Jobs of the 16th Century

Cesar Ponciano

Mr. Mitter

English 1        

15 March 2016

Today jobs are acquired easily. Most people today can get an education and get a good paying job, others can get common jobs and now women can get jobs and an education, but this was different story back in the Sixteenth century. Jobs in the sixteenth century were much harder to acquire and involved more labor, mostly due to the lack of education. In this paper were going to talk about professions that required an education and that paid high for the time period, agriculture was the common job everyone got in the sixteenth-century, the roles women had in the economy of the sixteenth-century, and then compare them to similar jobs of the twentieth- century.

During the sixteenth century in England, there were three professions that generated wealth for this time period: the law, the Church, and medicine. “All three have an extended period of training and require considerable investments” (Mortimer 38). These jobs were the best jobs to have at this time period because they were the highest paying jobs around. Having a job in the church was good because a bishop would have an income of 2, 682 euros. If you were a lawyer you would do even better, with in income that ranged from 14,000 euros to 100 euros per year. “It is the Church and the law that offer the greatest opportunities to an ambitious man” (Mortimer 38). “Medicine is the least rewarded of the three professions” (Mortimer 39). This was mostly because wealthy people didn’t pay their medical practitioner and the poor couldn’t afford doctors.

How do the sixteenth professions compare to modern day professions? Last year the highest paying jobs in the United Kingdom were: brokers, chief executives and senior officials, and marketing directors. Compared to modern day jobs, sixteenth-century professions are similar. “All three are subjects of university degrees and can generate a healthy income” (Mortimer 38). This is a similarity for both because to obtain these professions you need a degree and both payed high for their time period. The differences are that sixteenth-century professions are not the same professions that paid well in modern day England. Another difference is that in the modern day people have a better chance to obtain high paying professions. But since everyone couldn’t obtain, professions, people would seek to find jobs in other places, like the rural areas of England.

“Merchants are not the only ones who look at a city as a place of opportunity” (Mortimer 43). Since England was still overwhelmingly rural, many people sought to farm because it was the best opportunity to make an income. The another reason why agriculture was because of wool.” Wool was England’s principle of wealth…” (Singman 29). There were 10-11 million sheep in England in 1558 and since wool was England’s main product and export, it created employment for people who wanted to make money by raising sheep. Another reason why agriculture was popular was because farmers needed locally manufactured products, so that opened employment for craftsmen like blacksmiths and carpenters to open shops near farm land to sell their manufactured tools.

Sixteenth-century agriculture was very hard labored and low pay for that time period, but has that changed or stayed the same?” … and very labor-intensive sine hardly any machinery was involved “(Singman 27). This a big change because farmers now have machinery that helps them do their jobs much faster and now farmers don’t have to hire many workers. Another change is that now farmers have genetically modified crops that grow faster than sixteenth-century crops. “Land productivity was improved by crop rotation, typically the “three-field” system” (Singman 27). This a similarity because modern day agriculture still uses crop rotation. Another similarity is that agriculture was important for the production food in both sixteenth-century and modern century. Finally, we're going to talk about what kind jobs women had in the sixteenth-century and how women benefited the economy

The life for women living in the sixteenth century was no easy thing, women were given strict freedom and have forcible roles in their homes. “In the 16th century was not allowed in the professions such as doctors, lawyers and teachers” (“Life for Women in The 16th Century”). Like it says women couldn’t hold any professions because it was against the law and even if they could women were not allowed to get an education. Some women had jobs like tailors, milliners, dyers and shoemakers, but the most women were housewives.” …women played a crucial role in the economic live of the country.” (SingMan 30). This meant that women worked hard as men and it also means that men couldn’t handle the farm work by themselves. One of the primary responsibilities of women were to tend the livestock. They were in charge of milking cows and making cheese, as well as collecting eggs. Women also to care for the garden, this was a common feature for both rural and urban households. Women also had home tasks like cooking, brewing, and cleaning. In addition, women were also important to industries, especially in the wool industry because women were in charge of spinning the wool thread.        

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