Medieval Farming Villages

[Mutant for Hire]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

I would recommend picking up a book called "Life in a Medieval Village" by Gies.http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?TTL=Life+in+a+Medieval+Village&z=y It should be available at your local Barnes and Noble (which is where I got my copy) it is chock full of information and an easy read as well. I also recommend "Life in a Medieval Castle" and "Life in a Medieval City" by the same author. Great books to read for anyone running a fantasy campaign.

"Life in a Medieval City" is one of the books listed in the bibliography of "Medieval Demographics Made Easy", but yes, I do like the books.

 

I do like confounding people who don't quite realize that things were very different in pre-industrial time. I like people who want to go to a weapon shop to buy a weapon. You don't have weapon shops. Crafted items were not manufactured in standardized models. You went to a blacksmith or preferably a swordsmith who was a specialist in such things and got one made to specification.

 

There's no Hackmaster 2000 model sword. Instead, like the infamous Stradavarius violins, you had weapons made by someone, and a few craftsmen became so famous for their skill, their weapons were very prized. The Muramasa swords of Japan, for example, were very (in)famous.

 

On the bright side, no one ever had anything "off the rack". It was all more or less custom made.

[LordGhee]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

Custom could be ordered.

 

Most blacksmith, Armourer or metalworkers made stock items that they knew a demand existed. example in Mainz germany the twenty or so wepaon smiths kept making things on speck, hoping to sell you might not finish the item so the customer could get a customized item. this information from a blacksmith who also study the history of his craft.

 

example yo make a dozen horse shoe banks of assorted sizes and when a customer came in you fitted the shoe (trimed it ect.).

 

black smith made their living on things like nails.

 

King John of England (of robin hood fame) paid out a million silver to supply his army with crossbow quarrels in one sige alone that lasted a few months in his war with the Barons. Goverment contracts made fortunes back then.

 

Lord Ghee

[LordGhee]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

this looks like the map source for the map in the old robin hood campian book for 3rd. got to check.

 

Lord Ghee

[Roland]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

Wow! I seriously underestimated my size. Perhaps I need to scale back my Village by a bit. And the cattle I was not looking at raising as a food source. I was thinking they would each farm have 2 or three cows they breed amongst each other and the cows only reason would be for dairy. The main animal crop (?) would be sheep and pigs. Perhaps some goats but not many. See, I am too much the city boy. I didn't even know sheep produced milk. Is that what they did in ancient greece? I know they raised alot of sheep due to the land being what it was.

 

Now to find out how big 3000 acres is.

 

1 square mile = 640 acres

1 acre = 1 furlong × 4 rods

1 furlong = 220 yards = 1/8 mile

4 rods = 22 yards = 1/80 mile

 

Medieval farmland was typically laid out in 1-acre plots. An acre was about how much one man with a team of oxen could plow in one day. The furlong was the length of a furrow. After plowing one furrow, the farmer would rest his oxen, then turn them around and plow back in the other direction.

 

A family's plots would not be adjacent, but would be scattered. This would ensure that the characteristics of the family's plots (slope, drainage, soil type, etc.) would exhibit greater diversity, which would help to hedge against the risk of extreme growing conditions in a given year.

 

In the early middle ages, they plowed with oxen. Later, after better harnesses were developed, they were able to use horses. Your peasants will need some sort of livestock to pull their plows. If they have dairy cows, they will have a supply of oxen (which are created by neutering male calves).

[Threnody]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

Each farm would grow at most 2 corps with most growing one.

Nope. That kinda specializing isn't medieval. They grew some of everything needed, with spare area going to cash crop.

 

Each farm would have a cow or two and maybe some chickens

Nope. Cows were rare; they take a lot of land. The rich have some. Plain folks have goats or pigs, sheep not often. Chickens are right tho. Everybody had chickens.

 

Beyond the farm would be a Sheep Herder that kept a flock grazing in the hills most of the time.

Right. That's where you'd have sheep; not in the villiage.

 

2. How many cows would be needed to supply dairy (Milk and Cheese) for this area?

Cow's milk was considered unsafe an unhealthy. People prefered goat's, donkey's, mare's an maybe sheep's milk.

