Meet the Middle Ages
BackMaids and farm-hands
Many people belonged neither to the nobility nor the clergy and they were not burghers nor peasants. They were casual workers; servants in the town and in the country-side, musicians at the court, laymen at monasteries, beggars, vagrants or old people with no family.
Most people were servants, working on farms, at the manors, convents or at court. A servant or farm-hand on an ordinary farm had to be prepared to do all kinds of jobs. On a large farm with many employees, they would have had special tasks such as cooking, taking care of the animals or helping the black-smith. The servants in the country were usually employed for a period of half a year and if they got along with their employer, they could stay on. The wealthy citizens in town also had servants, for example maids who did the cooking or the laundry. The craftsmen needed apprentices and the merchants employed assistants and book-keepers. In town, there were also casual workers who, for exampl,e helped to unload the ships and helped the in his store-rooms.
Read more about casual workers under "Town life. Professions" and "Country Life. Classes of society"