loseth
First Post
[Multi-forum post: RPG.net and ENWorld]
There are some good medieval demographics resources out there for builders of kitchen-sink fantasy medieval worlds, but something about these resources has always failed to sit well with me: they don’t usually take account of the logical consequences of kitchen-sink fantasy elements. In particular, they don’t take account of the fact that the world is teaming with orcs, goblins and lizard men who love nothing more than to raid human settlements, and they fail to take account of the fact that kitchen-sink fantasy magic would probably greatly reduce child mortality and deaths from diseases, while at the same time increasing agricultural productivity. So, as I sit down to revamp my trusty old dynamic world system, I have first set myself the task of adjusting demographics to take account of orcish raiders, healing potions and magic in the service of agriculture. Below is what I’ve come up with so far, and I’d really appreciate critical feedback on anything I’ve failed to account for or concerning which I’ve jumped to hasty conclusions. So, here it is:
Overall Demographics
In Medieval England, about 2/3 of the land was given over to grazing and farming, and much of the other 1/3 was forest controlled and regulated by the king or other authorities. However, the picture is not so rosy in a world where enemies lurk in every shadow. Demographics will probably be more like the war-torn medieval Baltic: only about 1/4 to 1/2 of the land will be inhabited or used by humans. The rest of the land will be divided into land dominated by humanoid tribes, land uninhabitable due to dangerous beasts or supernatural effects, and land best classified as ‘no-man’s land.'
Villages
In the dangerous fantasy medieval world, protection is paramount, and when it comes to protection, there is strength in numbers. For this reason, the settlement pattern of ‘dispersed villages,’ typical of southern medieval England (where several thorps and hamlets surround a central focal point, such as a manor complex, church or common), is extremely rare in the fantasy medieval world—this pattern simply doesn’t lend itself to defence. Instead, the pattern of ‘true villages,’ seen in the medieval English midlands, will dominate: large, centralized villages, with the fields surrounding the clustered houses and people walking out to their fields to farm them, rather than living in farmhouses on their plots of land. Average village size will be consistent with that of the English midlands: about 500 people (see Gies & Gies 1991).
These villages will be well-defended. Expensive stone walls are beyond the financial resources of the typical village, but palisades, ditches, moats, watchtowers, fortified manor houses and similar lower-cost defensive measures will be present in almost every village. Also, the yeomanry (the most prosperous heads of peasant households) will be required to serve as militiamen for local service to the lord of the village. Some of these yeomen will also hire themselves out as mercenaries (to their village lord or, more likely, a greater lord) for military service outside the local region.
Feudal Troops
In the real late middle ages (the time period that most closely approximates the level of technology and high culture seen in most kitchen-sink fantasy), the feudal system was dying out. Most peasants paid rent in cash, not kind, and most feudal lords paid cash to their overlords rather than owing military service. But the fantasy medieval world is too dangerous for such decadence—in this world, genuine feudal relationships still hold. Most villages are governed not by the agents of an absentee landlord, but by a resident knight who still has a legal obligation to protect his village by force of arms and to render military service to his lord when called upon to do so.
Furthermore, unlike medieval England, the great lords do not have their holdings spread out across the country, but—as in the early middle ages—have their lands and men close to the their own castles, so feudal troops can be called upon quickly in times of need and there is no threat of distant vassals being tempted to ignore the call to arms of a lord too far away to do anything about it. Kings and other magnates, who need to ensure the loyalty of vassals spread over a wide area, will probably be itinerant, as real kings often were in the early middle ages, rather than resident in a capital, as in the later middle ages.
Urbanization and Food Production
In the real medieval Europe, only 1 in every 10 or 20 people lived in a town or city, and this was understandable: food surpluses were low enough that most people had to work the land just in order to provide enough food to keep a region from facing starvation. Also, disease and horrendous rates of child mortality kept population growth slow. In the fantasy medieval world, though, there is priestly magic that allows much higher population growth and there are also various magical means to ensure good agricultural productivity. As a result, levels of urbanization in the fantasy medieval world are much more akin to the most heavily urbanized regions of the real middle ages, such as Northern Italy and the Low Countries, where one in every 3 or 4 people lived in a town or city. Also, ‘large towns’ tend to be more in line with Low Country, Northern German or Italian population figures, at 10 or 15 thousand, rather than the ‘large towns’ of England that might have only a few thousand folks living in them. Similarly, the largest cities in the fantasy-medieval world often post the kind of population figures seen in medieval cities like Paris, Venice, Cairo or Naples—that is to say, well in excess of 50,000 souls and sometimes exceeding 100,000.