[Markdoc]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

Custom could be ordered.

 

Most blacksmith, Armourer or metalworkers made stock items that they knew a demand existed. example in Mainz germany the twenty or so wepaon smiths kept making things on speck, hoping to sell you might not finish the item so the customer could get a customized item. this information from a blacksmith who also study the history of his craft.

 

That's not really true - for a start, blacksmiths and armourers were seperate job categories, but even big centres of armour specialisation like Mainz and Graz did not often make things on spec. - records make it plain that they only worked to order, and they were often back-ordered months or even a couple of years in advance. What they would do is make blanks - prepared metal suitable in size and quality that could be made into things since that often took as long or longer than bashing out munition weapons and armour.

 

example yo make a dozen horse shoe banks of assorted sizes and when a customer came in you fitted the shoe (trimed it ect.).

 

Same point - you wouldn't make a dozen different sizes - you might make a few extra shoes of the same size and then fit them as required, but most smiths simply kept the metal rods handy. It's not actually as big a deal as it sounds - I've watched the Carlsberg smith make a new horsehoe and fit it from scratch in about half an hour. The whole idea of "making things in different sizes in advance" doesn't seem to have caught on until the 19th century.

 

cheers, Mark

[Phil]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

On the tavern/inn point, i think the inn of fantasy stereotype (such as the Prancing Pony in Bree) would be rare indeed. But as any inhabitant of rural england today will vouch, a village would not need to be particularly large before a pub of some sort sprang up, particularly where that village lay on a major transit route.

 

I have been to more than one village in England which has literally been little more than a couple of houses and a pub. Dont underestimate the importance of the pub as not only a watering hole, but a community centre and place to exchange news and gossip.

 

This website supports this supposition of mine, and gives an indication of how it would be possible:

 

http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales13.htm

[Markdoc]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

Yeah but the key phrase is"One village craft was so widely practiced that it hardly belonged to craftsmen. Every village not only had its brewers, but had them all up and down the street. Many if not most of them were women. Ale was as necessary to life in an English medieval village as bread, but where flour-grinding and bread-baking were strictly guarded seigneurial monopolies, brewing was everywhere freely permitted and freely practiced"

 

So there's no question that medieval taverns and inns existed - I've visited some whose founding dates back to Angevin times in the UK. But all the old ones are in cities or on pilgrim routes. The old traditional village pub dates back in most cases only 150-200 years: long after the medieval alewife had ceased to exist.

 

But in medival times when alewives were common, few if any of them owned a real sit-down tavern: those were strictly regulated by licence and usually belonged to wealthy merchants who imported strong beer from the continent - and not unnaturally that kind of person wasn't found in your average village (they might be found in wealthy villages like the Cotswold wool towns during the 1500's though).

 

cheers, Mark

[Dale A. Ward]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

On the tavern/inn point' date=' i think the inn of fantasy stereotype (such as the Prancing Pony in Bree) would be rare indeed. But as any inhabitant of rural england today will vouch, a village would not need to be particularly large before a pub of some sort sprang up, particularly where that village lay on a major transit route.[/quote']

To be fair, you must bear in mind that Bree was more civilized and urban than what would be termed a village. It was a major crossroads whose population was an eclectic mix of hobbits, humans, and a few dwarves. It would be expected to have a large central meeting place like a tavern/inn.

 

Even Hobbiton was large and civilized enough to have a pub.

[Curufea]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

Although - Tolkein's shire was modelled more on the villages of his time, rather than actual medieval times. He took the best of what he liked about England to create his world, especially the Shire.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

Another point of note...

We REALLY can't look at Tolkien for references here.

While he may have set many of the benchmarks upon which modern FRPG's were established, remember that most of the civilization we see in the Western region of Middle Earth is basically 18th century rural england with the technology retarded and the serial numbers filed off.

 

Tipping one back in a pub with your mates, while you smoke a nice pipe, and then tucking your thumbs into your waistcoat and dancing the buckles off your shoes does not reflect "medieval" in any way...

