you meanthere were other occupationsin medieval historybesidesBLACKSMITHS + INNKEEPS??
SHOCK.  This is not the demographic landscape that fantasy/historical fiction has led us to envision!  Next you'll be saying that the blacksmiths weren't always enormous + burly / young, dark, + handsome, & the innkeepers weren't always fat + jovial.  YOU MIGHT EVEN TELL ME THAT PEOPLE ATE SOMETHING BESIDES STEW.

here lies the smoking wreckage of a bizarre utopia, composed of convenient smithies with equally convenient bed + breakfasts where you can engage in a nightly brawl with local drunkards, free of consequence

It doesn't take a lot of thought to realize that any society is composed of a rich tapestry of occupations, all engaging in a push + pull economy, supplying other occupations, vying with other occupations, building up + tearing down.  Someone has to make something, & if you can make it, you can sell it. 

there are too many occupations to enumerate, so i'm going to list 7 of my favourites to get you thinking. 

POST  ||  Guess what!  Letters aren't just conveniently dropped off when it suits your story.  Societies quickly set up regular means of delivering mail, because mail means communication, & communication is essential to economies.  Your characters are likely to send, receive, or be met by the post on the road ( mAKE WAY for prince aLI ).

INKMAKER  ||    Like beer, manufacturing ink can be a household chore; but if you are particularly apt, & have access to the ingredients necessary, there is always a market for durable ink.   Characters may make + sell, or just have occasion to purchase, ink from a local supplier.  & who knows what might happen in the meantime *plotplot*.

UNGUENTARY / APOTHECARY  ||  WHAT A TERRIBLE WORD & yet so very important for a society because thanks adam + eve we're all subject to aches, pains, sickness, + death (unguentaries may also provide embalming fluids + sweet ointments??).  I can see endless occasions for the use of apothicks et al in novels. XD



FUELLER  ||  People always need a means of baking their meals / warming their homes, but they very likely have busy jobs that prevent them from getting the fuel themselves sO let's have a monthly subscription of ye olde dry tinderwood to be delivered promptlie upon the first of evrie month, by John Woodstock, whose business such is to gather + sell fuel.  BOOM.  Problem solved.

SOAPMAKER  ||   Everything gets dirty, & an effective soap requires a carefully balanced chemistry.  If you can create a good soap that gets the job done, & sell it to your neighbours, I think this is what folks call a "side hustle." 

CHANDLER  ||  Not to be crowded out by the butchers + bakers of the town, the manufacturing of light is a seriously important job, with numerous vocations tied up in it (you have to get the wax/oil from somewhere, your wicks from someone, or make them yourself with outsourced products, etc.).  So long as the sun keeps going down, people will need artificial light.

HAENYEO  ||  I added this one because

a:: i think the ocean is hella terrifyingb:: it's chockablock with food, fuel, + other useful commodities+c:: these women are incredibly strong
Diving has been a lucrative trade in sea-based cultures all over the world; haenyeo, the women-divers of Jeju (Korea), is only one example.  I'd love to work this trade into Ethandune somehow, but yeah nothing's coming to me yet.  XD



These are my 7 various occupations that are important to a society + are NOT blacksmiths or innkeepers.  Go forth + be not cliche!

have some vocations that are your favourites? please share!xoxo. jenny

{all images via pinterest}