What did a servant do in medieval times?

Domestic servants in the Middle Ages were in charge of procuring, storing, and preparing food. Many male servants were military personnel and worked as gatekeepers and esquires. Some of them served other functions as well. At the lower level, servants were recruited from the localities.

What jobs did servants do in castles?

There were chambermaids to tidy up and make rooms ready, prepare the fires, and empty the chamberpots, and in larger castles, a resident barber, doctor, and dentist. Most domestic servants would have slept in shared chambers in either the cellars or attics of the castle buildings.

What were medieval servants called?

In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a nobleman, a knight, a governor or a Castellan. Until the age of about seven, sons of noble families would receive training in manners and basic literacy from their mothers or other female relatives.

How old were servants in the Middle Ages?

Servants were usually young unmarried people between the ages of 15 and 25, and men and women were employed in roughly equal numbers. Servants did all kinds of work, ranging from agriculture, craftwork, and retailing to housework and childcare, depending on the needs of their employer.

Did servants live in the castle?

The servants slept in the castle, too, but the farming peasants who grew food for the castle's inhabitants lived in cottages on the lord's estate, or manor.

What Life Was Like In Medieval Castles

Did servants marry?

Marriage was different for hired and indentured servants and artisans than it was for enslaved people in Virginia. Unlike Mount Vernon's enslaved community, most of whom were married, "free laborerers" often arrived alone without a spouse or children.

Did servants ever get a day off?

Servants worked 17-hour days with time off limited to church on Sunday morning and one afternoon a week. SOCIAL historian Dr Pamela Cox, who presents Servants - The True Story Of Life Below Stairs, says: "Country houses wouldn't have been able to function without a vast hidden army of servants.

What do servants do?

Both men and women worked as servants although the jobs they had to do were different. A man's job might include running the stables, working in the gardens or working as a footman or butler. Women were usually given the jobs of cooking, cleaning and other general housekeeping tasks.

How did the servants live?

Servants often started their working lives as young children; they lived some distance away from their families and needed to be accommodated within the country house. Servants' bedrooms and dormitories were pushed to the margins of the house: in garrets and occasionally basements.

What did female servants do in medieval times?

Medieval servants performed works as required by the employer's household: men cooked and cleaned while women did the laundry. Like their independent rural workers, rural wage-labourers performed complementary tasks based on a gendered division of labour.

What are King's servants called?

These courtiers included the monarch or noble's camarilla and retinue, household, nobility, gentry, clergy, those with court appointments, bodyguard, and may also include emissaries from other kingdoms or visitors to the court.

Did nobles have servants?

Nobles' families had sitting rooms called solars where the family gathered to play games and listen to music. There were stables and a large kitchen, both of which were staffed by servants. Castles were generally quite smoky.

Did medieval nobles have servants?

The presence of servants of noble birth imposed a social hierarchy on the household that went parallel to the hierarchy dictated by function. This second hierarchy had at its top the steward (alternatively seneschal or majordomo), who had the overriding responsibility for the domestic affairs of the household.

What does a lady's maid do?

A lady's maid's specific duties included helping her mistress with her appearance, including make-up, hairdressing, clothing, jewellery, and shoes. A lady's maid would also remove stains from clothing; sew, mend, and alter garments as needed; bring her mistress breakfast in her room; and draw her mistress's bath.

What was the head maid called?

Head house-maid: the senior house maid, reporting to the Housekeeper. (Also called "House parlour maid" in an establishment with only one or two upstairs maids). Parlour maid: they cleaned and tidied reception rooms and living areas by morning, and often served refreshments at afternoon tea, and sometimes also dinner.

What was being a servant like?

One definition for being a faithful servant, according to the Bible, is to be a devoted and helpful follower, to be humble before God, to be ready to act as God nudges and inspires us, to help meet the needs of other people, and to remember that it is not about money or reward.

What time did servants eat?

The basement is buzzing again: the servants eat supper at 6 pm - a smaller meal than at midday. A five-course dinner is to be served upstairs at 8 pm, so everyone is hard at work.

What were the servants?

Servants were unique among the lower classes in their contact with their employers. This was the nearest most masters and mistresses came to the laboring class. Indeed, one function servants performed was to shield their employers from contact with the working class.

What age did girls go into service?

Girls, often aged 13-14 years old, sometimes as young as eleven, were employed as the lowest order of servants: maids.

Could butlers get married?

The butler's life is a solitary one

Employers generally prefer their butlers to be single. It is felt that butlers with wives can be torn between their loyalties towards their families and their master.

Did servants get paid?

Although these were generous, wages could vary greatly depending on a servant's gender or the position they occupied within the house. Butlers, housekeepers, and chefs were amongst those most highly paid, whereas hall boys and tempys (temporary maids) often received the lowest wages.

Do servants still exist?

A recent study conducted by Wetherell, a real estate agent to the megarich, revealed that there are more servants working in the tony Mayfair section of London than there were 200 years ago. Ninety percent of the 4,500 residents who own houses, and 80 percent of apartment-dwellers have servants.

Did servants live in cupboards?

In the early 1800s, servants slept in the kitchen or in cupboards under the stairs. Later in the century, they were given the attics as bedrooms, which were cold, damp and dimly lit. Often, however, men continued to sleep downstairs to guard the plate.

Do servants still exist in England?

Certainly there are now many people working in service, and there are no shortage of families wanting to hire professional domestic staff—but in London that probably has to do with the sheer number of wealthy people arriving in the capital to set up new homes, and almost nothing to do with Downtown Abbey.

Why did lords and ladies sleep separately?

Lady Pamela explained, “In England, the upper class always have had separate bedrooms. You don't want to be bothered with snoring or someone flinging a leg around. Then when you are feeling cozy you share your room sometimes. It is lovely to be able to choose.”