 

Few pubs, nor much in the way of pipes, no waistcoats, and precious few buckles on shoes, mate... A hobbit could wander in to the inn at the beginning of Treasure Island and the only things that'd likely cause remark are his size and hairy feet.

 

Neat thread, BTW...

[Mutant for Hire]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

I would like to emphasize that Tolkien's Middle Earth was in no way meant to be any sort of medieval world. It is an eclectic blend of a lot of different cultures, dating from nineteenth century rural England all the way back to Charlemagne, and possibly older elements than that. Another thing to point out is that the economics of Middle Earth were incredibly ill defined. Tolkien didn't particularly want to tell a realistic story, he wanted to tell a myth the way he liked to.

 

There is very little indication of how Bilbo and Frodo made their living, though the implication is that they rented out land to lower class hobbits, but it's never explicitly said that Bilbo or Frodo ever owned anything other than Bag End. He just made the two of them hobbit gentry and how they supported themselves was left rather vague.

 

Yes, you can make Middle Earth work, but you really have to work at filling in all the gaps that Tolkien left blank and trying to figure out how to keep those elements from getting in the way of what Tolkien already established.

 

Frankly, Discworld does a far better job at creating a fantasy world that actually feels plausible, and the main reason for that is that Pratchett has been increasingly hitting the history books to flesh out his world.

[Glupii]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

WOW! This stuff is great! You guys are a fountain of useful knowledge. I learned alot just by reading these pages. so I am going to put something down here and see if I have adjusted my thoughts on the village well enough.

 

The village is in a clearing bordered on three sides by mountains and one one side by cliffs falling off to the sea. This area is about 30 miles by 5 miles in size and is only accessible by boat or by a pass that is only open 4 -5 months out of the year through the high mountains. There is a river that runs through the area and off the cliffs into the sea. This river is fed by mountain streams.

 

The area is pretty much isolated but does have a Lord (Baron) that is in charge of the area for the Kingdom Ruler. However he spends the majority of his time in the Capital city at court so his Magestrate generally runs things. Under him is a Sherrif who acts as Capt. of the Guard as well as chief civilian police authority.

 

The population of the village proper will be around 300-350 and will have 12-15 outlying farmsteads run by extended families. These farms would be about an acer in size with one or two being as large as two. All the farms grow a variety of crops and a certain amount for the lord of the area. Fishing is not a large portion of the economy but there is enough done to supplement the diets of the villagers. Several farmers also grow pigs and chickens and one deals almost exclusively with sheep and goats.

 

In the town proper there is a pub that also have several rooms that are usually taken up by farmers from the outlying farms on the days they come into town for supplies and trading. Several folk brew in town but the tavern owner has the rep for the best ale in town. there are a few other craftsman in town that are able to make a living from their trades but largely everyone makes their own things and anything they make extra they barter off on market day which happenes once a month.

 

How does this sound so far?

[Roland]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

If the land bordering on the sea ends with a steep cliff, how do the people access the sea for trade, fishing, etc.?

 

The outlying farmsteads run by extended families will have to be a lot bigger than 1-2 acres. If they were farming full-time (i.e., not spending a lot of time fishing), I would say at least 3 acres per able-bodied adult male, and more likely 5 acres unless the land is especially fertile or extremely limited in availability.

 

Crops would be rotated to maintain the soil. The key is to include a legume in the rotation - e.g., beans, peas, clover - to replace nitrogen in the soil. Medieval Europeans rotated peas with grains. Peas provided protein for the diet, as well as nitrogen for the soil. (OTOH, your villagers might rely on fish both for protein and to fertilize the soil.)

 

It sounds like Norway might be a close historical analog to what you are trying to create. Your geography sounds like a fjord. The Norwegians (and Scandinavians/Vikings in general) had economies that mixed farming with various seagoing pursuits - fishing, trading, and raiding. That might give you a focus for further research.

[Vondy]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

WOW! This stuff is great! You guys are a fountain of useful knowledge. I learned alot just by reading these pages. so I am going to put something down here and see if I have adjusted my thoughts on the village well enough.

