I've been reading some historical fiction all based in Tudor time. But, if you can answer this about another period in history, that's fine, too. But, in these books, characters often talk about having to pay their maids in waiting and grooms and stuff like that. How much did those people make? How would a nobleman get the money to pay them? How much, total, did they pay out in a year?
Most of the people that were at court owned land. With owning the land they got a percentage of the food grown on said land as well as money made by the the serfs. Under Queen Elizabeth The servants got room and board plus 3 sets of clothes. The pay scale ranges on what there job being with the cook and butler making 10 s a week with the Queen's maids of honor making £40 per year. (The source has more job listings) Royal accounts put her household expenses at about £55,000 a year between 1566 and 1567. Source Elizabeth.org/compendium/51.html