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Interlude I: How Was Life in 1000AD?
Well of course, it depends where. And who you are. So let´s take a look at the everyday life of a handful of people.
Louis, Neustrie
Louis is an average peasant from Neustrie. He has to remember to pay tithes and taxes on time – these are paid to the local landlord and the priest. Furthermore, his obligations to the landlord are also in the form of a certain amount of days he ought to work for his liege.
The relation between Louis and his landlord is not a written one – his duties cannot be found a charter, but were formalized in an oral ceremony. In fact, the feudal system had a culture of oral oaths of allegiance, not written treaties. The allegiance to the landlord would also manifest itself by serving as a levy in times of war. Louis would very well hope not to be drafted for war: the neighbour has a very capable son, and looks like that this Geoffrey would be drafted instead.
The manorial system would thus affect Louis quite intensively. He was at the bottom of the whole thing. His oath of allegiance would be to his landlord, a count controlling a handful of villages in the district. Effectively, Louis, would be his vassal and his landlord would be expected to protect him in times of danger. The count himself was the vassal of a duke, controlling a large region roughly half the size of Belgium J. The duke would then answer to the king .All these landlords, dukes and kings would be known as the nobility, and be expected to be great warriors. The second institution, paralle to the hierarchy of the nobility was the Church. The clergy as well would be organized very much like the nobles: with the Pope on top, the Archbishops below, their suffragan bishops, with the local parish priest at the bottom.
Louis remember as his father used to tell him of Normans, in great dragon ships, travelling up the rivers in the country, raiding, looting and burning villages. They were heathens, who heard nothing of Lord Jesus. His father told him how they sacked a church in the neighbouring village. On Sunday. Last Sunday, the priest said that the Normann chief made a deal with the Neustrian king .
Dencadh, Alba
*Turn on your Scottish accents folx*Living in the Highlands is not easy. You know. Life is harsh, and if we are to survive we must together. We do stick together as a clan. The clan yonder there, on the other side of the glen , stole our cattle. This cant be true, can it? The clan chief decided we will take revenge. After all, you have to keep your honour, that’s important , you cant lose yer face. So in two days time, were after them.
Olaf, Norway
Olaf owns a cottage on the side of the fjord. The mountains towering on all sides have forced the people to look to the sea as an answer for their questions and problems. Beginning with food : most of the contents on your plate would like have been in the fishing net before; continuing with trade and ending in wealth. Indeed Olaf´s father earned himself quite a fortune in Ireland. The sea was an opportunity, and Olafs countrymen were feared mariners, pirates, raiders, but also merchants and explorers. A dude from Iceland sailed further west, and he discovered and island bigger than Britain and Ireland and Iceland put together… covered in ice for the most part, unfortunately. Not all of it. The coast looks promising. There are small groves of birch trees.
But perhaps, the islands keep getting bigger and bigger. Like take Shetland. Then Faroes. Then Iceland. Then Greenland. Who knows. Maybe there is just a vast barren wasteland, like Niflheim itself.
The notion of realms outside Midgard, the world of men is gradually fading, as the king decided to accept a new religion altogether. Centered around a certain man called Jesus. Who lived somewhere very far. Why is he so revered? Like he told his men not be those heroes we all admire, but turn the other cheek. Seriously?
Eusebius, Rhomania
Eusebius is a Rhoman blacksmith from Bithynia, living in a small town by the sea. He buys his food at the local market, where you can buy bread and vegetables, and fruit grown by the peasants inland, as well as fish caught by the fisherman in the town. Eusebius´s workshop gets quite a lot of business done : a large part of his customers is the army as an institution, but also the townspeople needing their tools to be fixed.
The contracts for the army are written documents, and Eusebius knows not only how to read, but also how to write (usually on pergamen, although his handwriting is still a little clumsy). Eusebius is part of the blacksmith´s guild in the town, grouping all the blacksmiths in the town.
Eusebius nor his fellow guild members would hardly consider themselves as subjects; rather, they view themselves as Rhoman citizens, not at the mercy of any landlord but suing for their rights in the Rhomaic courts.
The town is headed by the mayor, who has access to the Diocesan Council of Bithynia, the local assembly of mayors, major landowners and acts pretty much as the local parliament. After all each part of Rhomaic territory is administered by three overarching institutions, whose jurisdictions may or may not overlap: civilian administration, military administration and ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
The military districts are called the Themes, and they serve as recruitment areas, with each Theme attached to a certain military unit. These themes however ought to have no authority over civilian life, apart from supplying the army with manpower and equipment.