 

The village is in a clearing bordered on three sides by mountains and one one side by cliffs falling off to the sea. This area is about 30 miles by 5 miles in size and is only accessible by boat or by a pass that is only open 4 -5 months out of the year through the high mountains. There is a river that runs through the area and off the cliffs into the sea. This river is fed by mountain streams.

 

Its already been asked, but how do they get to the sea, via the river? The sea will be a major potential food source for them. You will probably end up with a small community of fishermen in addition to the farmers - and they might have a smoking or salting house.

 

The area is pretty much isolated but does have a Lord (Baron) that is in charge of the area for the Kingdom Ruler. However he spends the majority of his time in the Capital city at court so his Magestrate generally runs things. Under him is a Sherrif who acts as Capt. of the Guard as well as chief civilian police authority.

 

Okay, please take this as what it is - "information" - and not as criticism or "telling you what to do," which its not intended to be:

 

A baron would have more than one knight, each with a manor and village, under him. Also, a baron would likely rate some sort of fortification (though that wouldn't be a hard rule). There is some wiggle room on this if its a new settlment and his title is something akin to march warden - a frontier noble with more military authority than social status and more problems. I'm not one to dictate titles, but someone who runs the place in his stead is likely to be called a steward, unless he's decided they run it and he just collects revenues and visits occassionally, in which case they might be called a constable or bailiff. And a Sheriff was a royal appointee who was put in place as a check on the nobility, often with authority ranging into more than one county. The captain of his guard (how big is it) would be his local military rep, but they didn't really have official law enforcement. His job would just be to execute his bosses orders. The local "cop" was usually a respected peasant who bore the title beadl, and who, in addition to keeping order for the lord (sometimes with the help of the lords men), was responsible for watching the seed stock and making sure everyone showed up and put in their fuedal service in the fields as directed by the reeve (the chief peasant). Also, to avoid the massive costs of a large military unit on the frontier a strong yeomanry is a good route. A yeoman put in his feudal service as a soldier as opposed to working the lords fields in exchange for his lands. At different times this was a freeman's slot or a peasant's slot.

 

The population of the village proper will be around 300-350 and will have 12-15 outlying farmsteads run by extended families. These farms would be about an acer in size with one or two being as large as two. All the farms grow a variety of crops and a certain amount for the lord of the area. Fishing is not a large portion of the economy but there is enough done to supplement the diets of the villagers. Several farmers also grow pigs and chickens and one deals almost exclusively with sheep and goats.

 

All good, though the outlying farmsteads might be a mite larger in terms of acres.

 

In the town proper there is a pub that also have several rooms that are usually taken up by farmers from the outlying farms on the days they come into town for supplies and trading. Several folk brew in town but the tavern owner has the rep for the best ale in town. there are a few other craftsman in town that are able to make a living from their trades but largely everyone makes their own things and anything they make extra they barter off on market day which happenes once a month.

 

Historic or not, its a good idea as a genre trope and meeting place for PCs. None of us have lived in a world quite like the middle ages and few if any have advanced history degrees specializing in the subject. Small anachronisms that give us an anchor of familiarity in the setting are good things in my estimation.

 

How does this sound so far?

 

Keep at it. You're doing fine.

[Curufea]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

I've always found the description of a tanner/parchement maker from one of the Cadfael books fascinating. A small building downstream and preferrably downwind of the village becuase of the smell and large quantities of water used for curing hides. The skins hung up in rows for drying.

 

I haven't yet worked out a way to include them into the game.

[Glupii]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

OK so I will increase the acerage of the outlying farms to around 7 acers given that most have several generations working it and a fair number of able bodies. Given that they also do the rudimentary blacksmithing and carpentry as well as animal husbandry (Pig's, chickens, horses, sheep). Also due to the fact that some of the acerage would be taken up by the animals as well.

 

As for the fishing, they have a path down to the shoreline and have a small harbor built. But given the difficulty in getting the things up to the village, I figured their would likely only be 2 families fishing with perhaps 3-4 boats total. Like I say, enough to supplement the diet but not enough to be a major source of income.

 

The political structure is in place for a reason that I don't wish to post here (Mainly because my players read this too) But I thank you for the concern on that. And the proper titles are appreciated. The main thing I will say is that the town is under the thumb of the gov't like everywhere else but perhaps a little less so for being so far away and having nothing that the Gov't considers useful. The post of Baron here is considered a backwater position at best. So as long as they pay all the formal lipservice to the Gov't Reps, they are pretty much left alone.

 

Please keep the comments coming. I am really soaking this stuff up like a sponge. I REALLY appreciate the time and effort you are giving me on this, folks.

[Basil]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

WOW! This stuff is great! You guys are a fountain of useful knowledge. I learned alot just by reading these pages. so I am going to put something down here and see if I have adjusted my thoughts on the village well enough.

 

The village is in a clearing bordered on three sides by mountains and one one side by cliffs falling off to the sea. This area is about 30 miles by 5 miles in size and is only accessible by boat or by a pass that is only open 4 -5 months out of the year through the high mountains. There is a river that runs through the area and off the cliffs into the sea. This river is fed by mountain streams.

 

The area is pretty much isolated but does have a Lord (Baron) that is in charge of the area for the Kingdom Ruler. However he spends the majority of his time in the Capital city at court so his Magestrate generally runs things. Under him is a Sherrif who acts as Capt. of the Guard as well as chief civilian police authority.

 

The population of the village proper will be around 300-350 and will have 12-15 outlying farmsteads run by extended families. These farms would be about an acer in size with one or two being as large as two. All the farms grow a variety of crops and a certain amount for the lord of the area. Fishing is not a large portion of the economy but there is enough done to supplement the diets of the villagers. Several farmers also grow pigs and chickens and one deals almost exclusively with sheep and goats.

 

In the town proper there is a pub that also have several rooms that are usually taken up by farmers from the outlying farms on the days they come into town for supplies and trading. Several folk brew in town but the tavern owner has the rep for the best ale in town. there are a few other craftsman in town that are able to make a living from their trades but largely everyone makes their own things and anything they make extra they barter off on market day which happenes once a month.

 

How does this sound so far?

First off, I'll echo everything Von D-Man said, especially regarding titles and positions. However, on most manors there wasn't really anything that could be called a "Guard"; defense came from the "Levy," which was pretty much all able-bodied men. they had only the rudiments of training, and pretty much had to use farm tools and bows for weapons. So, no "Captain of the Guard."

 

Second, I suggest Life on the English Manor By H. Bennett. Excellent "close up" view of 1200-1350 English manors.

 

Now for some info, mostly from the above book --- A head-of-household with 5 acres would not be able to sustain his family on that small an amount of land, and would have to supliment what he could grow with payment-in-kind from larger landowners for working on their land. 5 acres sounds like it should be plenty, but medieval farming was horribly wasteful.

 

Part of that wastefulness was due to the main method of farming, called Open Field Farming. The typical manor had three large fields, each divided into a number of strips, the strips being 1/2 to 1 acre in size. Each head-of-household owned a number of strips, scattered through the three fields. At any given time, one field would be planted to peas, beans, vetch, cabbage (rarely), etc., another to grain (oats, barley, rye), and the third left fallow. The fields would be rotated; that is, which crops were where was altered from year to year.

 

Because the strips were so small, there was no efficient way to plow, sow, or reap them, leading to a great deal of excess work; the presence of bauks of unused land between the strips added to the problem.

 

As well as the three fields, there was a large area where all the cattle (cows, sheep, goats, etc.) were pastured. This land was shared by all, leading to its name, the "Common." After the grain was harvested and gleaned, the cattle, and any geese, were allowed to feed on that one of the Open Fields, for a while.

 

All houses will have a bit of land around them (called a croft, glebe, and other names), on which various herbs, vegetables, etc. were grown, thereby broadening the diet which would otherwise be legumes and grain only. Also, this is where chickens and geese were raised.

 

Note the presence of what were called "Assarts." An assart was land hacked out of the woods and wilds around the manor. An assart belonged to one householder, who could farm it how he liked. He did have to pay rent to the lord of the manor, the rent being in kind or in work, but then he had to pay rent (or perform "villein service") for his regular lands, so that wasn't an onerous burden.

