If you think your current boss is bad, at least he doesn’t possess absolute power
over everything and anything.
If you can’t stand the way he micromanages you because you didn’t stalk the shelves
properly or because you missed the memo about not wearing socks with sandals into work,
consider yourself lucky.
At least you have the freedom to complain to HR or quit your job if necessary.
You have it easy when considering that if you lived during the medieval era and worked
under a king, life would be much more stressful.
Imagine, for a moment, working under the ultimate boss, a man who could potentially have you
executed with a snap of his fingers if you messed up.
Forget morale boosters, we bet you’d be plenty motivated to work hard under these
frightening circumstances.
During medieval times, the king was the most important figure, the highest-ranking member
of the food chain.
He exercised total power over his kingdom.
As far as the people were concerned, his word was the word of God.
Any rebellious acts or retaliation could result in death.
To work directly under the king – say, as a personal attendant – was considered a
highly distinguished and honorable position.
This was a higher level of position only granted to men of rank or sons of the king’s closest
relatives.
Servants to the king were thought to be privileged and, if you happened to have the king’s
ear, you possessed more power that would make others flock to you as a leader.
At court, it was best to be on the good side of those with greatest influence.
But, with that power, came great risks.
If you ever slipped up and displeased the king or if people decided to create false
allegations against you out of envy for your position, you could easily find yourself in
a great deal of trouble.
Lose the trust of the king and you were done for.
Working for a king in this time meant treading on eggshells.
Sure, you were highly esteemed by others, but you had to maintain a very strict poker
face.
To even think or imagine the king’s death was treasonous and there would be no way to
prove yourself innocent if someone decided to accuse you of this based on a fleeting
thought your facial expression betrayed.
At that point it would be up to the king to decide your verdict.
Therefore, developing a close relationship with the king was vital for your survival.
As long as you remained in his good graces, you were fine.
For certain positions, earning and maintaining the king’s trust was more essential than
others.
The more personal the position, the more you had to be on your guard.
Working as a Chamberlain, for instance, meant being responsible for the king’s private
quarters.
To be the Master of the Wardrobe meant dressing the king and being responsible for his apparel.
These positions lead the worker to have more interpersonal interactions with the king,
which meant having to be on your best game.
So, what is the closest that you could get to the king to earn the most trust?
We should add discretion about a very close, interpersonal job with arguably one of the
highest amounts of importance.
This particular position required a lot of trust.
Warning, it is really gross.
It had to do with attending the king in the bathroom.
In these days, the king’s health was closely monitored and constantly looked after by royal
physicians.
Poop was no exception.
His stool had to be consistently checked.
The attendant responsible for this not only had to wipe the king’s behind after he was
finished doing his business but, he also had to look at what came out to ensure that all
appeared normal and well.
Gross!
Yes, it is disgusting to think about but, at the same time, this guy was most likely
to have the king’s ear due to the intimacy of bathroom chit chat.
After all, as the king, you’d need to have a good relationship to allow a guy to put
his hand on your backside.
Not the most pleasant way to gain fondness but, hey, you have to do what you have to
do to get ahead right?
Other, more fragile positions of great importance that weren’t as close required looking after
the children of the king.
We’ve spoken before about the vitality of kings to produce as many male heirs as possible
to inherit the throne.
Life was not always guaranteed, and a king needed plenty of sons for backup.
If you worked as a nanny or an official protector for a young prince and, God forbid, something
happened to the boy – let’s say he caught the plague or sweating sickness – you could
find yourself being blamed for his death.
After all, he was under your care.
He was your responsibility.
A matter as grave as this could certainly lead to your undoing.
The physician responsible for the medical side of things could also find himself under
scrutiny.
Servants who were responsible for hunting animals and those tasked with cooking and
preparing meals, huntsmen and scullions, were also had a pivotal role to play.
Food had to be of great quality.
Meals had to be – literally – fit for a king and prepared regularly to feed the
royal occupants of a castle.
Taste testers had the job of putting their lives on the line by taking the first bite
to make sure the food was not poisoned before being served to his royal highness.
If food was poisoned and harmed a taste tester, investigations would focus on those who were
tasked with making it.
So, even if you did not intentionally poison the food or if someone else did it, you could
still find yourself in a very vulnerable situation.
How could you even hope to prove that it was not you?
Since there is no way for others to be sure that you are not lying, it is probably safer
to just get rid of you and your coworkers and replace your staff entirely with new royal
chefs.
You know, just to weed out the culprit.
