I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Here, we're having a snowstorm and it's been really really cold out. I'm hoping it will break up soon though :)
Ok, so building from yesterday's post on research, I'm gonna dig a little deeper and add some jobs and whatnot. This way, you should have at least the bare bones when starting your story, or adding layers in here and there :) There are two jobs though that are tossed in, that we will touch in a later post and that's about pirates. But I included them here because I feel they may be of importance if you're writing a story that involves a man at sea, etc.
Acolyte:
Helper, subordinate, aide.
Ambassador:
Minister, diplomat, and emissary.
Aristocracy:
Government by a privileged minority or upper class usually inherited wealth and social position. Nobility, elite, gentry.
Aristocrat:
A person with the tastes, manners, beliefs, of the upper class.
Associate:
Peer, henchman, colleague, ally, and teammate.
Attorney:
Lawyer, barrister, and counsel.
Bandit:
Highwayman, thief, and brigand.
Barony:
A baron's domain. The rank title or status or a baron or baroness.
Barbarian:
Savage, brute, beast.
Baron:
A member of the lowest rank of the British hereditary peerage.
Baroness:
A baron's wife, widow, or in some European countries, daughter. A woman with a barony in her own right.
Barrister:
In England, a qualified member of the legal profession who presents and pleads cases in court; counselor-at-law; distinguished from solicitor-lawyer.
Beggar
Panhandler, moocher, and bum.
Countess:
The wife or widow of a count or earl. A noblewoman whose rank is equal to that of a count or earl.
Courtesan:
A prostitute, court lady, a mistress for a king or a man of nobility.
Earl:
A nobleman. A British nobleman ranking above a Viscount and below a Marquees. The wife or widow of an Earl is called a countess: earldom.
Estate secretary:
A person who takes care of a household items, count, etc.
Fortuneteller:
A person who professes to foretell events in other people's lives.
Innkeeper:
The proprietor or manager of an Inn.
Monarch:
The hereditary, often constitutional, head of a state. King, Queen. Absolute, when there is no limitation on the monarch's powers.
Pickpocket:
A thief who steals from the pockets of persons, as in a crowd.
Rag picker:
A person who makes a living by picking up and selling rags and junk.
Sovereign:
Supreme in power, rank, or authority, of or holding the position of ruler, royal, reigning. A person who possesses sovereign authority or power, a monarch or ruler.
Viscount:
A deputy of an Earl, a nobleman next below an Earl or Count and above a Baron.
Viscountess:
The wife or widow of a Viscount. A person with a rank equivalent to that of a Viscount.
Pirate: Early 18th Century pirate's lived life that did not include any political sanction. They lived a life free and in charge of oneself; though living life this way was more than risky.
Privateer: a privateer was a pirate of sorts, but was hired by their government to raid enemy ships and vessels. They held letter of marquee validating all their actions against the enemy.
So between yesterday's post and today's, you have a good assortment of who/what a person's title is and jobs people held to help build your character's world. An extra tidbit is below and it's about food that may have been common during this time, depending on the season and the rank a household held. At the end of that will be a small part on colors of clothing, again, to tie in to yesterday's post. The thing to remember though, is to have fun with letting your character's come to life! You can always go back and edit or rework the parts that don't quite fit or make sense.
Around the Regency Period, if in your book you're having a grand gathering, whether a banquet or an important social event, some food that may have been served for the higher tiers of peerage/held great wealth: for meat, their table plated chicken, duck, wild fowl, venison, fish and seafood. Many were sided with fresh vegetables, sauces and jellies as well as pastries and other sweet dishes.
Those households that didn't quite fit the upper tier but weren't on the lower level of the ladder so to speak, and somewhere in between plated beef, mutton as well as pork products, sausage, bacon, ham stews and pies.
The not so well off as far as wealth, their tables plated pork products, ham stews and pies, sausage and bacon for meat.
Some beverages were; tea, coffee, and milk. Alcohol was common and most everyone drank this during dinner and supper meals. Wines, champagne, burgundy, ale. After dinner though, men usually drank brandy or port. Rum punch was served during the colder weather. During ball and dances, mixers were served along with sweet liqueurs and sherry. Gin was common if you were not so well off, though it was available to everyone in the classes.
The woolen cap, a.k.a., Monmouth cap, can be traced back in time to as early as the 1500's. An Elizabethan Law, called Sumptuary Laws, ordered everyone six years and up to wear the cap on holidays and Sundays in order to help the England wool trade. An exception to this law though was the Upper Classes did not have to oblige/obey.
The Sumptuary Laws also dictated what colors and fabrics could be used for clothing for each level of society. By doing so it was an extremely easy way to identify where one was on the ladder of rank/classes.
Colors of clothing varied greatly from crimson, deep blue, purple, violet; essentially these were the colors for fabrics that were set aside and only to be worn by the Upper Classes.
I know this is a lot of information in the last couple of posts, that's why I broke it down. That way, you can go through, pick what you need, skim over what you don't and before long, you'll have a little more to fill in as you need to, without having to actually do days of researching..when you only really want a small tidbit or two!
Hope this helps :) Happy Writing!
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