Weregild & Wampum

I was watching a video on Youtube and they mentioned weregild which lead to a rabbit whole of Chatgpt and Wikipeda on the subject. I played a lot of RuneQuest back in the day and don't remember them ever covering the topic but apparently they did at some point.

I think more RPG settings should have some kind of Weregild. I know I'm gonna write up something at some point specific to my setting, until then I'll drop a few notes here. I particularly like that they added an extra 100 shillings for killing a low ranking cleric during mass. Can't have that.

Act / Victim Type	Wergild / Compensation
Severed foot	~50 shillings
Eye loss	50 shillings
Ear loss	6–12 shillings
Nose pierce / mutilation	~9 shillings
Finger / Nail injuries	1–9 shillings
Freeman killed	~100–200 shillings
Nobleman / Thegn	300 (Kent) to 1,200 (Mercia)
Cleric (low-ranking)	300 shillings; 400 if during mass
Duke / Archbishop	~600 shillings (Lex Alamannorum)
Archbishop / Nobleman (Cnut-era)	15,000 thrymsas
King	30,000 thrymsas
Missi dominici (Charlemagne)	3× regular wergild

I imagine a weregild arrangement with local Goblin tribes to prevent all-out war. Something PCs may know little about. Since PCs tend to be wanderers and somewhat outside the system they could be forced to pay or be handed over to the Goblins to satisfy the weregild for their raids into Goblin caves, etc. This could balance out the treasure gained and might encourage PCs to determine the status of a tribe before going berserk on them.

Population Density

Population density

The image shows population density per square mile according to the Poll-tax of 1377. Since Lords love their taxes we can assume it's pretty accurate.
Dark = 60
Grey = 40-60
White = below 40

Few villages are more than about a mile or two from their nearest neighbour. In regions of better farmland, the villages are closer (similar sized fields but less heath and waste filling out the manor).

A market village is a large village with a market (possibly illegal). A market village will be roughly 4 miles or less (1 hour walk) from any other market village and 12 miles (4 hour walk) or less from a proper market town. Larger towns might be a 3 day walk away. You don't go to the larger town very often.

Markets typically happen once a week, with different villages having markets on different days to avoid conflicts. Typically a shepard or farmer living in a village or thorpe would sell their excess goods (wool, eggs, etc) to a merchant who would take them to market at the market village or market town for re-sell. This way the peasants earn a little money and don't have to sit all day selling stuff. Also this way the town has food.

I imagine they probably had folks (I call them peddlers on the rural encounters charts) who would buy up goods in the nearest market town, pile them into the wagon, and hit up a village market each day making a marginal living in this way. They might also buy up produce for sale in the town markets since few villagers have the time or money to haul their goods to market and sit in a stall all day trying to sell it.

I figure a ratio of 9 villages for each town and 9 towns for each city.

Culture level can be used to help determine how many inhabitants are in a settled region. The GM can determine how many villages are in each 'settled' 6-mile hex using table 1.

Table 1: Population Density

1d100	Culture	Families in 6-mile hex	People sqr mile
01-05	Primitive	62-300	10-50
06-10	Desert (Nomad)	--	--
11-15	Oriental Horse (Nomad)	--	--
16-30	Classical (Civilized)	300-500	50-80
31-40	Dark Ages (Barbarian)	62-370	10-40
41-50	Medieval (Civilized)	370-550	40-90
51-80	Late Medieval (Civilized)	550-744	90-120
81-00	Oriental or Renaissance (Civilized)	745-1426	120-230

So for example the settled areas in England of 1377 above would be Medieval (Civilized) and have roughly 370-550 families in a 6-mile Hex. Since villages range in size from 20-1,000 families that means the hex might contain 1 village of 550 families or two of 250 each, etc. The closer to a Town or City the larger the individual villages are likely to be.

The lightly populated areas might be considered Dark Ages (Barbarian) which primarily indicates the size of the settlements and the availability of craftsmen and such there more than anything else.

