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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rykion" data-source="post: 5120968" data-attributes="member: 33035">The problem is that the serfs didn't own the land and only got to keep what was allowed by the nobles.  Plenty of non-nobles in the ancient world had less technology, but lived above subsistence level because they kept more of what they created.   Innovation eventually improved the common people's lot, but it was social/political as well as farming innovation. It's still a chicken or the egg kind of dynamic.  Nobles needed heavy cavalry to exist, and heavy cavalry wouldn't exist in such numbers without the nobles.  Heavy cavalry is certainly elite and probably the best ancient/medieval unit 1:1, but the cost to train and equip each cavalryman compared to other troop types was much higher than that ratio.I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, and let this get back on topic. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> I would suggest that well trained and equipped militia would have been more effective, and better serve the purpose.  If the Vikings regularly faced armed resistance they would move on to easier pickings.</blockquote>