Market Villages and Castles
Both castles and towns provide important strong points in a local area, but in the dangerous fantasy-medieval world, constantly at threat from marauding humanoids, you’ll want relatively more castles than towns, because of the former’s higher military value. As a result, I’m positing that for every three baronies, one will consist of about a dozen villages and a town, while the other two will consist of about a dozen villages, a market village (a village that serves as a trade centre, but is still primarily an agricultural community, unlike a true town) and a castle. In other words:
1/3 of baronies: town + a dozen or so villages
2/3 of baronies: castle + market village + a dozen or so villages
This will result in a settlement pattern that can defend itself reasonably well against raids even on a very local scale.
A Typical County
All this leads me to my model for a typical fantasy medieval county. It consists of about a half-dozen baronies. Three or four of those baronies will consist of a dozen or so villages, a minor castle and a market village. Another one or two baronies will consist of about a dozen villages and a town of two or three thousand people. Finally, the count’s own barony will consist of around a score of villages (one or two of which might be market villages), the county castle and a large town or small city of about 10-20,000 people. Using all the population figures I gave above, this results in a typical county having a rural population of about 80,000 and an urban population of 20-30,000, giving an urbanization rate of about 25%. In sum:
Typical County
Population and Settlements
- Population: a little over 100,000
- Urbanization: about 25%
- 1 city or large town
- 1 or 2 towns of average size
- 4 or 5 market villages
- about 80 villages
Military Resources
-1 major castle
-3 minor castles
-about 200 men-at-arms: knights, squires and sarjeants [= non-knightly mercenary soldiers trained and equipped to fight as a knight]
-a pool of around 200-500 yeomen militiamen willing to serve as mercenaries (mostly pikemen, as in the real medieval Low Countries or Scotland, or archers, as in real medieval England); some of these men (perhaps 40 or 50) will be employed on a permanent basis to serve in castle garrisons
-a yeoman militia of about 20 per village, obliged to serve for local defence only
So, what do you think? Am I missing anything? Would you draw different conclusions concerning how kitchen-sink fantasy middle ages would differ from the real middle ages?
There are some good medieval demographics resources out there for builders of kitchen-sink fantasy medieval worlds, but something about these resources has always failed to sit well with me: they don’t usually take account of the logical consequences of kitchen-sink fantasy elements. In particular, they don’t take account of the fact that the world is teaming with orcs, goblins and lizard men who love nothing more than to raid human settlements, and they fail to take account of the fact that kitchen-sink fantasy magic would probably greatly reduce child mortality and deaths from diseases, while at the same time increasing agricultural productivity. So, as I sit down to revamp my trusty old dynamic world system, I have first set myself the task of adjusting demographics to take account of orcish raiders, healing potions and magic in the service of agriculture. Below is what I’ve come up with so far, and I’d really appreciate critical feedback on anything I’ve failed to account for or concerning which I’ve jumped to hasty conclusions. So, here it is:
Overall Demographics
In Medieval England, about 2/3 of the land was given over to grazing and farming, and much of the other 1/3 was forest controlled and regulated by the king or other authorities. However, the picture is not so rosy in a world where enemies lurk in every shadow. Demographics will probably be more like the war-torn medieval Baltic: only about 1/4 to 1/2 of the land will be inhabited or used by humans. The rest of the land will be divided into land dominated by humanoid tribes, land uninhabitable due to dangerous beasts or supernatural effects, and land best classified as ‘no-man’s land.'
Villages
In the dangerous fantasy medieval world, protection is paramount, and when it comes to protection, there is strength in numbers. For this reason, the settlement pattern of ‘dispersed villages,’ typical of southern medieval England (where several thorps and hamlets surround a central focal point, such as a manor complex, church or common), is extremely rare in the fantasy medieval world—this pattern simply doesn’t lend itself to defence. Instead, the pattern of ‘true villages,’ seen in the medieval English midlands, will dominate: large, centralized villages, with the fields surrounding the clustered houses and people walking out to their fields to farm them, rather than living in farmhouses on their plots of land. Average village size will be consistent with that of the English midlands: about 500 people (see Gies & Gies 1991).