3-Bay Hall House

The 3-bay hall house can be thought of as the poor mans hall house. It is similar in almost all ways to the Open Hall house except it is more compact, having three bays instead of four. The result is the parlour is gone from the ground floor and the service is gone from the upper floor.

Open Hall House

The Open Hall House or Wealden Hall house began as a manor house during the Saxon era but gradually as things progressed yeoman started to build them, although somewhat smaller in scale.


Roof
The roof was commonly thatch but in wealthier areas and later times the thatch might be replaced by clay or slate tiles. Since the supporting structure were generally two feet apart it probably wasn't very safe to walk up on a thatch roof. Somewhere near the middle the roof would have a smoke hole or vents to allow the smoke from the hearth to exit. In later days this would be replaced by a chimney.

First Floor

The house had four equal-sized 'bays' created by the framing skeleton.  The First Floor (1) has two areas that did not connect to each other. On one side we have the service area where servants slept, and the other side we have the Solar where the master of the house and family slept. The Solar took up two bays, so it hung over part of the hall below. Between the two was an area open to the Hall below which created a grand room and allowed smoke from the hearth to rise instead of choking everyone while it worked its way out of the smoke hole. The First floor was accessed by a ladder or steep stairs until late in the medieval period.

Ground Floor

The bay beneath where the servant slept was the buttery (for storing food) and the pantry (for storing drink). These are intentionally unheated to help preserve things a bit. On the bay on the far side you had the Parlour (2), which was where the owners of the house worked and stored gear.

In the center the two bays are connected to form a large, "Open Hall" where the hearth was for cooking and general warmth. Half of the hall was open to the first floor above (3) to allow the smoke to rise out of everyone's way. The hall had two doors to allow a breeze to feed the fire as necessary. The master and family would generally sit on the parlour-side of the hall (away from the doors and high roof), where it would be warmest. The household would cook, eat, and drink in the hall and guests probably slept there.  Frequently there was a screen between the hearth and the buttery/pantry areas to reflect heat back into the main hall and to keep those too rooms as chill as possible.

Common design modifications to the basic Open Hall House:

• Wooden slatted windows, with glazed windows in later years
• Jettied first floor end bays and possibly jettied upstairs toilet
• Corridor linking the front and rear doors
• Brick chimney place and stack, usually positioned between the front and rear doors, usually combined with the corridor listed above
• Floor over the Open Hall to increase space on the First Floor, generally combined with the chimney as the hearth smoke needs to go somewhere
• Jettied central bay inline with the end bays, this could be to accommodate a walkway between the two separate ends of the first floor, or it could be associated with the floor over the Open Hall above
• Jettied first floor areas filled in from below to increase space on the ground floor
• Window extensions and bay windows
• Stairs instead of ladders, may serve the solar only
• Second story, often jettied further out than the first floor

These modifications could be made to an existing house or during the design phase of a new house. Certain modifications such as the second story will appear far more often in urban buildings than in open hall houses in a village

(1)  I'm using the British terminology of first floor being the floor above the ground floor, second floor is above the first floor, what Americans call the second story and third story. I decided to use the British term because I'm talking about British buildings and it seems appropriate.

(2) English spelling, why not.

(3) Presumably why it is named an Open Hall house.

Best of the Web: Medieval Demographics Made Easy

Rob Conley is one of many that are hosting Medieval Demographics Made Easy. A brilliant little bit of accessible research that everyone who plays in any kind of medieval environment should take a look at. I've linked to the landing page instead of the PDF itself so anyone looking for more info on the pdf can find it there.

Saxon Hovel

This image comes from A Handbook of Pictorial History by Henry W. Donald, available through Project Gutenberg. The image is actually from the "BERGER" Handwork cards advertised in the rear of the book. It's a nice little floorplan. I don't know how accurate but it's suitable as far as I care.

