Seeds Of Knowledge

"...as Trevelyan had wisely foreseen, the self-sufficient, enterprising Nomads bore various seeds of knowledge through the Third Dark Ages. The antecedents of our own civilization were among those who reaped what the Nomads had sown."
-Sandra Miesel, interstitial material IN Anderson, Starship, p. 252.

Does Trevelyan explicitly predict that the Nomads will bear seeds of knowledge through the coming Dark Ages? I will find out by continuing to reread The Peregrine. The following story, "The Chapter Ends," describes a later civilization although it does not indicate any Nomadic influence.

However, the idea that such a group would survive and would preserve something of value is entirely consistent with everything that Poul Anderson wrote, for example in his Technic History. And not just surviving groups - the Bronze Age and the Roman Empire also leave legacies.

"He found the Nomads' closeknit, tradition-laden ways more satisfying than the atomized, cerebral existence considered normal on Earth." (ibid.)

Really? I would be quite happy with an atomized, cerebral existence - but I also recognize the value of traditions. And it makes sense to think of Trevelyan, after a career in Coordination, joining a Nomad ship. According to the Chronology, the Third Dark Ages were then less than a century hence.