A topic where you can post general ideas to make the server’s world more coherent and give general inspiration to the builders.
Ancient jobs list for Ardacraft
Part 1
Intro : Greetings supreme leader Fornad. Here is the first part of this list of jobs that could help making the building of villages and towns more diverse and realistic on the Ardacraft server. Each job’s name will be followed by a quick summary of the job, its social status and its environment. Using the term social status for medieval jobs is a bit anachronistically but it’s the best term I found to link the jobs to the system of law class, middle class and high class buildings you use on this server. As I said, those are not totally accurate as this isn’t really a fitting system, for exemple there were exemples of rich and poor innkeepers at that time and by social status, I mean the importance and reputation of those jobs in society more than than their earnings so feel free to change it. If there are any more classifications you want me to add for the next part, feel free to tell. Some translations may seem rough but know that they were really hard to find or make. Most of those jobs organized themselves into guilds to remove concurrency in town and create the ancestor of social protection. You could consider guilds the ancestors of syndicates. It would make sense to add some of those guilds in greater towns like Dale.
Baker (Talemelier) : Makes bread … Well everybody knows what a baker is but they were as important and numerous as breweries and inns at that time. The server’s villages definitly need more of those.
Social status : Middle class
environment : town, village
Miller (Meunier) : Specialized in making cereals and liquid fats like olive oils, only a few independant millers owned their mills, most of the mills were located on seigniories and owned by lords.
Social status : Low class
environment : villages, (some towns like Paris had a few mills on bridge, you could make something similar)
Wheat salesman (Blatier) : Can’t make bread without some wheat, basically some merchants buying wheat from peasants and selling it at the town or village market at a higher price.
Social status : middle class
environment : Town, village (only if there is a market)
Wheat sizer (Mesureur de blé) : Public officer that measures the quantities of wheat sold on the market, their role was to act as an intermediary between buyer and seller.
Social status : middle class
environment : Town, village (only if there is a market)
Town crier (Crieur public) : Also called bellmen, town criers were the means of communication with the people of the town since many people could not read or write. Proclamations, local bylaws, market days, adverts, were all proclaimed by a bellman or crier. Thanks wikipedia, There are other several types of town criersthough like wine criers that advertised wine in taverns and inns.
Social status : middle class
environment : Town
Gaugeman (Jaugeur) : Basically the same as wheat sizer but with wine and other alcohols, they were in charge of watching over wine salesmen and innkeepers. Yeah your eyes don’t deceive you, I have put those guys in High class and for good reasons, they are exemples of bishops that were gaugemen first, beside they are exempt of some taxes.
Social status : High class
environment : Town
Innkeeper (Tavernier) : As essential as bakers.
Social status : Middle Class
environment : Town, village
Huckster (regrattiers) : They were sellers that sold the leftovers of aristocracy’s table and other foods of uncoventional origin.
Social status : Low class
environment : Town, village
Goldsmith (Orfévres) : The finest craftmen, those metalworkers are specialized working with gold and other precious metals. Historically, goldsmiths also have made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and serviceable utensils, ceremonial or religious items.
Social status : High class
environment : Town
Potter (Potier) : Already a lot of those on the server and for a good reason, still, it needs to be on this list, potters don’t necessarily use clay or terracotta, there also were tin potters.
Social status : Middle class
environment : Town, village
Ropemaker (Cordier) : Specialized in making ropes, essential in the docks as well as in the villages.
Social status : low class
environment : Town (especially coastal towns), village
(greffier) : Basically a justice officer used in feodal justice systems, his role tend to vary between the regions.
Social status : Middle class
environment : Town, village
(heaumier): Merchant that sells helmets on the market, somehow they were important.
Social status : Middle class
environment : Town
stableman, groom (Palefrenier): Servant that takes care of the horses and stables.
Social status : Low class
environment : Town, village
Cutler (Coutelier): Craftman specialized in making knives, sheers, shavers and other tools that cut stuff.
Social statuts : low class
environment : Town, village
locksmith (Serruriers): Craftman specialized in making all kinds of locks.
Social statuts : Middle class
environment : Town
Thresher (Batteur): worker who thresh some materials to crush them or to thin them. There were several types of threshers like wool threshers, gold and silver threshers, tin threshers etc …
Social statuts : low class
environment : Town, village
Haubergier (Haubergier): Metalworker specialized in making ring mails.
Social statuts : middle class
environment : Town
crystal seeker (Cristallier): A person that seeks natural crystals in high mountains to sell it on local markets.
Social statuts : low class
environment : Village (if there is a market and is close to a mountain)
needlewoman (Fileresse): Woman who sews clothes, some towns had workshops full of those seamstress, considered the ancestor of manufacture.
Social statuts : low class
environment : Town, village
Sources :
Le Livre des Métiers d’Étienne Boileau, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1879 (1268)
Georges Bertheau, Vieux métiers et pratiques oubliées à la campagne, Paris, 2005
7 Likes
Some of these can be represented by simpler professions (i.e. cutlery maker with blacksmith). Any of the more specialised professions will only really be represented in Gondor’s towns and cities. Additionally, high medieval stuff isn’t particularly appropriate for Middle-earth - early medieval and ancient is more fitting.
4 Likes
tbh, most of those jobs appeared during the early medieval era though it’s hard to precisely date, except the ones related to money and trade, what’s really new is the guild stuff. Those jobs are linked to the reappearing of towns In Europe the Xth century on top of the ruins of roman cities, it would make sense the same thing would happen with gondor on numenorean ruins. Also imo your version of Dale looks like a high middle age city, some tools we can see also come from that time but anyway, tell me a precise century or region and I will give you more accurate jobs for part 2.
1 Like
Yeah we’re going to completely redo Dale so don’t take that as canonical or anything
Very well then, will you stock this dale somewhere ? I love some of the buildings we can see there right now. I will try to find some good cities to get inspiration for the new one.
Yeah it’ll go on freebuild I’d imagine.
1 Like
I trust that everyone here is familiar with the local maps from Aedificium (http://www.aedificium.org/Maps/LocalMaps.html) as resources for accurately planning layouts for fields, hamlets, villages, and the like.
Because there are a limited number of these maps, I have found an additional source with many more. First, go to the National Library of Scotland’s maps site: https://maps.nls.uk/. Then, click on “Find by Place.” The default options are what you want, with “Great Britain, Ordnance Survey” as your search category. Britain will be covered with small red boxes. You need to zoom in and select a box in a fairly rural area. You will be presented in a side bar with several map options. Choose the earliest one available, which usually dates to the mid-19th century. You should then have a very detailed map of the countryside with field and pasture margins, road networks, streams, copses, and more marked out. I hope this helps you all with your settlement layout planning.
5 Likes