Department of Land Management....

[Prince Atom]

Okay, this has been bothering me for about a year now, but I haven't done anything about it because I haven't needed to; I'm posting this now out of boredom and opportunity.

I am not very clear on how much an acre of land is eek: For shame! Imagine a Kentucky farm boy not knowing how big an acre is!), or how it fits into the medieval economy of a game like D&D.

I know that it didn't take too many of us with modern equipment to work our land -- especially since we rented half or more to a tenant -- but how long did it take people with horses and plows to work it?

Arrgghh.... The point is, the DMG mentions awards of land as a possible part of booty, but doesn't give any rules for dealing with such things as good land management and taxation -- or at least none that I can find.

How much is an acre of land worth? How many peasants can work an acre of land without its drying up or their getting in each other's way? How much income does the land generate for the landowner, and how much does the king tax?

Are these questions I'll have to answer on my own? Not that I'm incapable, but if there's something official from WotC I'll feel a lot more comfortable using that than anything I can come up with sans a research staff.

And FYI I don't have any of the books outside of the core books, the Manual of the Planes, and the Psionics Handbook. If there's an answer in the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook I don't have that available.

Sorry if I sound like I'm begging, but why do you think they call me The Whiner Knight?

TWK

 

[JDRay]

I've got a few bits of information that you may be able to wrangle into part of an answer:

An acre is around 45,000 square feet. It's precise area is just over that, but I can't remember the exact figure. It's around 215 feet on a side (square).

The value of land, both in medieval times and modern, varies with the quality (or qualities) of the land. Rich soil on the valley floor, clear of trees and rocks that is ripe for planting would be the most valuable land, particularly if it had a water source. Desert scrub in the badlands, far from the nearest civilization and fraught with hazards such as windstorms and insect infestations would be some of the least valuable. Land, then and now, is valued on its ability to produce something. In medieval times, things produced were usually raw materials (timber, limestone, gold, etc.) or crops (wheat, potatoes, hemp, apples, etc.). Other things that land "produced" were tactical advantages (the top of a hill, for instance), travel (a waterway or road), or aesthetic (a nice view, for instance).

There are lots of books at your local library about how farmland was used in medieval times, especialy in late-period England. Under the feudal system, a landlord might have only a couple of acres of land that was ploughed and divided into strips of one crop row. A serf would work his crop row (or later, his portion of the crop row) and keep a percentage of what was grown. In this fashion, the serf had some income from the land and taxes came out in the form of the landowner's cut of the harvest. But the landowner was beholden to some lord, usually a baron, who took a portion of the cut, and the king took a cut from the baron.

The whole question goes back to how the governmental system is established. Is it based in ideas of capitalism, socialism or feudalism? Can just about anyone own land (city lot with a house, or a small subsistence farm), or is land ownership strictly in the hands of the government, and only leases are allowed? Something in the middle, like described above? Does a landowner have to dedicate part of his land to "common grounds," which are basically open to anyone that is a tenant on the land to use (such as community pasture, etc.)?

The last bit to think about is the political value of being a landholder. If the king has granted me 5000 acres of scrubland in the furthest reaches of the kingdom, there's still value at court in being able to say that, "Yes, I have a land grant. 5000 acres from the king. Yes, I know that's a lot, but, well, the circumstances warranted it."

Hope this helps.

JD

 

[Mark Chance]

An acre

An acre is around 45,000 square feet. It's precise area is just over that, but I can't remember the exact figure. It's around 215 feet on a side (square).

One acre = 43,560 sq. feet.

 

[Esiminar]

The acre is 43560 square feet but it is a rectangular measurement not square.

An acre is 1 furlong (660 feet) in length and 1 chain (66 feet) in width.

 

[Vaxalon]

Are you trying to say, Esiminar, that a rectangle of land that's 330 feet by 132 feet would NOT be an acre? That it would be something bizarre like "Two half-acres laid side by side" or something like that? If you are, I think you're wrong.

Yes, an acre is DEFINED as an area of land that's 660x66, but not all one-acre plots have those precise dimensions.

 

[Dog Faced God]

I believe that the original definition for one acre was the space of ground that may be ploughed by a yoke of oxen in one day. So I suppose that the definition answers your question. It takes about one day to plough one acre.