![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
On medieval life
This is a cross-post from the Edhellond group - I want to gather as many opinions as possible. Sorry for the repetition, fellow haven-dwellers. *ducks*
I was updating the Halabor population again. I'm over 100 different characters by now, 99% of whom wouldn't even appear in the story, but I'm the kind of geek who likes to have a detailled background. Freaky, I know, but... *shrugs*
Anyway, I dug out the "Medieval demographics" file I'd printed out somewhen in the Stone Ages. The one that tells you how many people are needed to feed a certain craftsman on the long run. Now, with Halabor having about 700 inhabitants (not to mention the needs of the garrison of Cair Andros), I came to 4 tailors, 4 furriers, 1 tanner, 1 ironsmith, 1 bronzesmith (or jeweller) and so on and on and on.
Now the file states that a population like that could feed one bather. Question: what the heck is a bather? I know there were baths in the Middle Ages, but what would a bather do?
Also: how many people would be stationed in the garrison of Cair Andros? Halabor is just this side of Anduin, across the southern end of that island, so it's conceivable (or so I hope) that the soldiers would come over occasionally to buy things, eat and drink in the taverns, etc., even if they do have their own resources in the garrison.
Further: the file mentions a water carrier. Does anyone have any idea how those guys worked? I deem they wouldn't run around with a bowl of water - it would be barrels on carriages, filled with clear water from a well or a spring, right?
A few hundred more medieval questions are coming up in the not-too-far future.
I was updating the Halabor population again. I'm over 100 different characters by now, 99% of whom wouldn't even appear in the story, but I'm the kind of geek who likes to have a detailled background. Freaky, I know, but... *shrugs*
Anyway, I dug out the "Medieval demographics" file I'd printed out somewhen in the Stone Ages. The one that tells you how many people are needed to feed a certain craftsman on the long run. Now, with Halabor having about 700 inhabitants (not to mention the needs of the garrison of Cair Andros), I came to 4 tailors, 4 furriers, 1 tanner, 1 ironsmith, 1 bronzesmith (or jeweller) and so on and on and on.
Now the file states that a population like that could feed one bather. Question: what the heck is a bather? I know there were baths in the Middle Ages, but what would a bather do?
Also: how many people would be stationed in the garrison of Cair Andros? Halabor is just this side of Anduin, across the southern end of that island, so it's conceivable (or so I hope) that the soldiers would come over occasionally to buy things, eat and drink in the taverns, etc., even if they do have their own resources in the garrison.
Further: the file mentions a water carrier. Does anyone have any idea how those guys worked? I deem they wouldn't run around with a bowl of water - it would be barrels on carriages, filled with clear water from a well or a spring, right?
A few hundred more medieval questions are coming up in the not-too-far future.