Henneth Annûn Story Archive

Well, my question this time is about how a servant to the House of Hurin would live. One question is: where would a serving-lady to Finduilas, her Guard of the Citadel husband, and their children would live? In my fic, they live on the fifth level, but I don't know. I'm not exactly sure where people of their rank would live. *sighs* Politics and rank and things like that confuse me. The reason I'm asking is that I'm currently working on two fics concerning Gondor. One, A Tangled Melody which takes place during the Stewards' rule of Gondor, is already out on Stories of Arda and fanfiction.net, but I believe it needs a lot of work before I post it here, mainly because I used too many contractions and quite a few inconsistencies. *sigh* Anyone recommend a good beta for that kind of fic? Another one involves Aragorn's teenage daughter during the Fourth Age. It's not out yet because of a lot of problems. Thank you for listening to my whining. Carry on! Namarie! Loremaster

 

I am definitely no expert, but I would imagine that a married serving-woman could live out, as opposed to living in the Citadel. I guess where depends on if you mean a lady-in-waiting or like her maidservant. If I'm not mistake, ladies-in-waiting were frequently some form of nobility, and would probably be more likely to live in an upscale neighborhood. Where the heck is my Minas Tirith map? Hold on...ok, looking at this map, it doesn't look like there are a lot of places for residences on the 5th level. I supposed that 5th level could be for the very wealthy, but there just doesn't look like a lot of room. This is a map for an RPG, so obviously it's not canon or anything, but 3rd & 4th levels seem to be more residential. If you mean a maidservant - a woman who helps Finduilas dress and does her hair and all that hoo-ha - I'd be inclined to say 4th level. edit I suppose it's also possible that there are 5th level residences specifically for servants of the Steward, if they don't live out. But I'm willing to be argued with. One day, I'll have all my pretty maps scanned so we can all share them!

 

I am definitely no expert, but I would imagine that a married serving-woman could live out, as opposed to living in the Citadel. I can't really speak for the mediaeval period, but I know in (American) colonial houses and later pre-Civil War houses there are almost always servants' quarters in the house. So I think it's quite likely there would be a modest apartment for a family of a serving-girl, and the children would also be expected to help out a bit if they were old enough. Younger children might help entertain Faramir and Boromir by playing with them. Depends on how close you see this serving woman being to Finduilas. (Remember, Beregond says that children have *always* been rare in MT, and I think especially in the Citadel.) Another possibility that I can think of is the servants have "shifts". Maybe Finduilas has two serving-women and each of them are in the house for twelve hours and are free to leave the rest of the time. But I find it hard to believe that there would not be a serving-woman "on call" around the clock for Finduilas. Especially as Finduilas gets more and more sick. For what it's worth, I think Faramir and Eowyn would also have a serving staff for the house in Minas Tirith, for appearances' sake and because they probably stayed there periodically. (For example, if there was an at-night social event and they did not want to ride back to Emyn Arnen several hours away. Or during the festival seasons, or if Eowyn accompanied Faramir to Minas Tirith when he had to attend a prolonged series of councils.) In the Fourth Age I think Eowyn would have a serving-woman or several serving-women "on retainer" who would be available when they were in Minas Tirith. I suppose it's also possible that they brought serving women back and forth to Ithilien, and it depends on how much time you see the couple spending at either home, and if they always travelled together. Marta

 

Here's just a twist from the Citadel Guard husband angle. Remember that Beregond's house was outside the citadel. I can't remember if they ever mentioned which circle, but apparently, Guards at least don't have any kind of requirement on where in the city they live. I've surmised in the past that a position as a Citadel Guard is a fairly prestigious one among Gondor's military and wouldn't be given to just anyone. I figure on Citadel Guards being somewhat more upscale than the rank-and-file soldiers of the military. Just a few thoughts. I don't really have anything from the books to support any of this, so trash whatever of this you think is on crack. ^_~ Bado na sídh. Berz.

 

But I find it hard to believe that there would not be a serving-woman "on call" around the clock for Finduilas. Especially as Finduilas gets more and more sick. I definitely agree with this. They might switch off who was on call, but there would have to always been someone available for the wife of the Steward. Though if you do mean "lady in waiting", they'd probably only be there during the day, or at banquets and what have you. Weren't ladies in waiting basically a prestige position, to keep the higher ranked lady company, with no or little actual work involved? I can't really speak for the mediaeval period, but I know in (American) colonial houses and later pre-Civil War houses there are almost always servants' quarters in the house.So I think it's quite likely there would be a modest apartment for a family of a serving-girl I agree with Marta - but I don't know if it would be odd or out of place if a serving-woman lived outside the Citadel. I just find it a weird notion to have lived at your place of employment if you were married.

 

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