Survival 1000 years ago
 

I was reading this blog post and thought it might be fun to see what people here would say about it:What do you think? How well would any of us do in a world with no technology and a society centered on the local church? Some of the comments to the post are very interesting, BTW.

Personally I think we'd all be fucked. Might do alright until contact with people is made. Once that happens I'm guessing we'd all be burned at the stake as witches. Just a guess though.

Be a mute.

Strip naked.

Keep your knife.

A naked witch! Burn (her/him)!!!

I'd like to be in the UK, that way I at least have a shot at understanding people. Then I'd commit the most incredible acts of plagiarism and copyright infringement ever. I'd invent everything and become a multimillionaire, then I'd ruin history.

Yeah could always go the other way for you.

From Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

Who's that then?

I dunno, must be a king.

Why?

He hasn't got shit all over him

I've read the SAS Survival Handbook by Lofty Wiseman, and am working on learning to identify plants for foraging purposes. Personally, I think that knowledge would come in handy were I transported 1000 years into the past. I've also read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, and so I have an inkling of what it would be like to transported to an entirely different time.

One thing I would think would shock me would be the hygiene.

I'm with Will. I'd totally have to just invent everything and then sit back and let the smelly, hairy babes grace me... hell, maybe I'd even invent my own religion just for shits and giggles.

You do realize that you'd be burnt at the stake with Will, right? Spouting all those crazy ideas? Seriously. :no:

I'm sure I could figure something out... I mean come on, there's a chance I'd be worshipped as a god... a little bit of chance... really...

Um, no. I'm pretty sure the dumbest thing you could do is start talking about or inventing little things that were far beyond the imagination of the culture. They'd think you were either possessed or a messenger of God.

You could roll the dice, but I don't think that would be good from a survival perspective. Have you heard of the term "Instrument of the Devil"?

Oh fine, spoil my fun...

I think if this ever happened, I would try to blend in and simply use my superior to knowledge to try and duck out of bad situations. There, that's my boring answer, as opposed to my fun one.

heh. You'd need to feed yourself, clothe yourself, communicate with other people and find a place to stay. How easily do you think you could do that before you had a chance to invent and write? and in a largely illiterate non-technological society, that sort of stuff would be useless to you without a patron, which means you'd need to get in to see the local lord somehow, and convince him to take you under his wing.

Bottom line: I don't think any of us would do too well.

Yeah, especially considering that even as late as the Middle Ages, peasants between local districts couldn't understand one another for local dialects.

Just one of the many ways lord held onto their power.

How would a modern English-speaker fare? Um, you'd be mistaken for a foreigner. The English might think you were French and vice versa. Depending on the year you land on, this could be either bad or catastrophic.

Lets assume you arrive, unlike the "Terminator," with your clothes. At best you're going to stand out. At worst it's going to be seen as evil and the results likely not good. Even if you got a pass on your clothes, language would be nearly impossible. Within a day you'd need clean water and within a few days food would be an issue. I think your days would be filled with feeding yourself and keeping yourself hydrated.

But for the fun of it what would be your first "invention?"

Myself, if I were in a village of some sort, I think I'd be working on some sort of "sanitation system." A septic tank is a really simply concept.

Nopers. I'm a psychologist that comes from a family of fundamentalists. If anything, I could probably be pope.

Step 1: Become a doctor
Step 2: Cure basically everything by adopting the use of basic medicine
Step 3: Use riches to buy baron status
Step 4: Use modern economics and agriculture, develop the most wealthy surfs
Step 5: Become a member of the king's court
Step 6: Design policy
Step 7: Marry the king's daughter
Step 8: Teach the king's daughter about bathing (actually, reverse those)
Step 9: Become king
Step 10: Kick it

And the language barrier?

Not to stereotype, but Occam's razor really doesn't get much play here on TFP, does it? People here try to find the most complex solutions to the simplest problems.

I'm standing by my original reply. Oh yeah, keep your modern knife hidden from the locals.

I gotta ask...

Since you're going to be nakid... where planing on hiding the knife?

Really Tully, do you have to ask? That's information I could do without, myself.

That was my big problem too.

Hang onto your clothing until you find other people and stash everything together or if you're surrounded by natives then strip quick and hide the knife in the piles of filth around the town. Get native garb and return to your trusty blade.

