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Feudalism for D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6814946" data-attributes="member: 27160"><p>I'm afraid in general there wasn't anything so neat or regular.</p><p></p><p>In England, for example, the only ranks generally extant were landed knights, barons (i.e. direct vassals of the king) and earls (who were all <em>also</em> barons). Dukes, when they existed, were royal - usually kings sons.</p><p></p><p>In Germany/the Holy Roman Empire, things wer quite different, with independent or quasi-independent rulers of many ranks - grafs, margraves, dukes, archdukes, grand dukes, etc., etc.</p><p></p><p>France and Italy were different again.</p><p></p><p>It might help to understand where feudalism originated. It was a blend of the Roman structures of a Dux Bellorum ("duke of war") in charge of a geographical area and its <em>limitanii</em> (frontier troops) and the Comes (=> "count") in charge of the <em>comitatenses</em> (field army). The term for the field army itself came from the plural of the word "comitatus" which was a "company" or "following" among Germanic tribal warriors. Originally, these troops were paid out of taxes that were levied on land throughout the Empire. As the imperial beuraucracy decayed and collapsed and money was no longer centrally minted or taxed, however, the local leaders adapted by "cutting out the middleman" and just awarding a portion of the produce of the land to the soldiers directly - in the process getting them to take on some of the governing functions in the land on whose bounty they were to subsist.</p><p></p><p>If you want a good "game structures" source, I suggest either <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/81449/King-Arthur-Pendragon-Edition-51" target="_blank">Pendragon</a> or <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/137575/HarnWorld-Master-Module-3rd-Edition?term=harn" target="_blank">Hârn</a>. Both have somewhat simplified, "gamified" treatments of feudalism that, nonetheless, bring a decent "feel" of a feudal society.</p><p></p><p>P.S. By the way, a female Marquis (or the wife of a male Marquis) is called a Marchioness.</p><p></p><p>And, [MENTION=6776981]Morlock[/MENTION], if you are interested in the medieval way of life I recommend "Life in a Medieval village" by Frances and Joseph Gies - a very nice overview of how medieval country folk lived and worked. The same couple also wrote "Life in a Medieval Castle", "Life in a Medieval City" and "Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel", and they are all worth a read, IMO.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Balesir, post: 6814946, member: 27160"] I'm afraid in general there wasn't anything so neat or regular. In England, for example, the only ranks generally extant were landed knights, barons (i.e. direct vassals of the king) and earls (who were all [I]also[/I] barons). Dukes, when they existed, were royal - usually kings sons. In Germany/the Holy Roman Empire, things wer quite different, with independent or quasi-independent rulers of many ranks - grafs, margraves, dukes, archdukes, grand dukes, etc., etc. France and Italy were different again. It might help to understand where feudalism originated. It was a blend of the Roman structures of a Dux Bellorum ("duke of war") in charge of a geographical area and its [I]limitanii[/I] (frontier troops) and the Comes (=> "count") in charge of the [I]comitatenses[/I] (field army). The term for the field army itself came from the plural of the word "comitatus" which was a "company" or "following" among Germanic tribal warriors. Originally, these troops were paid out of taxes that were levied on land throughout the Empire. As the imperial beuraucracy decayed and collapsed and money was no longer centrally minted or taxed, however, the local leaders adapted by "cutting out the middleman" and just awarding a portion of the produce of the land to the soldiers directly - in the process getting them to take on some of the governing functions in the land on whose bounty they were to subsist. If you want a good "game structures" source, I suggest either [URL="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/81449/King-Arthur-Pendragon-Edition-51"]Pendragon[/URL] or [URL="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/137575/HarnWorld-Master-Module-3rd-Edition?term=harn"]Hârn[/URL]. Both have somewhat simplified, "gamified" treatments of feudalism that, nonetheless, bring a decent "feel" of a feudal society. P.S. By the way, a female Marquis (or the wife of a male Marquis) is called a Marchioness. And, [MENTION=6776981]Morlock[/MENTION], if you are interested in the medieval way of life I recommend "Life in a Medieval village" by Frances and Joseph Gies - a very nice overview of how medieval country folk lived and worked. The same couple also wrote "Life in a Medieval Castle", "Life in a Medieval City" and "Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel", and they are all worth a read, IMO. [/QUOTE]
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