I've cleaned up some of the unnecessary clutter and added a door. The lines indicate 2x2 yard(?) squares. The dark bits at the corner and center appear to be support columns. I'm not sure what the small box on the right is, perhaps that represents the chimney hole.

On the drawing it's clear the thing is a waddle & daube construction although I've read the Saxons used regular wood plank walls as wood was plentiful at the time.

The roof is thatched and would be replaced yearly. In hilly areas the building might be built up next to a small cliff allowing one to walk right ontop of the house. I've seen images of scottish houses with live grass on there roof being trimmed by sheep. Also in hilly areas you might have a basement, or partial basement as it would probably be easier to make one half the house two stories high than to dig everything out to lay a flat foundation.

Saxon Farming

From A Handbook of Pictorial History by Henry W. Donald, available through Project Gutenberg. These two figures show Saxon farming but they may as well show any medieval farming as I don't think major gains were made during the period.


(Fig. 1): January. This month was called by the English, when heathen, “Wolf-monath,” because the wolves were most troublesome at this period of the year. When the English became Christians it was called “Aefter-Yule,” i.e., After-Christmas. Here there is a ploughing scene. Four oxen yoked together in couples are drawing a plough of a very solid-looking type. (In those days horses were not employed in farm work.) A farm-hand, bare-headed, bare-footed, and wearing only a single garment, is goading the oxen with a sharp-pointed ox-goad, similar to a long spear in appearance. A man in superior attire is guiding the plough, while another is scattering seed as the plough passes. A good representation of the plough of that period is shown here. 



(Fig. 2): August. This month was called by the English “Arn-moneth” or “Barn-moneth,” i.e., “harvest-month.” This drawing gives a representation of a farm wagon of good construction, and of the costumes of the workers, who appear to be of at least two grades—some bare-footed, wearing a single garment, while others have better-cut garments, and wear shoes and stockings in addition. At the head of a party is a man with a spear in his right hand, blowing a horn, who may be either superintending the work or may be the “advance guard” of a hunting party entering the field. The implements, sickles, and forks appear to be very similar to those in use at the present time.

Social Class: The Lower Classes

Townsman
A Freeman that lives in a town. Generally considered higher than a Freeman peasant because they have skills in crafts or are merchants.

Yeoman
Poor farmers that paid rent to work their land. Also known as a Freeman. As a culture gets more civilized the number of yeoman increases as the incentives of wealth for their efforts encourages harder work and greater crop yields than Serfs ever produced. A yeoman that moved to a town would be considered a townsman.

Serfs
Poor farmers that owe a debt to the lord and must work the Lord's land for him (might include mines as well). They can depend upon the Lords protection to an extent. The children of a Serf are also Serfs. After the black plague reduced the population of Serfs in England the peasants revolted resulting in a large number becoming Yeoman. A serf that escaped their lot and made it to a Freetown, and avoided capture for a year would be considered free and be considered a Townsman.

Slaves/Thralls
One that is owned by another. Slavery was common in the Dark Ages but mostly gone by the medieval period. The main difference between Slaves and Serfs is that slaves are protected because they are property, not because the owner has an legal requirement to do so.

Subinfeudation 102: The Manor

Growing up as a GM the players saved villages again and again and those villages were inevitably reskinned version of the village of Homlet (T1)  or Orleans (N1). I saw some villages in the Harn products but somehow my mind got stuck on village = manor. I didn't really have a solid grip on what an actual medieval manor looked like and when I finally found a map of one I was more than a little surprised.

So here is the manor of Harmondsworth, a real medieval manor.

Note the Bath-to-London road cuts across the center of the fief from East-to-West. This is an old Roman road so its probably pretty nice. The fields that pay the bills dominate the center with Heath and Moor on the outskirts. The scale of the map is three miles wide and two miles high (as you can see by the red/black bars) but the guts of the feif are mostly within a one to one and a half mile area. Surprisingly the manor is not just one settlement but five.

