I have found the following:
Occupations:
Smiths (white, black, etc.)
Coopers
...
sorry, my current time is cut short due to urgent business, so please continue my list
Thank you- Fahrion
Is your story set in the country or the city? I'm guessing it's in a Medeival city, but that's only based on your mention of smiths.
When you think abuot these details, some of the answers will come to you. And you don't need to study medeival history, either. Just make things up from your imagination.
If you're making up something that's not specifically historical, I'd also suggest working out a clear idea of how the culture works before you start writing. Where does the food come from? Who raises it? Why do they do that? If a character knows how to use a weapon, how did s/he learn? Where does your character's money come from? Is there a significant religious background? I'm getting into worldbuilding mode now; I'll stop.
By the way, from my point of view the number one most common inaccuracy in stories that are meant to be set in a Medieval or pseudo-Medieval society: Lack of pervasive religion. Christianity was absolutely central to Medieval european society, saturating the culture and reinforcing the social structure ...
Good grief, I'm pontificating (pun perhaps intended). Sorry about that.
Anyway, the other advantage of researching the culture in question is that you get a lot of material you can use, for instance lists of occupations.
In a rural, Medieval milieu, keep in mind that your most common profession by far is Peasant, working land owned by local nobility for a share of the crops raised. You need a lot of peasants to support a small contingent of knights and nobility what have you (if you happen to be using the part of the Medieval period in which there were knights; the novel I'm working on is set in 14th-century Lombardy, where there ain't no knights). The peasants are usually just subsisting, while the only significant responsibilities of the Lord or what have you are to effectively administer the agricultural land and to repel attackers.
Hope some of that is helpful.
Luc
If it's a fantasy, there's no need to learn anything more about the real Medieval world. If the fantasy world doesn't have grain then there's no need for grain farmers, bakers, brewers, etc. Instead, maybe it has wonderpuff, a food product that floats up from the depths of the ocean three times a tear. In that case, a successful society will find a way to have large boats harvest the wonderpuff. Perhaps suntamers know the secrets of drying the wonderpuff (e.g. morning sunlight makes it sweet, afternoon sunlight makes it spicy, moonlight takes years to dry it but endows it with magical properties, etc.). Then perhaps Starbucksters know how to brew wonderpuff into a delicious cappa-frappa-latte-mocha-ccino.
See? Just change a few things and you have a Medieval society with lots of new occupations. You might have the same sort of class system, but different jobs.
Really I was referring specifically to Fantasy set in a Medieval or sorta-Medieval milieu (mine novel's Fantasy, for instance). I agree with you: If there's wonderpuff, then you don't have quite the same structure, but then the question arises of why there would be a Medieval political structure at all, if food was so readily available and people didn't have to grub a living for it. If sweeping changes like this are made to the culture, it begins to strain belief that everything else in the culture would be the same.
Anyway, I'd read a well-thought-out story with Wonderpuff as readily as one based on historical Medieval society, as long as the writer gave a care to having a believable milieu and didn't wave it off as too much of a bother.
Fahrion, I gather from your post that this is exactly your concern, fleshing out your setting.
Luc
Smiths (black, white, etc.)
Coopers
Weavers
Tanners
Formulae, ie:
Pharmacists (Apothecaries of the body)
Healers/Doctors
Apothecaries of Minor solutions
Wood:
Millers
Furnure-makers
Carvers (sculpture)
Traders:
Factors
Cloth
Spices
Wool
Grain
Metals
Jewelry
Perfumes
Merchants
Peddlers
Artisans
City:
Waste control (mostly prisoners)
Water/Aquaducts
Road Maintainance
Police/Patrol
Judicial
Taxmen
Bankers
Legislature
Agriculture:
Farmers of Crop
Farmers of Poultry and Animal
...
Far from complete, I have to leave now, but now that I have clarified my search, I now hope for more relevent responses.
Thanks- Fahrion
TTFN & lol
Cosmi
If you want to write a fantasy, you don't need to know the medieval structure. You can have whatever you want in your story, such as cyborns and unicorns, but just make sure the inner logics and laws of your story are consistent.
I can't offer much more than to refer you to Poul Anderson's very amusing On Thud and Blunder. I always need to caution writers, SCA is not the beginning and end of historical accuracy...but the article is very funny.
quote:
Funny as hell...if you happen to find the thought of the damned writhing in eternal agony amusing.
In response to Cosmi:
When I began this thread, I completely forgot the main reason I did: the complexity of politics, religion, and trade . How each intertwine and affect each other.
Take an example for sake of a starting point.
Terenar is a small landlocked country of Quante. The ruler, Cannial Teroh, has maintained a policy of neutrality while Elyria and Karador battle each other. However, war is taking a toll on trade, and the Terenese are afraid. They hoard their wares and religious leader Jennar Manaroh has begun leading the dissatisfied citizens to his church of bitheism. Teroh, however, fears such fervent spirituality, for that is what breeds zealots and generally a higher emotional level, and when men think with their hearts they often fail to think with their heads, and there may be a civil war.
General idea. I would like some comment on problems or incidents that may be introduced by these events. Thanks.
Anyway, If you're looking for sources on the middle ages, two that I've found are:
Life in a Medieval City, by Joseph and Franes Gies. It describes what the city of Troyes was like in 1250 AD. Topics like housewives, churches, schools, and so on.
The other is 'The Year 1000' by Robert Lacey adn Danny Danziger, which describes life in Englan in the year 1000 AD (obviously).
I haven't read any of the second book yet, but the first was informative.
Harold has the right idea, but the main goal I seek (maybe it's a little different now) is a plausible mindstate and reaction ideas for circumstances for the general populus. Am I making sense? I hope so. I have never been one to understand psychology or sociology at all. The whole thing with the midieval-type workforce (which I have found more of, thanks to all) is to set the mood for the people, for the basic mindset of the people of midieval Europe is different (not much, but several subtle differences may be cited) from futuristic galactica.