Governmental Occupations
These are the people who run things. They keep society moving smoothly, if they're good at what they do, and can bring society to a crunching halt, if they're not. Rife for corruption,
government officials can play a significant role in many campaigns.
Military Occupations
Who keeps the country safe from encroaching enemies and wild monsters? Why, the military, of course. These brave men - and sometimes women train against the possibility that they'll
have to protect their country with their lives.
Criminal Occupations
Wherever there is society, there are criminals. These occupations include only the so-called "professional criminal": it ignores those people who are corrupt at every level of society
who has a legal "front", from kings to beggars.
burglar - dictionary - one who breaks into, and steals things from, other people's houses. (If you break into and
steal stuff from your own house, you're just a nut. fence - dictionary - one who trades in stolen goods footpad - dictionary - one who robs pedestrians outlaw - dictionary - a man wanted by the law pickpocket - dictionary - one who picks pockets poacher - dictionary - one who illegally kills animals
Religious Occupations
If Government officials run the affairs of earthly beings, then those occupied with religious pursuits mediate between earth and the gods.
Priests are relatively common in role playing games. These men and women are the people behind the church: not typically "adventuring priests", but vitally important to the church nonetheless.
Merchants
In a society based on trade - either with hard currency or barter, there are always those who spend their lives in the pursuit of selling things to others.
Note that most craftsmen also sell the results of their labor, farmers typically must sell their crops themselves, people in service trades often must hawk their own wares. This section does not include them. It includes only
those people who spend their entire lives devoted to selling things, and nothing more.
Artists/Entertainers
In any society, there is the need for spare time. And what did people do before television? Well, they mostly sang songs, told stories, and danced. From this, some professional
entertainers developed. Also included in this section are artists: those who devote their lives to creating works of beauty and expressiveness. There is enormous overlap between
artists and entertainers... I won't get into the argument of whether art should be used to entertain or express the artist's true feelings. That's beyond my scope here, certainly.
Farming and Workers with Flora and Fauna
Ah -- the farmers. Without them, we'd starve. Wresting sustenence from the very earth itself. There's a large number of occupations associated with farming: you need people to watch the
animals, work the fields. In fact, probably most people in a medieval society were farmers. Also included are hunters and gatherers: those who travel into nature and grab things to
eat, as well as all those who work with animals. There's also a good overview of horse history in
Europe.
Scholars
They may have called it the dark ages for lack of scientific output, but there were still people interested in the world around them, willing to poke and prod it until something broke.
Sailors
The lure of the sea, the crash of the waves: a boat-filled life was the norm for a great many medieval people. Some sailed on rivers, some on the ocean. Exciting and dangerous trade
missions with far-off empires, exploring strange new places, and always coming back home to tell exciting stories in the local tavern.
Regular Folks
One of the problems with coming up with a list of Medieval Occupations is that lots of people in a feudal economy didn't have occupations at all. They were just tenants of other folks.
Also, there are in any society, a large number of homeless and impoverished. This section deals with people like that. There's a
fun story about a peasant, who had a bit of an adventure, at Stefan's Florilegium. I've also heard that the book
A Medieval Life: Cecilia Penifader of Brigstock, c. 1297-1344, by Judith Bennett, is recommended by some schools. It reconstructs the life of Cecilia
Penifader, a medieval peasant, from various legal records. I've never read it, but it seems to get good reviews!
Craftsmen
Game worlds typically have armorers and blacksmiths, but then it breaks down, and everything else is available from the marketplace or the "general store". Add a bit of spice to a
campaign by having the player's harness become damaged, and have to deal with the local harness maker - who is also the town shoemaker and his loud wife!
Most of the occupations on this list are craftsmen and service occupations. Because of this, I have seperated out the most common craftsmen from the bulk of the list, so that the gentle reader can make sense of it. The list of
common occupations was derived from the tax list for Paris in 1292, from the book Life in a Medieval City, by Francis and Joseph Gies. The number indicates how many there in the city.
