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The Worst Jobs in the Middle Ages
What did medieval people think were the worst jobs you could have? The
answers will surprise you.
Other people who have created this kind of list have focused on jobs
that were particularly dirty – things like gong farmer or rat catcher. However, if we follow the research by the well-known historian Jacques
Le Goff, we can find an entirely different way of discovering the worst
jobs. In his book Time, Work, and Culture in the Middle Ages, Le Goff
details ‘contemptible professions’ – those jobs which medieval people thought were really terrible.
According to Le Goff, these were the 13 worst jobs in the Middle Ages
Innkeepers
Butchers
Jongleurs
Mountebanks (scam artists)
Magicians
Alchemists
Doctors
Surgeons
Soldiers
Pimps
Prostitutes
Notaries
Merchants
Le Goff also created a list of professions that were also somewhat contemptible:
Fullers, weavers, saddlers, dyers, pastry makers, cobblers, gardeners, painters, fishermen, barbers, bailiffs, game wardens, customs officers, exchange brokers, tailors, perfumers, tripe sellers, and millers.
Why Some Medieval Jobs Were Considered the Worst
There were various reasons why these professions were looked down upon,
many of which stemmed from ancient taboos. For example, butchers,
doctors, surgeons, and soldiers were condemned because they worked with
blood (in the case of soldiers, for shedding it, which also violated the “Thou shalt not kill” commandment). There was also a strong taboo
against handling money, making professions like merchants or exchange
brokers socially undesirable.
Some jobs were simply seen as unclean. For Thomas Aquinas, the absolute
worst profession was a dishwasher. Meanwhile, an 11th-century bishop
wrote this while praising the work of clerics:
They are neither butchers nor innkeepers … and know nothing of the
searing heat of a greasy pot … they are not laundrymen and stoop not to
boil linen.
The Role of the Church in Defining Good and Bad Jobs
Christianity also played a role in defining good and bad professions.
The Church emphasized that the best work mirrored God’s
creation—farming, for instance, was highly valued as it involved growing crops. Artisans who transformed raw materials, like blacksmiths, were
also considered honourable. In contrast, merchants were viewed with
contempt, as their work involved merely transporting goods and taking
what was seen as unjust profit.
Additionally, the Church linked many jobs to sin, which made them
undesirable. Le Goff explains how certain professions were associated
with the Seven Deadly Sins:
Lust, for example, was the basis for condemnation of innkeepers and bathkeepers, whose premises were frequently notorious, as well as
jongleurs, who incited lascivious and obscene dances, tavern keepers,
who lived on the sale of the triply damned pleasure of wine, gambling,
and dance, and even women in the textile trade, who were accused of
supplying large contingents to prostitution, which must have been at
least partly true, in view of the miserable wages they received.
Avarice, or greed, was in a sense the professional sin of both merchants
and men of the law-lawyers, notaries, judges. The condemnation of
gluttony naturally led to the condemnation of cooks.
Tavern scene appears in a 14th-century book on Vices – Britsih Library
MS Add. 27695, fol. 14
The Changing Perception of Work in the Later Middle Ages
Le Goff explains that his list of the worst jobs mainly applies to the
Early Middle Ages, a time when Western Europe was largely agrarian.
However, from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries, as cities grew and
trade expanded, new professions began to emerge. This shift prompted a
change in medieval writers’ views on work, with increasing emphasis on serving the common good and recognizing the value of labour. As a
result, many jobs once considered terrible were reassessed. Le Goff writes:
The case of the merchant is the best known and the most highly charged
with consequences. Decried for so long, his trade became the object of
an increasing number of excuses, justifications, and even expressions of respect. Having become classics in scholastic exposes, certain of these
are well known. They are related to the risks taken by the merchants:
damages actually sustained, tying up of cash in long-term undertakings,
hazards of trade. The uncertainties of commercial activity justified the merchant’s profit, even the interest he obtained from the money involved
in certain transactions and thus, to an ever greater extent, “usury,” hitherto damned.
Thomas of Chobham, writing in the thirteenth century, echoed this
changing perspective: “There would be great poverty in many countries if merchants did not bring what abounds in one place to another where these
same things are lacking. They can therefore justly receive the price of
their labor.”
(Yeah to Thomas of Chobham for recognizing the truth!)
Miniature from the Tale of the Sinful Merchant – the merchant on his
sickbed refusing the sacrament – British Library MS Yates Thompson 13,
f.150v
Even prostitution, long regarded as one of the most condemned and
illegal professions, saw a degree of defense from some writers. By the
end of the Middle Ages, many European cities had legalized prostitution,
though heavily regulated, viewing it as a necessary evil for the greater
good.
Old prejudices didn’t entirely disappear—even wealthy butchers, for example, were still looked down upon by society—but by the Late Middle
Ages, new ideas about work had taken root. With the emergence of many
new professions (in 1292 Paris, for example, there were 130 regulated
trades), competition arose over which jobs were more respectable,
creating complex hierarchies. Le Goff observes:
Weavers were placed near the bottom of the scale in textiles, but above
fullers and dyers; cobblers below bootmakers; surgeons and
barber-apothecaries below medical doctors, who became increasingly
bookish and were willing to leave practice, which was contemptible, to
base practitioners.
By the end of the Middle Ages, a new social hierarchy had emerged: the
more you worked with your hands, the worse your job was. Meanwhile, the aristocracy and elites, distancing themselves from physical work,
solidified their status as a privileged class. This shift in attitudes
toward labor might feel surprisingly familiar to a modern audience.
To learn more, check out Jacques Le Goff’s book, Time, Work, and Culture
in the Middle Ages. See also:
The 5 Most Common Jobs in a Medieval City
40 Jobs in the Middle Ages
Related Posts
The Most Despised Jobs of the Middle Ages
What Would Be Your Medieval Career?
Jobs in the Middle Ages
What Job Would You Have Had In Medieval Times?
Jacques le Goff passes away at the age of 90
TagsDaily Life in the Middle Ages • Medieval Economics - General •
Medieval Social History
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