Smiffys Medieval Maid Costume, Green with Dress & Headband, Historical Fancy Dress, Medieval Dress Up Costumes

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Papa - Short for "Papahanaumoku," this is the name of the Goddess and earth mother in Hawaiian mythology. Types [ edit ] George Clive and his family with an Indian maid, painted 1765. As she appears to be caring for the child, she may be an aya. This book offers a broad survey of medieval literature, including works that provide insight into the experiences of medieval servants and other members of the lower classes. In addition to portraying the differences in rank among household staff, the robes and liveries of servants reflected their employer’s wealth and status. When seen in public or when hosting guests, to be surrounded by finely dressed servants was a positive representation of their power. The term maid has been used to refer to all kinds of female servants since the Middle Ages. It was derived from the commonly used term, maiden, which referred to a young, virginal or unmarried woman. The association between these two terms is related to the fact that most domestic housemaids of that time gave their lives to service and were not allowed to marry.

Maids were historically kept in massive estates as part of a huge staff. They were not always paid for their services, but were treated humanely enough. They were provided with food, clothes and boarding inside the homes where they were employed. They were responsible for all the details of household maintenance so that their Masters could focus on matters more fitting to their social status. The service of multiple maids was widely considered essential to the management of sprawling palaces, castles and estates between the Middle Ages and the 19 th century. Between maid, sometimes known as a "tweeny": roughly equivalent in status to scullery maids, and often paid less, between maids in a large household waited on the senior servants ( butler, housekeeper, and cook) and were therefore answerable to all three department heads, often leading to friction in their employment. [16] The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century” by Ian Mortimer This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( October 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Think about it, they didn’t have vacuums, steam cleaners, Swiffers, Lysol or Windex… We do, and there are definitely people out there that still don’t take advantage of all the advanced housecleaning tools and products. They still live in pigsties!

Military Staff

Laundry maid: they maintained bedding and towels. They also washed, dried, and ironed clothes for the whole household, including the servants. The duties and responsibilities of medieval castle staff varied depending on the size of the castle and the inhabitants. During medieval times, the castles were large and sometimes housed hundreds of inhabitants. One of the most important functions of the medieval household was the procurement, storage and preparation of food. This involved both feeding the occupants of the residence on a daily basis, and preparing larger feasts for guests, to maintain the status of the lord. The kitchen was divided into a pantry for bread, cheese and napery, and a buttery for wine, ale and beer. These offices were headed by a pantler and a butler respectively. [9] Depending on the size and wealth of the household, these offices would then be subdivided further. The following is a list of some of the offices one could expect to find in a large medieval aristocratic or royal household:

In some periods of history, the human obsession with classification by rank was applied even to servants themselves. They were often arranged into their own social hierarchies and assigned to tasks based on how closely they were allowed to work with the masters of the household. These stations were usually set in stone, and there was little opportunity for a maid to move up in the ranks once she was assigned a set of tasks. House-maid or housemaid: a generic term for maids whose function was chiefly "above stairs", and were usually a little older, and better paid. Where a household included multiple housemaids, the roles were often subdivided as below.The starting point of this beautiful fantasy outfit is our “Eleanor” dress, which we offer in a variety of different colors. In this green/white colour scheme, the combination with white accessories is eminently suitable because it looks very classy in itself. Women of prestigious status have long seen it as a necessity to have assistance with things like housecleaning, child rearing, and yard work, despite the fact that women in lower classes have no choice but to balance all of these tasks alone. Being raised by a dedicated staff of servants became a hallmark of refined breeding in high society. Although the details and nuances of relationships between nobility and servants have certainly evolved since then, they can still be observed today. Negro Home Service Demonstration Project

Obviously the lord and lady would be the head honchos, but underneath them you could have a steward, housekeeper, in some instances you may even have a chatelaine or castellan. A chatelaine is a mistress of the castle and a castellan is the governor of a castle. A husband and wife could be castellan and chatelaine together. These two would take the place of a lord or lady, let’s say they were not in attendance at the home or in some are instances if there was no lord, the lady may employ a governor, and vice versa. Medieval baby names offer many rare and beautiful name ideas. If you’re a history buff, search our list of medieval names for boys, girls, and gender-neutral name options. These names from the Middle Ages include magical-sounding names, strong warrior names, religious names, and much more. This idea is made clear in Robert Grosseteste’s Rules. The Rules were written for Margaret de Lacy, the countess of Lincoln, in the 1240s. It is a treatise written in French describing how Margaret should manage her estate and household. The sixteenth rule in the section on household management reads as follows: It is now most common to find maids working on a daily basis for a maid service or agency. Only the highest class folk are known for hiring an entire staff of servants. Throughout the classes of upper middle and above, it is not unheard of for a household to have one or two live-in servants. Aside from that, it is pretty rare to find a maid who is completely sustained within the estate of her employer. Usually if she is it has something to do with childcare. In England, the semi-royal household of Edward of Carnarvon, later Edward II when Prince of Wales, is the earliest for which detailed knowledge can be obtained from sources. [26] Itineration [ edit ]Maid in Middle English meant an unmarried woman, especially a young one, or specifically a virgin. These meanings lived on in English until recent times (and are still familiar from literature and folk music), alongside the sense of the word as a type of servant. [2] [3]