The Church as an institution is present in every village, and the Rhomaic Church takes the issue of orthodoxy very seriously. After all, there have been several theological controversies in the past few centuries. Eusebius however views the Church as a bunch of hypocrites – with people visiting the Church looking very pious, yet acting like they wish very often outside. This is oparticularly true of the women visiting the Church, who gossip very much about the happennings inside this small town.
Panouti, Kemet
Panouti is a Coptic fellah in Egypt. Working hard on the fields, Panouti must also take a look at the irrigation system. These ought to be repaired annually after the Nile floods, bringing nutrients from the Ethiopia Highlands, enabling the Egyptian soil a bountiful harvest.
This harvest is however not all his to eat. Panouti must indeed send one fifth of it to the local church, where it is collected by the bureaucrats. Although not all of Kemetic soil belongs to the Coptic Church, over a half of it indeed does, and the hierocratic system present in Egypt appears to mean the fusion of Church and state, and the separation of Army and State.
A Church is indeed present in every village, and as one climbs uphill into the desert, the major landmarks are the Coptic monasteries, serving also as hotels for travellers, or as refuges for people wishing to renounce their past and not toil hard on the fields anymore.
All bureaucratic documentation is written on papyrus, growing practically everywhere on the banks of the Nile. The river itself is the main highway of the country – there are very few roads, as you can get practically everywhere by boat. The king himself would indeed travel up the Nile last year, and Panouti remembers to have been there, with the whole crowd, watching as the royal ship would sail past their town.
Farokh, Mazoun
Farokh is a Mazouni merchant, and owns three large ships. These he uses to trade between Mesopotamia, Hormuz, Mazoun and Gwadar. Trade has earned him quite a good living: acquiring a large rural villa in the fertile hills, and where he built himself a magnificent garden. This is his rural residence to spend the hot summer. Usually, however, he would either be aboard conducting business or live at the family house in Muscat (which he shares also with his two brothers, while they are in Muscat).
Farokh is very content of living in Mazoun, and he would not change this for anything. As far as he knows, nowhere in the world is there such liberty for one man to make something of himself: in most countries, you either work hard on the fields, or you have to fight in wars for the king. In Mazoun, no citizens work on the fields: this hard labour under the baking sun is done by slaves, bought in countries far from Mazoun.
Farokh considers leaving his business to his younger brother and seeks to get elected into the Grand Council of State. After all, he has already grown to considerable age, and appears to understand the world quite a bit to make a good decision
Louis, Neustrie
Louis is an average peasant from Neustrie. He has to remember to pay tithes and taxes on time – these are paid to the local landlord and the priest. Furthermore, his obligations to the landlord are also in the form of a certain amount of days he ought to work for his liege.
The relation between Louis and his landlord is not a written one – his duties cannot be found a charter, but were formalized in an oral ceremony. In fact, the feudal system had a culture of oral oaths of allegiance, not written treaties. The allegiance to the landlord would also manifest itself by serving as a levy in times of war. Louis would very well hope not to be drafted for war: the neighbour has a very capable son, and looks like that this Geoffrey would be drafted instead.
The manorial system would thus affect Louis quite intensively. He was at the bottom of the whole thing. His oath of allegiance would be to his landlord, a count controlling a handful of villages in the district. Effectively, Louis, would be his vassal and his landlord would be expected to protect him in times of danger. The count himself was the vassal of a duke, controlling a large region roughly half the size of Belgium J. The duke would then answer to the king .All these landlords, dukes and kings would be known as the nobility, and be expected to be great warriors. The second institution, paralle to the hierarchy of the nobility was the Church. The clergy as well would be organized very much like the nobles: with the Pope on top, the Archbishops below, their suffragan bishops, with the local parish priest at the bottom.
Louis remember as his father used to tell him of Normans, in great dragon ships, travelling up the rivers in the country, raiding, looting and burning villages. They were heathens, who heard nothing of Lord Jesus. His father told him how they sacked a church in the neighbouring village. On Sunday. Last Sunday, the priest said that the Normann chief made a deal with the Neustrian king .
Dencadh, Alba
*Turn on your Scottish accents folx*Living in the Highlands is not easy. You know. Life is harsh, and if we are to survive we must together. We do stick together as a clan. The clan yonder there, on the other side of the glen , stole our cattle. This cant be true, can it? The clan chief decided we will take revenge. After all, you have to keep your honour, that’s important , you cant lose yer face. So in two days time, were after them.
