Let’s look at the small city of Uzes, in Gard in the South of France. The center of the city is still laid out much as it was in Medieval times.

The city has 8,000 people today. Perhaps 5,000 in the 15th century? (6,150 in 1793)

The city was surrounded by a defensive wall (now gone and replaced by a road). Inside the city were three great defensive towers (still there), The Tour Bermonde (the keep of the Seigneurs de Uzes - first recorded in 1080 AD, who later became Viscounts, and then Dukes), The Tour du Roi (built by the town guilds as a counter power to the Seigneurs and the Bishop - later taken over by the Kings of France), and the Tour de l'Eveche (The tower of the bishop's palace).

There was a bishop of Uzes since at least 442 AD. There was a cathedral there in the 12th century, but it has been rebuilt twice since then, and the current one is from the 17th century. Its "Tour Fenestrelle", however, has survived from the 12th century. There are also several other churches.

In the center of town is the "Place aux Herbes" which is where the market was (and still is) held.

Buildings in the city are of stone, with Roman tiled roofs. Domestic buildings are most typically three or four stories high. They frequently have a vaulted ground floor, used for workshops or storage or shops, with living quarters on the two or three upper floors. There were a mixture of apartment buildings, single family homes, and the city mansions of rich merchants or feudal knights from the surrounding countryside.

The main industry in the town, probably since the 12th century, was the manufacture of cloth. But it was also a center of government, church, law courts and commerce for the surrounding area. The bishops had the right to mint coins in the 12th century, so there was a mint.

On the outskirts of the town were several large monasteries. The town was surrounded by the hunting preserve of the Seigneurs, and by farmlands and small villages, each with its own small castle.

The agriculture of the area, then as now, was vines, olives, sheep, fruit, vegetables and grain.

I don't think we know enough to really know how many people made their living in what ways. Textiles was the largest industry, so many of the vaulted ground floors would have housed hand looms, or warehoused yarn or cloth. There were undoubtedly other workshops as well. (Carpenters, Masons, Blacksmiths, Coopers, Dyers, Fullers, Tailors, Tanners, Leatherworkers, Cabinetmakers, etc.) There were also wine and produce merchants (Wine, flour, olive oil, were produced in the country villages - or the grain mills on suitable rivers. Lumber, quarried stone and clay tiles would also have been produced in the countryside but consumed in the city. One of the local villages, San Quentin de la Poterie, specialized in making pottery ware, which also would have been sold in Uzes), butchers and bakers.

These sorts of establishments would be run by a master craftsman, perhaps with some journeymen and apprentices, plus, of course, a large contingent of unskilled laborers, who moved things and carried things and worked for the merchants and skilled craftsmen.

As an administrative center, there would have been clerks (who could read and write) and some lawyers. The Seigneurs of Uzes would have had a small group of men at arms. There would be a number of monks and nuns in the monasteries on the outskirts of the city. Also, the richer inhabitants would have supported a fair number of domestic servants. The very rich, such as the Lords of Uzes, or the Bishop, would have had some specialist retainers, huntsmen, falconers, grooms, chefs, perhaps some landless knights who served the lord.

The country people (mostly farmers - there are about 17 villages within 5 or 6 miles of the city) would have come in to the market to buy and sell and trade once a week. The market is on Saturdays these days. The market was probably run from booths or stalls or carts or wagons in the Place aux Herbes, much like it still is.

We know that the bishops of Uzes had the right to coin money, so there was probably some form of money economy, not just feudal barter, even as early as the 12th century. This also implies that there were metal workers, both working in the mint, but also casting or forging metal implements and weapons.

In short, in the 1400s in Uzes, one would find pretty much all the same occupations that are in a small city today. Of course there are some jobs now that didn’t exist then, and there was a larger percent of the population (surrounding the city rather than in it) engaged in agriculture. There were more artisans and craft workshops, as there was no mass production. There were probably also more manual and unskilled laboring jobs in those days before mechanization, and certainly far more jobs in domestic service.