• Harmondsworth, the village proper is on at the Northwest of the fields. It has the same name as the manor which is probably not an accident.  It has a Parish church (the church of St Mary) that probably served as the social center of the fief and that still exists despite being rebuilt over the centuries. Harmondsworth is also the location of the Great Barn the largest barn in England (and it is still there despite the proximity to the airport). In 1391 the Harmondsworth village contained 1330 inhabitants so Harmondworth village would be where the bulk of the manor's inhabitants actually live.
• Longford - A hamlet at the fords of the River Colne and its distributaries. Judging by the name their presumably was no bridge and the rivers had to be forded. Folks that arrived near dusk would probably stay in the hamlet rather than attempt to cross in the dark which justified the place. In 1337 Longford had 30 inhabited buildings.
• Perry Oaks - The manor house at the Southern edge of the fields. Pretty isolated from the peasants. Initially the fief was held by the Church (and likely administered out of St Mary's but eventually sold to Bishop William of Wykeham who built the manor in Perry Oaks for some reason.
• Heathrow - During the medieval period Heathrow or Heath Row was a one-sided lane of smallholdings at the edge of the Heath. Now its an airport, go figure.
• Sipson - Initially this was just a major farmstead but eventually additional buildings raised the place to the level of hamlet. In later maps Sipson had their own dedicated fields so this hamlet may be a case of peasants just building closer to the workplace to cut down on the commute.

Beware the Moors

Perhaps someone has an answer for why old maps have two different names for what is essentially the same thing we have:

• Heath - an area of uncultivated land usually characterized by heather, gorse, and coarse grasses.
• Moors - A tract of open uncultivated upland; a heath.

I think it's probably two old local names or one of the terms changed over time.

The maps I've found are all from the sixteen and seventeenth centuries and they show the "fields" subdivided so that Sipson has their own fields, as does Heathrow, so there is no way to tell if the folks in these neighboring hamlets considered themselves to belong to Harmondsworth or to belong to Longford/Heathrow or Sipson.

History of Harmondsworth Manor

• William the conquerer grants Harmondsworth to an abbey in Rouen
• William of Wykeham (1320 or 1324-1404), Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England, bought Harmondsworth in 1391

Subinfeudation 101

England showing Historic Shires with Middlesex highlighted

Empire

Multiple Kingdoms or large regions under the same crown are typically known as an Empire. Examples would be Angevin Empire which at different times contained England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Normandy, Aquitaine, Brittany and other bits of France. Typically they function similar to a Kingdom with various King ruling it all acting as king of the bit and pieces as well.

Kingdom

At the next level we have the Kingdom.
All land in the Kingdom is owned by the crown. That's a lot of territory for one person to control so the crown subdivides everything into Duchies & Shires.

Duchy
A Duchy is basically the same as a Shire (below) except it is controlled by a Duke who is usually a member of the Royal Family and uses the Duchy as a vacation spot and money generator so they can enjoy life at court.

Shires
The term Shire and County are used somewhat interchangeably with shire being older and a bit cooler sounding so I'll use Shire for consistency sake. A shire is held by an Earl. William the Conquerer tried to bring the title Count over from France but it never gained traction. Oddly enough the Earl's wife is known as a Countess, probably because Earless sounded daft. The Shire boundaries throughout England haven't changed much until more modern times although some have been busted up a bit.
An Earl controls most of the land in the Shire (at least land not directly controlled or granted out to someone else by the King). The Earl may also control land in other counties as if he were a normal Baron in those areas.

High Sheriff
To keep a tight reign on things the King usually appoints a High Sheriff yearly. The High Sheriff had number of Sheriff's under their charge and would be responsible for enforcing law and order throughout the Shire (not so much collecting taxes despite some tales, tax collection was primarily the responsibility of the Duke or Earl). The High Sheriff was responsible for organizing the Shire militia, chasing outlaws (tales got that right at least), and dealing with court cases. The High Sheriff was often a commoner but had the power of the King behind them.

