Middle Class Characters at the Hearth...
Our guild is sometimes referred to as a ‘Peasant’ Guild but in reality, we’re portraying all of the main roles of a village from the lowest laborer to the Mayor. We encompass any characters below the level of the peerage. Artisans and even petty bureaucrats!
The Renaissance was a time when the societal caste system of feudalism was gradually eroding under the weight of commerce as the wealth of nations shifted from the nobility to the merchant classes and artisans. Many great men rose from the unwashed masses during this period. William Shakespeare was famously the son of a disgraced glover. Leonardo DaVinci rose from the bastard son of a notary and the notoriously powerful Medici's family rose to the nobility from the merchant class by sheer force of charisma, commercial prowess and more than a little ruthless political savvy.
In fair Scotland, where we lay our scene, the middling classes are less strong. There is no Shakespeare, no DaVinci. The Kirk (presbyterian church) is paramount and unafraid of the nobility, but the nobles have managed to fend off the assault on feudalism to some degree through a combination of a skillful manipulation of the religious issue and draconian anti-trade laws.
Yet as the 16th century wore on, the merchant classes began to make inroads into even the Scottish towns, mostly in the lowlands. For, while the economy was weak, where there is money to be made there will be men (and women) who are smart enough to help it along its way into their coffers!
St Brigid's Hearth portrays the whole gamut of Renaissance Life. This section is to aid you in the creation of a character of the insouciant class of those who were not peasantry, yet neither were they nobility.
While there are definite similarities between these characters and the lower classes, this class of characters has their own costuming and characterization guidelines to set them apart from those beneath them and those above.
From Apothecary to Yeoman Farmer, here you will find the Middle Road...
Occupations