Common Craftsmen - sorted by frequency
366 - shoemaker - dictionary - one who makes and repairs shoes 214 - furrier - dictionary - one who makes and repairs goods made of furs - esp. clothes 197 - tailor - dictionary - one who makes and repairs clothing 131 - jeweler - dictionary - maker of jewelry 106 - pastrycook - dictionary - baker specializing in pastries 104 - mason - dictionary - bricklayer 95 - carpenter - dictionary - one who constructs things from wood 86 - weaver - dictionary - weaver of cloth 71 - chandler - dictionary - one who makes candles 70 - cooper - dictionary - one who makes and repairs barrels and tubs 62 - baker - dictionary - one who makes bread and other baked goods 58 - scabbard maker - dictionary - maker of scabbards 54 - hatmaker - dictionary - maker of hats 51 - saddler - dictionary - maker of saddles 51 - chicken butcher - dictionary - butcher of chickens 45 - purse maker - dictionary - maker of purses 42 - meat butcher - dictionary - butcher of all sorts of meats, esp beef 36 - buckle maker - dictionary - maker of buckles 34 - blacksmith - dictionary - one who works with iron to form metal implements: esp farm tools. 28 - roofer - dictionary - one who makes and repairs roofs 27 - locksmith - dictionary - one who makes and repairs locks 26 - ropemaker - dictionary - maker of rope 24 - tanner - dictionary - preparer of leater 24 - rugmaker - dictionary - maker of rugs 24 - harness maker - dictionary - maker of harnesses 23 - bleacher - dictionary 22 - cutler - dictionary - one who makes and repairs cutlery 21 - glover - dictionary - a glovemaker
Less common craftsmen - sorted alphabetically
Service Occupations
There are many important positions in society for those who do not produce, but serve their fellow man. When they're done their job for the day, there are no new products, no changes in
physical objects, but people are moved, jobs get done, and society keeps moving. These are the service workers. Service workers can play an enormous role in your campaign. All the
time, characters need to get their hair cut, have water fetched, or have something written down. Unfortunately, since this list is so enormous, I've again taken the liberty of
separating out the common occupations, again, as defined by the Geis book. The numbers are the count of the occupation in Paris, in 1292. Common Service Occupations - Sorted by
Frequency
199 - maidservant - dictionary 151 - barber - dictionary 130 - restaurateur - dictionary - one who owns or runs a restaurant 58 - water carrier - dictionary 43 - laundress - dictionary - also known as lavendar 42 - porter - dictionary - one who carries burdens, or one who waits at doors. Probably the former 29 - doctor - dictionary 26 - bather - dictionary - owner of a bath 24 - copyist - dictionary - one who copies books and documents -- not all of them can read
Less common service occupations - sorted alphabetically
attendent - dictionary bagger - dictionary barrister - dictionary bath attendent - dictionary bather - dictionary - owner of a bath bodyservant - dictionary butler - dictionary carman - dictionary - one who drives a vehicle for transporting goods carter - dictionary cartier - dictionary chamberlain - dictionary chimney sweep - dictionary - one who cleans chimneys and smokestacks. clark - dictionary - see clerk clerk - dictionary cook - dictionary - one who cooks, especially food. cowherd - dictionary - one who looks after a herd of cows. A medieval cowboy, as it were. currier - dictionary - see tanner dairymaid - dictionary dentist - dictionary dog trainer - dictionary drayman - dictionary - cart driver dung carter - dictionary executioner - dictionary farrier - dictionary groom - dictionary harlot - dictionary - vagabond, beggar, rogue, 14th century male servant, attendant or menial, and 15th century,
loose woman herald - dictionary - can mean two things: a man in charge of making pronouncements and proclamations, and one who
is an expert in the field of heraldry (the various insignias used by the rich to identify themselves.) horseleech - dictionary - veterinarian, farrier lawyer - dictionary - a master of the law. link boy - dictionary - boy who will carry a torch to guide people through the night link man - dictionary - like a link boy, only older maid - dictionary - normally female, a household servant. midwife - dictionary - humorously known as a babycatcher miller - dictionary - the person who turns grains into flour. nurse - dictionary panter - dictionary - keeper of the pantry paperer - dictionary - needlemaking industry -- inserted needles into paper to prepare for selling pavyler - dictionary - put up pavilions/tents pissprophet - dictionary - doctors who would diagnose disease from a patient's urine, specifically from the
sight, smell, and taste of the urine. potboy - dictionary - cleans out chamber pots privycleaner - dictionary procurator - dictionary - or proctor, this is a kind of legal agent or representative prostitute - dictionary quartermaster - dictionary ragpicker - dictionary - sorts through leftover rags, find re-usable ones raker - dictionary - street sanitation worker scullion - dictionary senaschal - dictionary - senior steward solicitor - dictionary - lawyer stillroom maid - dictionary surgeon - dictionary tapster - dictionary - bartender/barmaid userer - dictionary - a moneylender, specifically a Jewish moneylender (the only people allowed to hold such a job
in the Middle Ages) wagoner - dictionary - wagon or cart driver weeper - dictionary wetnurse - dictionary
Other
These are occupations that I have been too lazy to classify, as of yet, or those where I don't really know what they are....
Credits
Most of this material comes from Stefan's Florilegium, an online archive of interesting articles from the SCA's newsgroup,
The Rialto (at rec.org.sca). Some definitions were provided by Ryan Ramage.
Thanks! Some of the definitions came from A List of Occupations This file
is a part of the Crystal Obelisk project.
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