These villages will be well-defended. Expensive stone walls are beyond the financial resources of the typical village, but palisades, ditches, moats, watchtowers, fortified manor houses and similar lower-cost defensive measures will be present in almost every village. Also, the yeomanry (the most prosperous heads of peasant households) will be required to serve as militiamen for local service to the lord of the village. Some of these yeomen will also hire themselves out as mercenaries (to their village lord or, more likely, a greater lord) for military service outside the local region.
Feudal Troops
In the real late middle ages (the time period that most closely approximates the level of technology and high culture seen in most kitchen-sink fantasy), the feudal system was dying out. Most peasants paid rent in cash, not kind, and most feudal lords paid cash to their overlords rather than owing military service. But the fantasy medieval world is too dangerous for such decadence—in this world, genuine feudal relationships still hold. Most villages are governed not by the agents of an absentee landlord, but by a resident knight who still has a legal obligation to protect his village by force of arms and to render military service to his lord when called upon to do so.
Furthermore, unlike medieval England, the great lords do not have their holdings spread out across the country, but—as in the early middle ages—have their lands and men close to the their own castles, so feudal troops can be called upon quickly in times of need and there is no threat of distant vassals being tempted to ignore the call to arms of a lord too far away to do anything about it. Kings and other magnates, who need to ensure the loyalty of vassals spread over a wide area, will probably be itinerant, as real kings often were in the early middle ages, rather than resident in a capital, as in the later middle ages.
Urbanization and Food Production
In the real medieval Europe, only 1 in every 10 or 20 people lived in a town or city, and this was understandable: food surpluses were low enough that most people had to work the land just in order to provide enough food to keep a region from facing starvation. Also, disease and horrendous rates of child mortality kept population growth slow. In the fantasy medieval world, though, there is priestly magic that allows much higher population growth and there are also various magical means to ensure good agricultural productivity. As a result, levels of urbanization in the fantasy medieval world are much more akin to the most heavily urbanized regions of the real middle ages, such as Northern Italy and the Low Countries, where one in every 3 or 4 people lived in a town or city. Also, ‘large towns’ tend to be more in line with Low Country, Northern German or Italian population figures, at 10 or 15 thousand, rather than the ‘large towns’ of England that might have only a few thousand folks living in them. Similarly, the largest cities in the fantasy-medieval world often post the kind of population figures seen in medieval cities like Paris, Venice, Cairo or Naples—that is to say, well in excess of 50,000 souls and sometimes exceeding 100,000.
Market Villages and Castles
Both castles and towns provide important strong points in a local area, but in the dangerous fantasy-medieval world, constantly at threat from marauding humanoids, you’ll want relatively more castles than towns, because of the former’s higher military value. As a result, I’m positing that for every three baronies, one will consist of about a dozen villages and a town, while the other two will consist of about a dozen villages, a market village (a village that serves as a trade centre, but is still primarily an agricultural community, unlike a true town) and a castle. In other words:
1/3 of baronies: town + a dozen or so villages
2/3 of baronies: castle + market village + a dozen or so villages
This will result in a settlement pattern that can defend itself reasonably well against raids even on a very local scale.
A Typical County
All this leads me to my model for a typical fantasy medieval county. It consists of about a half-dozen baronies. Three or four of those baronies will consist of a dozen or so villages, a minor castle and a market village. Another one or two baronies will consist of about a dozen villages and a town of two or three thousand people. Finally, the count’s own barony will consist of around a score of villages (one or two of which might be market villages), the county castle and a large town or small city of about 10-20,000 people. Using all the population figures I gave above, this results in a typical county having a rural population of about 80,000 and an urban population of 20-30,000, giving an urbanization rate of about 25%. In sum:
Typical County
Population and Settlements
- Population: a little over 100,000
- Urbanization: about 25%
- 1 city or large town
- 1 or 2 towns of average size
- 4 or 5 market villages
- about 80 villages
Military Resources
-1 major castle
-3 minor castles
-about 200 men-at-arms: knights, squires and sarjeants [= non-knightly mercenary soldiers trained and equipped to fight as a knight]
-a pool of around 200-500 yeomen militiamen willing to serve as mercenaries (mostly pikemen, as in the real medieval Low Countries or Scotland, or archers, as in real medieval England); some of these men (perhaps 40 or 50) will be employed on a permanent basis to serve in castle garrisons
-a yeoman militia of about 20 per village, obliged to serve for local defence only
So, what do you think? Am I missing anything? Would you draw different conclusions concerning how kitchen-sink fantasy middle ages would differ from the real middle ages?
. So, maybe something like this:
