Thread: Licensed + Crunchyroll Maoyuu Maou Yuusha
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Old 2013-01-10, 13:28   Link #684
kuromitsu
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Quote:
Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor View Post
Also:
If what you said is true, then those decision makers in central country won't be smart enough to "buy security" by providing the southern countries with many kinds of resources to fight the demons. That alone is (once again) a solid prove that (at least) those people in the central know the "big picture". Even the Demon King herself said that the "Human Kings" apparently know that ending the war will only make things worse (poverty, famine, etc). and that's from episode 1 alone.
*shrug* Then cross the "stupid" part and keep the "warmonger," though frankly I think it's stupid because countries are not run and populated by robots, and a war like this can't continue forever. The more they push it the worse it becomes, and eventually it will come around and bite them in the ass.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ogon_bat View Post
Remember that back then families had plenty of kids on the average (without taking into account the ones that died at birth or before attaining adulthood) because every father wanted more workers for the farm. So even with wars there was plenty of human surplus. Birth Control? Heresy, Heresy! *runs around in circles flapping arms*
Families had plenty of kids because they had no birth control. Not because it was omg heresy (off-topic but the Church wasn't the same back then as it is now, especially in the early Middle Ages...), but because they had no access to easy and effective birth control, and even if they had most of them probably wouldn't have cared because 1) children died a lot more often before reaching adulthood, 2) even if someone grew up to be an adult there was a bigger chance of dying of some kind of sickness or injury, 3) in case of peasants/serfs, yes they needed more workers who could help make farming more effective so the family has an easier time, and also support the family in need or when the older members can't work anymore. But this doesn't mean "plenty of human surplus."

And btw, consider that war means more taxes in money and/or goods = less food for the family = generally less healthy peasants/serfs + strong young men being taken away for soldiering => fewer and less able people working under worse conditions => add some inevitably occurring droughts or epidemics => much less of whatever crops they're raising. (Never mind things like "exhausting" the soil or armed skirmishes between local lords ending with destroyed villages and crops.) This is not exactly something that can continue forever and ever. You can expect peasant revolts (which demand military attention), but it's also a great way to dig your own grave on the long run.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ogon_bat View Post
Those were the upper echelons of society. But nevertheless I beg to differ, to make business you need mostly to know how to add and subtract, maybe write the name of your wares out of memory, but reading was not really necessary to be successful.
Bakers and butchers, the upper echelons of medieval society? Also, again, things were evolving. Judges, lawyers, merchants, bankers, people who regularly handled money knew how to read, and as the middle class developed people belonging there became more and more literate because it gave them an advantage in business and it helped separating them from the lower classes and bringing them closer to the upper class.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ogon_bat View Post
Yeah, but by then it was called The Renaissance :-p
No, actually, it was called, for example, 12th-13th century France. Or Italy. Or, as Sheba said, Iberia under Muslim rule. Etc. As Sheba said, people have this impression of the Middle Ages as being all dark and grimy and intellectually empty and never changing, but that wasn't the case at all. And there were large differences between territories, or even on the same territory in different times.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ogon_bat View Post
But you will agree that it was the church (by its own volition or by law of the land) that provided most of the help to the poor.
Yes, because it was their job. I assume the world of Maou Yuusha also has at least one organized religion.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ogon_bat View Post
Spain (or any other country under Muslim rule) was not part of the medieval ages (since the term not only delimits a time span, but a geographical span since it took place on the governments that substituted the Roman empire).
Wow, this is what they teach in schools nowadays? O___O) It's nice to know that Scandinavia, Ireland, Iceland and what eventually became Russia weren't part of the Middle Ages either...

Also, forgot to add:
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(Uwah, sorry for the size of the previous one, I didn't notice it was so huge.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by ogon_bat View Post
I agree that not all was dark and grim, I was merely trying to get Kuromitsu to talk about what his sources say about taxation on the middle ages.
I have no "sources" per se, and I can't be bothered enough to dig them out of wherever I put them after I graduated (more years ago than I care to admit) - but the fandom for this franchise seems large enough that someone has already done some research. But for disclosure, I studied Medieval English history and literature which obviously had to include the relevant parts of Europe as well, and while I have forgotten much of it, I still fancy myself somewhat knowledgeable about the topic. (Even if my English had gotten worse... -_-)

Last edited by kuromitsu; 2013-01-10 at 13:47.
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