| General Information Mostly peasants, though very few women Would wear household livery Nobles and gentry served as administrators Would earn salary Would acquire social standing, make connections, and get experience and education without having to attend a cathedral school Younger sons were household servants Strengthened family bonds Gentry normally had shorter tenures Often servant families would serve the same lord Could stay with a household for tenures of twenty or more years Households Varying degrees of departmentalization and specialization among members of a household Degree of household departmentalization gives a good clue as to estate’s status, size Number of servants grew with time, varied with needs of estate Religious estates (e.g. priories) usually had fewer servants than those of the peerage Change Over Time 9th century Anglo-Saxon and Danish: General title of servant was “thegn” Beor-scealc butler Hragel-weard wardrober Bur-thegn master of the household Bur-cniht chamber servant Disc-thegn steward Staller bailiff Marscall stable servant Hus-carle bodyguard Early Gothic: Numbers vary from 8-35 servants in affluent households Some specialization by nature of skills Clerks, laundresses, stable hands Often were households that would travel with the lord around his territory These were relatively small, unspecialized groups, as they moved about once a month Generally consisted of porters, guards, staff of the house Introduction of Traveling Households: Usually in 3 Stages, spaced hours or days apart: 1) Preparatory Staff and Advance Guard 2) Lord, Family and Attendants 3) Serving Staff with carts and pack-horses Most were on foot, leading pack-horses and carts carrying the lord’s personal possessions High nobles such as kings had personal armies made up of retainers High Middle Ages (1250-1370): Characterized by better accounting, more organization, better stability and larger size, though this could be attributed to the fact that more records survive The following were present in every respectable household: Seneschallus steward Camerarius chamber servant Marescallus marshal Implementation of Servant Classes: Generosi—nobly or otherwise well born, normally armigerous Sometimes of a noble’s extended family Higher pay, which implies higher status Held a kind of seniority, so were often used for extra-household business Given varied tasks, so were by necessity versatile Direct service to upper classes May be versatile and relatively unspecialized, but would not have to muck about Valetti/Garcioni—free commoners, comparable to yeomen Incorporates responsibility with skill Less likely to work on errands outside the household Garcioni/Grooms—lower class Very little responsibility aside from daily work Henchmen—noble children serving in a household Service in return for education Were given low, if any wages, but had mild duties apart from their education Pueri/Pagetti—child servants and pages Given simple tasks Most often found in kitchen Departments Kitchen Cooks, steward, bakers, brewer, butler, pantler, wine steward Sometimes had independent treasury Depended upon cook and steward for acquisitions of foodstuffs not provided by the manor—later this duty was taken over by the caters and purveyors Kitchen clerk common by 1400s Incorporated slaughterers and herdsmen in large country estates Great Hall Wait-servants were usually children, though important positions were held by adults: Ewer washed the hands of the lord and his guests Cupbearer served wine and ale Carver carved meat and served the high table Sewer served food to the gentlemen Almoner said grace and collected alms for the poor Sometimes employed “fatous” or fools, musicians Entertainment stewards in later-Period households Associated with Buttery and Pantry These were rooms where wine, ale, bread and other foodstuffs were laid out before the meals Chambers Most variation between households in this department Valets, masters of wardrobe, nurses House-maintenance staff made candles, dishes Clerks would deal with paperwork, the accounts, and correspondence Privy Purse was the lord’s personal account, used to purchase personal clothes and jewels, furniture, plate, cloth, ornaments, candles, tapestries, paper, spices, etc. Chaplain would say daily liturgy Women most often had more servants than men, usually to keep them company Stables Kept horses, hunting birds and dogs Were in charge of the household granaries Included Hunts-marshal, who was in charge of horses, hunting birds and dogs |
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