But, in this case, it’s not just your career you should be worried about.
After all, if you are a suspect to plotting the king’s death, you must have thought
about it at some point before attempting it, which, as we discussed, was a crime in itself.
Other important serving positions to the king included those related to military.
Knights, squires, guards, gatekeepers, and other men at arms were tasked with protecting
the king from threats, foreign or domestic.
Many guarded the castle which contained the king.
If necessary, they would have to give their lives to protect him.
Any failure or act of cowardice to perform their duty in the midst of danger would result
in dishonor and ostracization.
It could be argued that death in defending the king was preferable to the consequences
of living life after failing to protect him.
As a military personnel, you were probably trained not to hesitate in the face of danger
but, still, sometimes human nature might push weaker souls to chicken out.
Up until now we’ve discussed predominantly male servant positions.
This is because men were the ones who held the majority of jobs.
Women were considered the more fragile sex.
Their job in life was to keep their heads down, be humble, not speak unless spoken to,
obey their husbands and produce children.
But what about female servant positions, ladies in waiting and attendants?
Well, they worked mainly under the queen.
To be the queen was the highest rank a woman could ever hope to achieve and to work directly
under her as a personal servant was a position of great privilege.
Like servants to the king, however, this job also came with certain risks.
It was important to remain close to the queen and earn her trust but, similarly, if you
displeased her, she could rat you out to her husband who could simply have you removed.
Sometimes though, maintaining a close relationship with the queen could be very challenging,
particularly if you were an attractive girl who happened to capture the king’s special
attention.
Often, a king’s beloved mistress had his ear and could be revered as a person in a
position If you were called to spend a night in the
king’s chamber, you couldn’t say no.
Yet, to do so could be detrimental to your relationship with your boss, the queen, creating
an awkward, tense situation on the job when you were confronted with taking care of her
needs.
However, if you had to choose between remaining in good graces with the queen vs. the king,
the king was probably your best option because, as the man, he held more power.
This is where strategy would come to play so think of your game plan.
Worst case scenario, if you were hated by the queen but loved by the king as his mistress,
you would survive.
If the opposite were true, the king’s word was greater than the queen’s so your wellbeing
would be more in jeopardy.
If you found yourself in this situation, you would need to maintain the king’s interest
once you had it.
Otherwise you’d be left in a very fragile and precarious position.
If you think about it though, maintaining the king’s romantic attentiveness was easier
said than done.
While having any woman he wanted at his disposal, he could easily move on to someone prettier
than you who could replace you as his mistress in an instant.
Your position was not a stable one, especially if he had a wandering eye.
This is why the lady, Anne Boleyn, in the sixteenth century played an excellent hand
when she would deny King Henry VIII’s advances in order to maintain his interest long enough
to become his queen.
Though it didn’t work out well for her in the end, she had been a worthy contestant
in the risky game of royal love.
Still, though she had been brave enough to stir the pot by telling the king, “no,”
it was unheard of for a woman to do so.
Anne was considered lucky that, in this instance of time, her actions sparked his affection
rather than fueled his anger.
She had also sacrificed her relationship with queen Katherine of Aragon as her lady in waiting
in order to go after the bigger prize.
We realize this example comes from towards the end of the middle ages but, we’d say
it still applies as the king possessed absolute power over Tudor England.
Another complication with being an attendant to the queen had to do with the strength of
the king’s relationship with her.
If the queen had a bad habit of committing adultery and cheated on her husband, you’d
be torn between two options.
Either you maintain her trust by keeping this a secret and hope she doesn’t get caught,
or you rat her out and face the consequences of your betrayal if she is found innocent.
If, however, the queen was caught in the act and you did not report her wrong-doing, you’d
be guilty by association.
As you can probably tell, working for the king or queen came with great honor but also
required strategic, critical thinking skills to stay on top.
Like a game of chess, you had to be able to predict the next move and determine your actions
based on the political game that came with being in a high-ranking servant position.
Also, we should mention that there was also a risk if you were too close to the king and
a rebellion overthrew him because then you’d be considered an enemy of the people.
Thus, it was wise to remain informed and alert at all times.
The way you were perceived by others was also important.
Sounds like enough to make your head spin!
Yet, knowledge of the system was key to survival.
How would you have navigated being a servant to a medieval king?
What decisions would you make based on your position and whether you were a male or female
servant?
Be tactful in how you’d answer these questions.
We look forward to reading your interesting, creative responses in the comments!
Also, go watch our other video, “Why Did The King of England Execute His Wives”!
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