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What proportion of the population are adventurers?
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7614859" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>[MENTION=55149]R_Chance[/MENTION]: OK, we seem to be on the same page then. We just differ in what we imagine to be low percentages.</p><p></p><p>You give very few numbers, but you say things like, "As for mercenaries, the White Company (which operated in the High Middle Ages / early Renaissance, 1300s iirc) with about 2,000 men (Anglo Welch longbowmen) was one of the largest and most efficient." The thing is, in that period the entire population of Wales might not have been more than about 200,000 persons, so out of that population to export 2,000 men to a foreign destination is actually a pretty significant achievement. If they were all Welsh (not a fair assumption I admit) that would be like 1 in 50 men of Wales serving as mercenaries in just that company at any given time. While this would still give us low estimates on what percentage of Welsh men travelled far in their lives, it's not insignificant. </p><p></p><p>In general, it's impossible to give definitive estimates on the percentage of people in the middle ages that travelled or which were literate in the modern sense, but most single digit percentage answers are pretty reasonable.</p><p></p><p>And that's for Northern Europe which had always been 'dark' and was emerging as a cultural, economic, and political force. Once we get down to the Mediterranean, then we get to something that more closely resembles a continuation of ancient culture. </p><p></p><p>You suggest that the vast majority of people never saw anything produced at a significant distance, but there is one sense where that is definitely and provably not true - metals. Metal ores are not found locally, and it's a rare region that can produce even two or three different metals using local production. The medieval craftsman knew of and utilized a good number - copper, iron, tin, antimony, silver, lead, gold, mercury, zinc (for brass), and arsenic. Tin and silver in particular are relatively rare metals and were only produced in a few locations in the whole continent, but the whole continent depended on trade in those elements. Despite the scarcity of tin, bronze still competed for iron goods in price in many areas, and it would not have been unusual for a local peasant to have a simple bronze knife containing metal mined hundreds of miles away, or for a merchant in a town to pay silver coins mined in places he'd never visit.</p><p></p><p>Actually, mining is another of those areas of craft that I should have mentioned, because in addition to outperforming the ancient world in masonry, even before leaving the middle ages they were outperforming the ancient world in machining and mining technology. And this was also a source movement around the continent, as older mines would play out or the communities become crowded, and the experienced miners from those regions would migrate to newly discovered deposits. When the mines at Rammelsberg opened up, miners from across the continent moved there to assist in the work. </p><p></p><p>My point is that all these 'tiny percentages' add up. Craftsmanship existed at a high level. There were plenty of specialists with a high degree of training. There were plenty of people who had an opportunity to travel. Literacy, mobility, prosperity, and social mobility were low compared to modern standards, but they weren't unusual given the time period, and quietly the Medievals were putting together a technology and social structure that was and would be revolutionary. The local miller in a medieval village knew more about automation and machinery than any craftsman that had existed before him, and as he was also essentially a tax collector he could not have been fully illiterate and innumerate.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7614859, member: 4937"] [MENTION=55149]R_Chance[/MENTION]: OK, we seem to be on the same page then. We just differ in what we imagine to be low percentages. You give very few numbers, but you say things like, "As for mercenaries, the White Company (which operated in the High Middle Ages / early Renaissance, 1300s iirc) with about 2,000 men (Anglo Welch longbowmen) was one of the largest and most efficient." The thing is, in that period the entire population of Wales might not have been more than about 200,000 persons, so out of that population to export 2,000 men to a foreign destination is actually a pretty significant achievement. If they were all Welsh (not a fair assumption I admit) that would be like 1 in 50 men of Wales serving as mercenaries in just that company at any given time. While this would still give us low estimates on what percentage of Welsh men travelled far in their lives, it's not insignificant. In general, it's impossible to give definitive estimates on the percentage of people in the middle ages that travelled or which were literate in the modern sense, but most single digit percentage answers are pretty reasonable. And that's for Northern Europe which had always been 'dark' and was emerging as a cultural, economic, and political force. Once we get down to the Mediterranean, then we get to something that more closely resembles a continuation of ancient culture. You suggest that the vast majority of people never saw anything produced at a significant distance, but there is one sense where that is definitely and provably not true - metals. Metal ores are not found locally, and it's a rare region that can produce even two or three different metals using local production. The medieval craftsman knew of and utilized a good number - copper, iron, tin, antimony, silver, lead, gold, mercury, zinc (for brass), and arsenic. Tin and silver in particular are relatively rare metals and were only produced in a few locations in the whole continent, but the whole continent depended on trade in those elements. Despite the scarcity of tin, bronze still competed for iron goods in price in many areas, and it would not have been unusual for a local peasant to have a simple bronze knife containing metal mined hundreds of miles away, or for a merchant in a town to pay silver coins mined in places he'd never visit. Actually, mining is another of those areas of craft that I should have mentioned, because in addition to outperforming the ancient world in masonry, even before leaving the middle ages they were outperforming the ancient world in machining and mining technology. And this was also a source movement around the continent, as older mines would play out or the communities become crowded, and the experienced miners from those regions would migrate to newly discovered deposits. When the mines at Rammelsberg opened up, miners from across the continent moved there to assist in the work. My point is that all these 'tiny percentages' add up. Craftsmanship existed at a high level. There were plenty of specialists with a high degree of training. There were plenty of people who had an opportunity to travel. Literacy, mobility, prosperity, and social mobility were low compared to modern standards, but they weren't unusual given the time period, and quietly the Medievals were putting together a technology and social structure that was and would be revolutionary. The local miller in a medieval village knew more about automation and machinery than any craftsman that had existed before him, and as he was also essentially a tax collector he could not have been fully illiterate and innumerate. [/QUOTE]
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