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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8356436" data-attributes="member: 82106">A very good point! The REACH of the authorities was exceedingly limited as well. Outside of areas directly controlled it was quite tenuous. Even in the 15th and 16th Century in England the roads were frequented by many notorious bandits, for example. This was Elizabethan England, imagine England in the 9th Century! And 'Local Authority' was just a code word for 'the guy with a sword that nobody else wants to argue with'. Throughout most of the Medieval period large percentages of land in Europe were also 'wasteland', just forests, wetlands, etc. that was very lightly inhabited, if at all, and often completely outside the remit of any authority. In earlier periods these areas were the RULE, not the exception.And there was a bit of an almost 'Points of Light' going on in those earlier periods. People stuck with that 'guy with the sword' and gave him their land, called him 'sir', etc. because the other option was to stand around and watch all your stuff burn in the next Viking raid.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8356436, member: 82106"] A very good point! The REACH of the authorities was exceedingly limited as well. Outside of areas directly controlled it was quite tenuous. Even in the 15th and 16th Century in England the roads were frequented by many notorious bandits, for example. This was Elizabethan England, imagine England in the 9th Century! And 'Local Authority' was just a code word for 'the guy with a sword that nobody else wants to argue with'. Throughout most of the Medieval period large percentages of land in Europe were also 'wasteland', just forests, wetlands, etc. that was very lightly inhabited, if at all, and often completely outside the remit of any authority. In earlier periods these areas were the RULE, not the exception. And there was a bit of an almost 'Points of Light' going on in those earlier periods. People stuck with that 'guy with the sword' and gave him their land, called him 'sir', etc. because the other option was to stand around and watch all your stuff burn in the next Viking raid. [/QUOTE]

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