 

BTW, it's worth noting that while the law and courts (especially royal and aristocratic courts) made a big deal out of whether someone was free or serf, in practice the more important distinction was how wealthy a man was. The serf with 30 or 60 acres, a pair of oxen of his own, etc., was in far better straits than the freeman with 5 acres and one goat. And note, both situations were far from uncommon!

 

BTW, if your manor is that isolated, it's really going to need a blacksmith, even if he's second rate. Taking stuff to the nearest town, or waiting for a travelling "fix-it man" isn't going to be enough. For the same reason, an inn (even if a poor quality one) is a good idea. However, your outlying farmers (who would be owners of assarts) would stay with family when they came to town; note that assarts were rarely more than a half-day's travel away, too.

 

I hope this is helpful; anything that's not good for playing can be dropped or altered, no matter how inauthentic the change is.

[Glupii]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

One thing to note here that may help some, I am not looking to recreate EXACTLY the medieval village for in the village I am creating all the land is technically owned by the Baron but in reality the landowners basically do what they want as long as they keep the Baron's manor in foodstuffs and trade goods. Since my gov't model is so different, lets not concentrate too much on that.

 

However I do see your point on the size iof the farms. Would 7-10 acers for a family of a 12-15 (figuring 7-8 ablebodied men women and older children available for working the farm and animals) be sufficient?

 

And I appreciate the insite as to the general layout of the farm That will come in handy, I am sure.

 

As for the Blacksmith, there IS a General smith in the area under the employ of the Baron's Manor. And he takes care of alot of the major civilian needs as well. But for simple things like shoeing horses, mending tools and such, it would more likely be something that they can repair right there rather than lugging it into town to have the smith look at it.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

However I do see your point on the size iof the farms. Would 7-10 acers for a family of a 12-15 (figuring 7-8 ablebodied men women and older children available for working the farm and animals) be sufficient?

From the agriculture link given above:

In England, the idea farm size for a family was a "yardland" (24-30 acres) in size. Only about a quarter of the English farm families had this much land (or a bit more) before the Bubonic Plague , most had ten or fewer. Those farmers possessing a yardland were able to work their land efficiently enough to feed themselves and prodice a surplus for sale.

I don't know what the typical family size would have been, but 24-30 ablebodied people seems a bit high given that description and the definition:

The acre was selected as approximately the amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in one day.

While crops certainly needed upkeep, I find it unlikely they needed continuous upkeep equivalent to a full day of tilling, even given the other demands of a farm.

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

Keep in mind that the area you said was available for farming (30 miles by 5 miles) covers 90,000 acres.

 

You've got plenty of room to support farms of 5 if not 10 times the size your talking about, as well as 5 to 10 times the population.

 

TB

[Curufea]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

Yes - acres are not linear lengths, but areas...

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

Yes - acres are not linear lengths' date=' but areas...[/quote']My mistake 1 sq mile = 640 acres, therefore 150 sq miles = 96,000 acres.

 

TB

[Threnody]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

However I do see your point on the size iof the farms. Would 7-10 acers for a family of a 12-15 (figuring 7-8 ablebodied men women and older children available for working the farm and animals) be sufficient?

Problem here! In medieval times people would think of their family as parents, siblings, kids, sib's kids and such like, so that's 'bout the right size for a family, but it ain't a household.

 

A household would be husband+wife, and 1 to 4 kids. The "man of the household" would own strips of land, and see to the plowing, sowing, and harvesting of it. So X acres feeds only 3-6 people. Like someone said, 5 acres was barely enough for a household. You've still got 3 to 4 times too high a pop density.

Back to the drawing board.

[Roland]

Re: Medieval Farming Villages

 

However I do see your point on the size iof the farms. Would 7-10 acers for a family of a 12-15 (figuring 7-8 ablebodied men women and older children available for working the farm and animals) be sufficient?

 

For a family of this size, you would probably want 20-30 acres for crops. Depending on the extent of their feudal duties and the availability and fertility of the land, they might be able to farm a bit more than that. And they would need additional land for any livestock.