The presenter examines the worst jobs of the dark ages and selects what he considers to be the worst. After selecting he performs the job to see what it was like. Worst jobs up to 1066.
Viewing Notes
- hard – messy – frightening jobs
- written history starts with Roman invasions
- Gold Mining: romans wanted gold – was in south west Wales – was deep underground – was used as a means of punishment – Wales was plundered for healthy people to mine the gold. The gold comes up in veins so you have to chase the vein. Hot in summer and cold in the winter. Dusty. Dangerous because the Romans were always coming up with new methods. Fire setting – fill an area full of wood and set it on fire. Heat the rock up then toss water on the rock. The rock would shatter and have to be carried out by hand.
- Plowing land: Acre = amount of land you could plow in one day. That is with the old fashioned wooden plow.
- Construction – wattle and daub fencing- weave a fence with green sticks – then daub with water / straw / mud / dung. Dung acts like a binding agent for the mud. Straw holds the daub together when it cracks during hot weather.
- Corn Stone – "the daily grind". Takes 3 to 4 hours to grind enough flour for a family of 12. Children were used to gather firewood.
- Bog Iron Hunter – In Saxons time they used Bog Ore. 40 kg of bog ore per day to support one smelter. Poking into the bog with a stick.
- Charcoal production – each village would have had its own charcoal maker. 3 tons of wood in a pyramid shape covered by dirt. Set on fire to make charcoal. Designed to smolder and not full on burn. Took about 100 hours to finish. Charcoal makers would nod off to sleep and risk the batch. Thus they made a one legged stool so if they fell asleep they would fall over and wake up.
- Coin maker – were not paid – got bed and board. Shaving off a sliver was punished with castration. If a whole coin went missing a hand was cut off and nailed to the door.
- Monastery – Monks had to do the same things as everyone else but they had the day job. Atonement – suffering to prevent other people from going to hell. Saint Cuthbert would wade out into the ocean in the winter and pray for 8 hours at a time. Copying texts in cold conditions because they did not have glass they needed to be near a window or door for light. Books were valuable and thus a target for Viking raiders.
- Viking warrior – Viking boat had room for 16. Alot of rowing involved when there was no wind. Had to sleep on the boat. No toilet. Smelly. Not alot of food. Bad sea weather. Boat portage – carry the boat over the hill. Repairs away from home were not a good idea. Roll the boat along runners on the ground. Runners must be greased with mashed up fish.
- Gillymot egg collector – seabird. Collection of the eggs from cliff ledge
The Worst Jobs In History – The video series
—- Episode 1 The Dark Ages
—- Episode 2 The Middle Ages
—- Episode 3 The Tudors
—- Episode 4 stuarts
—- Episode 5 georgian times
—- Episode 6 victorian time
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