Olaf, Norway
Olaf owns a cottage on the side of the fjord. The mountains towering on all sides have forced the people to look to the sea as an answer for their questions and problems. Beginning with food : most of the contents on your plate would like have been in the fishing net before; continuing with trade and ending in wealth. Indeed Olaf´s father earned himself quite a fortune in Ireland. The sea was an opportunity, and Olafs countrymen were feared mariners, pirates, raiders, but also merchants and explorers. A dude from Iceland sailed further west, and he discovered and island bigger than Britain and Ireland and Iceland put together… covered in ice for the most part, unfortunately. Not all of it. The coast looks promising. There are small groves of birch trees.
But perhaps, the islands keep getting bigger and bigger. Like take Shetland. Then Faroes. Then Iceland. Then Greenland. Who knows. Maybe there is just a vast barren wasteland, like Niflheim itself.
The notion of realms outside Midgard, the world of men is gradually fading, as the king decided to accept a new religion altogether. Centered around a certain man called Jesus. Who lived somewhere very far. Why is he so revered? Like he told his men not be those heroes we all admire, but turn the other cheek. Seriously?
Eusebius, Rhomania
Eusebius is a Rhoman blacksmith from Bithynia, living in a small town by the sea. He buys his food at the local market, where you can buy bread and vegetables, and fruit grown by the peasants inland, as well as fish caught by the fisherman in the town. Eusebius´s workshop gets quite a lot of business done : a large part of his customers is the army as an institution, but also the townspeople needing their tools to be fixed.
The contracts for the army are written documents, and Eusebius knows not only how to read, but also how to write (usually on pergamen, although his handwriting is still a little clumsy). Eusebius is part of the blacksmith´s guild in the town, grouping all the blacksmiths in the town.
Eusebius nor his fellow guild members would hardly consider themselves as subjects; rather, they view themselves as Rhoman citizens, not at the mercy of any landlord but suing for their rights in the Rhomaic courts.
The town is headed by the mayor, who has access to the Diocesan Council of Bithynia, the local assembly of mayors, major landowners and acts pretty much as the local parliament. After all each part of Rhomaic territory is administered by three overarching institutions, whose jurisdictions may or may not overlap: civilian administration, military administration and ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
The military districts are called the Themes, and they serve as recruitment areas, with each Theme attached to a certain military unit. These themes however ought to have no authority over civilian life, apart from supplying the army with manpower and equipment.
The Church as an institution is present in every village, and the Rhomaic Church takes the issue of orthodoxy very seriously. After all, there have been several theological controversies in the past few centuries. Eusebius however views the Church as a bunch of hypocrites – with people visiting the Church looking very pious, yet acting like they wish very often outside. This is oparticularly true of the women visiting the Church, who gossip very much about the happennings inside this small town.
Panouti, Kemet
Panouti is a Coptic fellah in Egypt. Working hard on the fields, Panouti must also take a look at the irrigation system. These ought to be repaired annually after the Nile floods, bringing nutrients from the Ethiopia Highlands, enabling the Egyptian soil a bountiful harvest.
This harvest is however not all his to eat. Panouti must indeed send one fifth of it to the local church, where it is collected by the bureaucrats. Although not all of Kemetic soil belongs to the Coptic Church, over a half of it indeed does, and the hierocratic system present in Egypt appears to mean the fusion of Church and state, and the separation of Army and State.
A Church is indeed present in every village, and as one climbs uphill into the desert, the major landmarks are the Coptic monasteries, serving also as hotels for travellers, or as refuges for people wishing to renounce their past and not toil hard on the fields anymore.
All bureaucratic documentation is written on papyrus, growing practically everywhere on the banks of the Nile. The river itself is the main highway of the country – there are very few roads, as you can get practically everywhere by boat. The king himself would indeed travel up the Nile last year, and Panouti remembers to have been there, with the whole crowd, watching as the royal ship would sail past their town.
Farokh, Mazoun
Farokh is a Mazouni merchant, and owns three large ships. These he uses to trade between Mesopotamia, Hormuz, Mazoun and Gwadar. Trade has earned him quite a good living: acquiring a large rural villa in the fertile hills, and where he built himself a magnificent garden. This is his rural residence to spend the hot summer. Usually, however, he would either be aboard conducting business or live at the family house in Muscat (which he shares also with his two brothers, while they are in Muscat).
Farokh is very content of living in Mazoun, and he would not change this for anything. As far as he knows, nowhere in the world is there such liberty for one man to make something of himself: in most countries, you either work hard on the fields, or you have to fight in wars for the king. In Mazoun, no citizens work on the fields: this hard labour under the baking sun is done by slaves, bought in countries far from Mazoun.
Farokh considers leaving his business to his younger brother and seeks to get elected into the Grand Council of State. After all, he has already grown to considerable age, and appears to understand the world quite a bit to make a good decision
- Tomislav Addai
- Word Count: 1.5k