Porter
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Le Portefaix | The Porter
Porter in Venice ("Portefaix ou faquins à Venise", 1476 drawing (artist unknown), Bibliothèque nationale de France, https://gallica.bnf.fr/).
The portefaix, or porter, was a person who carried loads of all sorts, usually heavy in nature. He also collected and delivered letters and parcels.
In France, porters were also called crocheteurs, referring to their hooks (“crochets”), on which they carried their parcels. They were also called breteleurs (“bretelles” = suspenders) because of the two suspenders that supported their hooks. The porters were part of a category of workers called gagne-deniers (literally “earns coins”), who earned their lives day by day without having a specific occupation.
Source:
Alfred Franklin, Dictionnaire historique des arts, métiers et professions exercés dans Paris depuis le treizième siècle (Paris, H. Welter, 1906), 238.