The Merchant Adventurers' Hall, York

So how did people occupy their time in the Middle Ages? If you think about medieval jobs it is easy to think of kings and knights with their rich and adventurous lives, and peasants struggling in fields and dying of plague.

However, a huge number of different jobs existed.

In particular in the towns people were doing all sorts of jobs, such as manufacturing things and buying and selling goods. Most of these jobs still exist today, although many are now done by machines rather than people. Most traders and crafts people were men, another big difference from today.