Hello, hello, hello, friend.

Welcome to the Renaissance English History podcast, a part of the Agora Podcast Network and the original Tudor History podcast, around since 2009, the OG of Tudor Podcasts.

I am Heather. I am so very, very glad you are here with me. Today, we are going to talk about

employment opportunities in Tudor England. So if you went through a time warp and found yourself in Tudor England magically,

what would your job opportunities be? Would you have the skills to get a job? And what sorts of jobs

even were there? That is what we are going to talk about today. So let's get right into it.

Picture yourself stepping onto a cobblestone street in 16th century London. The air is alive with

a hundred different sense, roasting meats from a nearby cookshop, the tang of the river water, the faint

whiff of horse manure. You know, actually, I grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the smell of

horse manure makes me feel like springtime because it smelled like a horse manure in spring.

I still, I get a whiff of it and it's like, ah, it's May. It's quite

funny. Anyway, moving on, street vendors cry out for your attention, selling everything from

fresh pies to ribbons and lace, while Watermen, along the Thames jostle for passengers, calling

out in raucous voices to anyone who will hop into their boats. Imagine the swirl of

color and noise, the hustle and bustle of a city that never seems to sleep even if it does

slow down a little bit after sundown. Now ask yourself, if you were suddenly dropped into this

thriving, slightly chaotic Tudor world, what on earth

would you do for a living? Many of the jobs we rely on today from software developers to marketing

consultants to podcasters obviously didn't exist. Meanwhile, plenty of Tudor-era trades have vanished

or evolved beyond recognition. It is a stark reminder that work, whether it's

shaping metal at the forge or ferrying passengers along a muddy river shifts as society does.

So in this episode, we will talk about some of the many occupations that powered Tudor England

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