingly common. When I was a kid and spending summer vacations on the countryside, my grandparents were involved in a business of selling timber that was felled in some forests about 500 km away. The lumberjacks would bring the logs during the summer months, lots of it (maybe hundreds of cubic meters), and my grandparents would sell it to whoever needed it throughout the year. This was happening during Communism, so I guess it was some form of under-the-tables Capitalism at work. I imagine similar arrangements existed throughout the Middle Ages.

[1] https://wanderingcows.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/the-charcoal-...

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#99

Post by irrational »

JackFr wrote: post #74
dotancohen wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of extraordinary interest is the fact that the blacksmith made his own charcoal and presumably other consumables and tools. From whence his anvil? Would you mind sharing some more details, such as where was the village? This is exactly the type of history story that I enjoy telling my children. If you'd prefer to share privately, my Gmail username is the same as my HN username. Thank you!

> Of extraordinary interest is the fact that the blacksmith made his own charcoal True. In medieval Europe charcoal burner was typically a very specialized profession. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcoal_burner#Medieval_charc... "During the Middle Ages, charcoal burners were ostracised. Their profession was considered dishonourable and they were frequently accused of evil practices. Even today there is a certain d…

I always knew there was something off about all these Traeger enthusiasts.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#100

Post by credit_guy »

mbg721 wrote: post #91
credit_guy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Dad was born before WW2 in a village in Eastern Europe, which was probably closer to a medieval village than to a 21st century one. He told me that a blacksmith would ask for 3 plum trees to do a certain job, presumably in order to make charcoal. I don't think there was anything special about plum trees, other than the local availability: people were (and still are) growing plum trees in order to make spirits. Giv…

What was the purpose in making the customers give up the opportunity to make spirits, if the charcoal wasn't any more special? Was demand high and the blacksmiths wanted to reduce the volume of low-priority requests?

I think the blacksmith simply needed that charcoal in order to do the job. Since people didn't have charcoal themselves, the blacksmith would take wood instead. "Three plum trees" was probably one option, the most relevant for the local population. I guess the blacksmith would have been happy with "one large oak tree", but that could be used for timber, while plum trees not so much.
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