A pair of Redwing boots would go far in 1008 if you had to flee on foot.

edit: of course, at 6'0", 190lbs I'd stick out like a sore thumb no matter what.

Learning a classical language before you went time-travelling would probably help. I have, because I am endlessly geeky, often fantasized about what would happen should I somehow end up 1000 years ago. It made me feel better once I mastered Hebrew and learned Latin, Middle English, Saxon, and picked up a little Greek and a little Old French. If I ended up back there, I could always pass myself off as a scholar. I also learned how to fight with a broadsword-- it's not the commonest hobby, I know, but it is fun-- and that might help, too. Plus, I can shoot (archery), though I'm not the greatest.

Will's ideas are actually not bad at all. People back then actually did not go around constantly burning everyone who spouted weird stuff, if for no other reason than they generally were too busy trying to survive. Mastering some basic herbology, pharmacology, and field medicine before one went jaunting back in time would probably be the best course of action: successful healers wrote their own tickets back then, and lords were willing to pay well for their services. Whether one could end up getting rich enough to marry royalty...that might be a different matter. But one could end up getting rich enough to live fairly well. Maybe even purchasing a title and lands. Also, if one were perhaps slightly more flexible in one's ethics, a little basic knowledge of chemistry, physics, and weapons design could earn one an excellent living as a provider of military technology to a lord or king.

Without pre-existing language skills, and some helpful knowledge with which to make a living, if you got tossed back 1000 years, it would be mighty difficult to survive long enough to learn the languages and figure out a trade.

I'd be hoping I remember my high school Latin and the formulas for making penicillin and gunpowder. Otherwise, I think I might be in trouble. Neither modern English or French would be a lot of help 1000 years ago, English didn't really sound like English until almost Shakespeare's time.

I think that whole "get native garb" might not be that simple. Once you strip, even if you start whistling "It's raining men", it's going to be a problem.

I'm a big fan of Occam's razor but I think once you're nude the logic of Occam switches to the the locals. Simplest solution for them is to do away with you and go back to their lives.


I give you the most likely to succeed award. Knowledge of the lingo will take you far, I'm learning this the hard way right now. Might want to bone up on history as well. Wouldn't want to show in 1080 and start speaking Old French or French-Norman while in Britannia. The Normans weren't real popular there for a few hundred years starting around that time.

I think you'd do better if you were dropped in a large city such as London. Easier to blend in, esp if you were able to communicate.

Also might want to bone up on historical medical condition and illnesses. You're likely going to be carrying germs they can't fight off and they're going to be doing the same.

Good luck going from the four humours to the human genome. Your steps 3 through 10, however, are feasible enough with your intelligence. But you have these first two stumbling blocks.

I hope you enjoy swallowing astrology among other things while becoming a medieval physician. Even if you get that far, I doubt you could bring medicine "up to speed" within your lifetime. I think your attempts would have you tortured and executed. Why not also tell them that the earth isn't the centre of the universe and how it's physically possible to touch the stars?

Will, have you not studied medieval history in any capacity? I'm sorry if I sound pessimistic; I'm just concerned about your safety.

Me too! Will, you do realize that should you be transported 1000 years into the past you may be facing charges of heresy? They could draw and quarter you, it's a real concern!

Also, Will, bear in mind that you'll be lacking the basic infrastructure you'll need to pursue modern medicine. I assume you'll be able to make some bread mold pretty easily, but then you'll have to extract the penicillin (bread mold by itself will make people sick) - how are you going to do that? You'll need sterile equipment for many applications. You'll need - at the very least - metallurgy, plastics (go find petroleum to make plastic from), distillation, chemical processing facilities........... is it any wonder doctors were using leeches before the advent of mass production? For the first vaccination - smallpox, in (I think) the 1790s - Edward Jenner actually put liquid out of smallpox pustules into healthy patients to innoculate them. That's a high risk vaccination, right?

Until you do figure these things out, you'll need to feed and clothe yourself. I suppose you could go to the nearest abbey and request the protection and help of the bishop, but how long could you do that?

I'd find my way to the Britain or Ireland. English comes from a combination of German and Celtic languages. I speak enough German to get by (and a tiny bit of Irish (don't call it Gaelic, trust me)), and I have an ear for languages. At worst, I'd need to take time to learn. At best I could pick up on the essentials quickly.

"Where did you attend medical school?"
"The far East."
Credentials likely were not an issue back in 1008 AD.
I beg your pardon, but I have to put up with a 6000 year old earth from a lot of people now. I can't imagine a heliocentric universe is going to be that difficult to ignore.
My safety? This is an exercise in the absurd (and a fun one, at that). Still, the idea that making one's way would be somehow impossible in the past doesn't make much sense. I'm framing this as me accidentally being transported into the past, but if I had some sort of control, I'd probably take about 6 or 7 years to master ancient Greek language and history and then go back and become an early philosopher. I'd give myself a big, ridiculously Greek name like Hypogrporphyrylichuscero. And my philosophy would, of course, be called Hypogrporphyrylichusceroism.

I'd have access to high proof alcohol and soap (which I can make myself from lye). That alone would put me hundreds of years ahead of all other doctors as I could use them to prevent infections. I'd also know what probably doesn't work. Bleeding out for a head cold? Probably not a good prescription. I also happen to have a keen understanding of diet. Imagine Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins' research being applied 1000 years before it came into being. Proper diet could have elevated the health of the entire region.

As for the burned at the stake thing? The end of the Dark Ages are probably not the ideal time to be alive, yeah. The church is still running rampant, and it'd still be a few years before the Renaissance (where new ideas would be more welcome).

I wasn't thinking about something as complicated as penicillin. I was thinking more basic things. The kinds of things a survivalist might know, applied to general medicine.
I can do manual labor while I learn the language and culture. I did landscaping back in high school, I'm sure I can use some of that in the cultivation of crops. Ditch digging is a fine profession, anyway.

Depending on where you'd land and when, you'd need to have more knowledge of French and Latin, most likely. There was a time in Britain when the legal and court systems were completely French (um, Old French, actually), and times when trade was done in Latin.

They'd be more interested in you as a spice trader, not a dealer of black magic. Be careful on how you play the Far East card.

You know, it would be like you today trying to postulate the 6,000-year-old earth. Actually, it would be worse than that, since no one in the Middle Ages would have anywhere near your knowledge of the universe. You'd be a devil, I'm telling you.

Yes, funny, at least, good Hypogrporphyrylichuscero.

I wouldn't be an attorney. I thought the hypothetical was we're suddenly transported back in time? Learning Latin and French would negate that part of the hypothetical.
I suppose I could travel East and establish a sea trade route. That'd be an interesting way to become rich.
I pretended to be Christian from age 14 to maybe 22. I can't imagine that it'd be difficult to avoid saying "No, stupid, the center of the universe is probably empty because the big bang spread stellar material outward. The Earth isn't the center." I know the Bible well enough to pretend.

I suppose, after I've gained wealth and such, I could leave the US and start a colony in the US or Canada (or what would eventually be the US or Canada). I could even end up saving the Native Americans (though I'd have to be careful not to bring European illnesses with me).
The first stand up philosopher, perhaps?

Good luck with that. There are reasons the Americas weren't colonized until the 16th century.

By court system, I mean the royal court. Physicians were typically only available to the nobility or perhaps the wealthy. Again, depending on when and where you land, you're likely going to need French and/or Latin.

This is your best idea yet.

The Bible will be your most important "survival guide."

"I just sailed out from the University of Paris, and, boy, is my homunculus tired! Wocka, wocka, wocka! Try the laumprouns in galyntyne, it's to die for! And remember to tip your waiter. I'll be here all week!"

The University of Paris hadn't been established yet 1000 years ago. :p

Why don't y'all become anthropologists and head down to those newly-"discovered" people groups in the Amazon... did anyone hear about those in the news last week or two? Anthropologists (or missionaries) who used to go into those kinds of villages stood a good chance of being shot with an arrow at first sight. (They were photographed aiming arrows up at the plane, during the flyover... poor people, must have freaked them out badly.) That will put you back 1,000 years.

There's a reason I do urban fieldwork. :thumbsup:

It's actually fortuitous that I was in elementary school during the Clinton Administration. My school was very liberal and insisted on teaching two things: native american history and the history of slavery. I know where I'd need to launch from in Africa to be carried by the (South-East) trade winds to the US and I know most of the major East Coast tribes. The Gulf of Guinea would bring me to Cuba, the West Indies, or the Keys, and from there I simply head North.
Then I guess I'd have to learn French and Latin.
HAHAHA :lol:

Yeah, my roommate told us about that--anthropology is his hobby. We wondered if they'd never seen an airplane flying overhead before, or a contrail--and if they had, how did they explain it? It reminded me a bit of The Gods Must Be Crazy.

It was founded c. 1170. I was discussing this as the Middle Ages in a general sense. The OP article said 1,000 A.D., give or take 200 years. I gave 170 in this case. :wave:

Gotcha.

actually, if you claim to be an alchemist, you might be able to get a fair amount of stuff done. Of course you'd need a book of secrets, and you'd have to fast and act all pious for a while, but after a couple of transmutations you'd be famous and very much in demand.

I wouldn't stand against their superstitions and such, but I wouldn't feed them either. That goes against my own personal code. I'd probably just use deflection.
"How did you heal that guy?"
"He wasn't all that sick. Wanna go get a hoagie?"
"Hoagie?! WITCH!"

You'd be fine, so long as you could prove you weigh more than a duck.

I think I'd be OK.

I know the land, I know the safe foods etc. I can make soap and gunpowder from first principles, I can build a furnace, a still, can work iron and case harden it to make tools in advance of a lot of what was around at the time, can cut glass, work with lead.

I can make a bow and arrows, a spear, given enough matal I can make a sword or a knife. I can use all of these weapons with reasonable competence.

If I was dumped in England 1000 years ago (i.e. 1008) I'd head for Westminster and get a job on the abbey.

I would probably be mauled by wild animals or killed by the villagers within the first 24 hours.

german maybe ... but do you speak Middle High German?

Wie sol ich den ritter nû gescheiden
und daz schœne wîp
die dicke bî ein ander lâgen ê?
dâ rât ich in rehten triuwen beiden
und ûf mîn selbes lîp

daz sie sich scheiden und er dannen gê.
mâze ist zallen dingen guot.
lîp und êre ist unbehuot,
ob man iht langer lît.
ichn singe eht anders niht wan: ez ist zît.
stant ûf, ritter!'

I'm with you. I think the survival rate, regardless of how smart you are, would be nil. I'm sure I wouldn't last long.

hehehe... you betcha! Can you say sphagnum moss?


what are first principles?


hehe... Caecilius ego sum...

Nope, I speak broken Medium German.

I think that's about the extent of it along with a few handy sayings about there being truth in wine and coming, seeing and conquering. Oh, and lots of stuff about Agricola.

Starting from raw materials avaialble in the world commonly at the time - wood ash, fat, sulphur, charcoal, salt peter, things like that. :thumbsup:

Willravel would be dead inside a week, witches and heretics are not tolerated. Daniel might survive as his ego isnt quite so inflated.

So you're saying they would kill the man who introduced the idea of sanitary medicine about 700 years early—the man who would likely save many lives—just because of "witchcraft"? The church had way bigger fish to fry with the fast expansion of Islam. Actually, I'd probably enjoy more success with the Muslims, considering they developed the scientific method.

Yep, I do. IMO, your biggest problem would be getting them to listen you. Nostradamus was a trained physician prior to his stint as a "fortune teller." He differed with some of the main medical practices of the time. For some crazy reason he thought keeping the cities clean, i.e. washing the shit out of the streets, was important. More important then say bleeding the evil out of people. He had serious issues with the church. By the time he started writing his prophecies he had to do so in "quatrains." Basically in code to keep him from being labeled a heretic. He knew the local lingo, the politics etc... and still had problems. He came along some five centuries later when "new ideas" were much more widely accepted. I think you show up and the minute you start talking, esp. going against the establishment, you're toast... literally.

Nostrodmus made a simple mistake: he didn't argue from scripture. While the act of Jesus cleaning his disciples' feet was clearly an allegory for humility and service of leadership, one could also argue from this teaching the holy nature of cleanliness.

The main issue I'd have would be gaining access to the Bible, as it was not widely distributed at the time. I'd probably have to become a priest of some kind.

the church would very likely get rid of you... you'd be a heretic.

back then, cleanliness was not next to godliness. my understanding of the time is that it was believed that washing frequently was a bad thing, showed excessive pride or something, for soem reason was against god.

but more importantly, by 1000AD, the church had little to worry about with islam for another 400 or 500 years. they'd been stopped in western europe in the mid-700's by charles martel at tours/poiters. eastern europe was orthodox, so not the pope's concern, and muslim expansion there was still being halted by the romans (byzantines).

so they'd have plenty of time to burn your heretic butt. :)

Everyone involved in this thread should pause to read "The Year 1000" by Robert Lacey. The assumption that Anglo Saxon Britain was simply a barbaric backwater could not be further from the truth. The Saxons were a very pragmatic people, if you had knowlege that could help them, they would very likely welcome you with open arms.

Debaser to my rescue! Wait, what?!

But not all of Britain in the year 1008 was populated by Saxons.

Or Anglos...

Angles.

Obtuse.

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the only thing i really think you have right is that we'd all die. EVERYONE PANIC!!!

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eh, muslim territories would be the easier to live in as a jew, but jews were all over europe, just highly persecuted, easy scape goats, and generally lived in their own communities, apart from christian society.

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Not only had Hinduism predated Christianity by thousands of years, not only did Judaism predate Christianity by thousands of years, but Islam was flourishing in Northern Africa, the Middle East, and East. So no, there were many churches in the 1000s. While the hypothetical postulates being transported to Europe, I doubt it would be difficult to leave Europe should the situation present itself as dangerous due to that incarnation of the church.
And can you imagine if someone stole a few copies and delivered them to the masses? *cough* Protestant reformation. *cough*, and a bit early.
http://static.flickr.com/58/202328699_4e48c389f7_o.jpg
The most organized group in the dark ages. That's like the tallest ewok. Record keeping across long distances was horrible due to slow transportation. "I'm a missionary from the far East who was ordained by *insert other real missionary's name here*' can't be corroborated, but more importantly it can't be refuted. At worst they test me and I recite biblical verses I have memorized from catechism.
Galileo wasn't a politician, he was a scientist. I've seen enough BillO to spin conservatives without too much difficulty.
I'd probably do quite well due to my current state of health and experience in landscaping being applied to agricultural work.

nothing to say.

After 1,000 A.D., there was great unrest between the Catholic Church and monarchs. Take Frederick II, for example.

Will could survive by finding forward-thinking men like Frederick II and supporting his causes with his advanced knowledge, which I'm sure would have impressed him.

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lack of survival skills aside (how many of us could actually survive in the wilderness on our own for any real length of time?), the language barrier really would be the biggest short term problem. if this scenario really happened, feigning muteness would possibly be a smart idea...

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He can invent the printing press!

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I can read latin, though I'd only understand a bit of it. And people would likely be used to my strange accent, so they'd dismiss any mispronunciations as my accent.
I never said I'd manufacture anything. I said I's steal the bible and give it to people.

Also, I never said I'd pursue an atheist agenda. The world has really only been ready for that for maybe the past few hundred years, at most the Renaissance. I can play ball if it means avoiding persecution from a church.

HH has a good idea with muteness, but not understanding would mean pretending to be mentally handicapped. Who knows what they did with people afflicted with a mental disability.

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Nobility was not doomed to live an illiterate life, pocon, which could be my "in". Find a low-level noble and provide him with what was essentially the key to the church, and things could get shaken up.

Willravel: What can he not do?

Seriously though, if any of us were magically transported to the year 1000 we'd have a very rough time surviving. The middle ages were a rough time, and around the year 1000 A.D you'd be about 100-150 years away from any sort of major intellectual revival. Power was decentralized, and life was about survival. The muslims were going through a practical golden age while the Europeans were in many ways still recovering from the collapse of the Romans 600 years prior.

I posed this Q to my wife, who stated that as a Chinese woman, she would be quickly detected and either chattled or killed. That surprised me. Would European society be so xenophobic? But then earlier posts re the ownership of records buy the church ring true.

Then I'd suggest you can't "read" it. Reading does require comprehension.



What good will "giving the bible to the people" do - none of them can read.

I'm not sure that all areas of Europe were so xenophobic. They'd be worried if Genghis Khan's army came strolling over the hills - I don't think they'd be that alarmed by a single Asian woman.

I think noone of us would do well 1000 years ago.
The language barrier is one point and an important point. Another point is the general behaviour, society has chanced a lot. I don't know what those people would do to someone who talk and acts in a strange way.

Hunting may be prohibited in most areas, poaching may be punished harshly.

So what kind of job can we do? most of our current jobs are useless (I work in the IT buisness ...) but even most crafting jobs will be useless because things will be done in a much different way. Most workers today rely on modern machines which will not be available. Only people who are trained in classic craftsmanship will stand a chance (and by trained I mean trained, not "I've done some blacksmithing in my backyard")

So, I don't think it wil be easy, I think most of us will end somewere as an unskilled worker who has to do heavy labor.
It may be possible to do some academic work (math perhaps) but I don't think it will be easy to get "into" those jobs. Medicine is difficult, I know how to deal with normal, small wounds, but I have no clue how to treat illness or how to make drugs.

I know some Talhoffer and other swordfighting moves (mostly japanese though), don't know if that would help me...

Most of us could become scribes. All this requires is being able to copy from a manuscript text onto someone's private pages. Think of it as being a medieval photocopier. Regardless of what we do now, most of us could copy from one book to another. As long as you went to a larger city, I'm sure you could find a job as a scribe. As a public scribe, you would scribe information for record keeping, and you could possibly also write letters via dictation. You would, of course, need to know the language for dictation and record keeping, but you could perhaps start as a transcriber of manuscripts as you brushed up. You could also be a scribe for the Catholic Church.

You could also work for merchants as an accountant to keep track of goods, ships, caravans, and money. All you need is an abacus, a quill, an inkwell, and some paper. You might have to work as a grunt first before they realize you were educated enough to do more intelligent tasks.

much would depend on where you landed.
mostly, europe in the early 11th century would probably have been a dismal backwater. think song of roland. yuck.
there is this society of creative anachronism thing, which enables folk to imagine that because every bourgeois is so special that fate would decree they projected backward in time as an aristocrat-type and so would be able to mobilize their serfs for sessions of whacking and dismembering and maybe even, if the timing was right, a vast exercise in collective futility like a crusade.
but this is a dismal period. pre 11th century renaissance--pre-aquinas, pre-ockham.

better to land in what is now iraq. way way better.

Precisely. One would be better off, if dropped off in Europe, heading East or South to Africa. Around 1000 physicians and philosophers were popping up all over the Islamic world and were far and away welcomed. I'd love to speak to Avicenna about his philosophies and sciences.

The only real issue with this would be if you're a woman. Unfortunately, at this time there were really very few places in the world where you could expect to be treated with respect. The only real possibility I can think of would be to see if you can cross the Atlantic and settle in with Native Americans.

And this is why it is a question of survival, not a question of prosperity.

I would dress like a clown and do the robot dance until someone smashed my head in.
I may or may not have cymbals on the insides of my knees.

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Giant Hamburger would outlast us all due to his ability to fly.

Aut viam inveniam aut faciam.

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Actually, children in that use would be "liberi". Well look at that, I actually do know a little latin!

And in the year 1000, a 24 year old would be middle-aged, not a child.

This is full forpampred and forlived. It y mowe forleten.

If we arrived in the year M (that's how it would have been written in Europe back then) we'd be immediately suspect for having all our teeth.

Now that's an interesting point. I kept going back in my mind to the idea that most of us would be considered to appear like royalty. Teeth, hair, etc. would all appear much better than your average surf. Imagine if someone appeared today driving an Aston Martin wearing a Jon Green custom suit and an Omega watch, with perfect complexion, in perfect physical shape and didn't speak the language. I would assume this man was likely quite rich and at least a bit powerful.

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Ooooh, British, of course!

I mean, come on. He just described James Bond.

Of course it's serf and not surf. I also often spell grammar "grammer". They're called quirks and I've got oodles.
Name me one individual in the US who is powerful but not rich.

Probably doesn't matter, but he didn't suggest that. He effectively said "rich, but not powerful".

I'm suggesting a link, be it correlative or causal.

I thought Will was talking about a "smurf". I think he'd do very well as a smurf. Is he more than three apples high?

It's not necessarily a question of correlation. He could be saying you could be rich, but not powerful. You're asking him to name someone who's powerful, but not rich. I do agree that they are likely correlated.

Back to the OP, I would awe them with my clever physical comedy and impressive physique - no language abilities necessary.

If apples were 2' high, I'd be exactly 3 apples high. *goes off to find giant apples*.

Hehehe... yes, I decided it would be better to ignore those.
I suppose that's how one defines power. One with a lot of money does have economic power. Probably status, too. What would be the modern equivalent to a medieval land owner?