Hundreds

Middlesex hundreds with Elthorne highlighted

Each Shire was divided into Hundreds (or wapentake in areas conquered by Vikings). A hundred was an administrative unit for taxation and legal matters and doesn't have a titled holder. Originally a hundred meant that the area could support a hundred hides, or a hundred families, but that changed over time as populations increased and they never bothered to chop up the hundreds to keep up. Each hundred typically had a Bailiff appointed by the king who worked beneath the Sheriff.

Barony
A barony was the same as a Fief (below) except held by a Baron, one of the lowest of all hereditary titles. Being a hereditary title meant the Baron had the ability to pass property to descendants which meant in time a Barony was likely to expand to a number of fiefs through marriage and the blessings of the crown. Baronies were granted directly by the crown rather than by the Earl.

Fief
Each Hundred was subdivided into  fiefs. This isn't exactly true as the fief boundaries and hundred boundaries do not always line up but things get messy if you nit-pick. A feif was usually granted by the Earl to ensure someone loyal was watching the fiefs in the Shire (with the exception of Baronies which the Earl had little control over).

Elthorne Hundred with Harmondsworth highlighted

The fief was originally sized so that it had enough land to support and equip one mounted soldier. Better agricultural methods changed that later.

The Lord of the manor lived in a house known as a manor or manor house (over time the terms fief and manor became interchangeable). A manor might be fortified, in risky areas it might be a very simple Keep, but more often than not during the medieval period the manor was just a nicer houses than the peasants had.

Parish
The Church divided the Kingdom up into a subinfeudation of their own, but were kind enough to mostly duplicate the civil system. The Church used the term Parish for a fief. Each fief had a church to serve the needs of the worshipers in that fief. Over time the terms Parish and fief became interchangeable.

Social Class: The Nobility

King with globus cruciger and sceptre

King/Queen - The ruler of the land.
Prince/Princess - The children of the King/Queen. The Crown Prince, if there is one, is typically the heir to the throne.

The hierarchy of the remaining noble titles can be remembered with the mnemonic device:

"Did Mi'lord Ever Visit Bosworth Battlefield?"

Duke/Duchess - The lord ruling a Duchy or one granted the title ceremonially. Either way they are usually a member of the extended royal family. Beyond being ruled by a Duke a Duchy is like a Shire.
Marquis/Marchioness - A Marcher Lord. Similar to an Earl but with more power because of the risks required subjugating the Marches.
Earl/Countess - A baron that controls a Shire on behalf of the King/Queen.
Viscount/Viscountess - Similar to a High Sheriff but working for a Duke instead of the King. Originally non-heridatry the Viscount became a hereditary title over time.
Baron/Baroness - A hereditary title, typically the holder of one or more fiefs.
Baronetcy/Baronetess - A hereditary title but not a Peer (and thus not entitled to attend the House of Lords).

Well equipped Men-At-Arms

Beneath the hereditary Lords are:
Knight - One granted the honorary title of knighthood by a king/queen, bishop or other political or religious leader for military service.
Man-At-Arms - A term that applies to all military folks, typically mounted and well equipped, despite their title. A Mercenary peasant and Countess armed for battle could both be called a Man-at-Arms despite title or gender although in medieval history female Men-At-Arms were more than a bit rare.

Medieval Research, an introduction

Even the best schools in America tend to give short shrift to the medieval period. You get a bit about the difficulties of a peasant, maybe something on the Manor and castles and pow, Columbus discovered America. A thousand years covered in a week if you are lucky. Hollywood made things worse.
I read a ton of books, most of them dry or outright terrible. Then the internet came around and it was full of information. Some of the information was conflicting, some was amazing (such as the British History Online), the internet is hit and miss that way. As I come across bits & pieces of research I expect to post it on the blog and correct the posts as necessary if I find something was wrong.