Andersonian list-descriptions.
Tasks
milking
stabling
cleaning
cooking
brewing
chopping
shearing
slaughtering
spinning
dyeing
weaving
nailing
forging
Sounds
clatter
thud
creak
crash
human and animal voices
Smells
smoke
sweat
meat
hides
hay
dung
Pleasures
tales
riddles
verses
songs
ring dances
races
wrestling
ball games
draughts
drunkenness
carving
fishing
lads and lasses
heaped trenchers
flowing ale
days of merriment
Everyone happy but ambitious Ulfhild.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
One thing I hesitated about in this list was mention of the game of draughts (called "checkers" in the US). I am not sure it existed or was known in fifth century AD Denmark. Yes, the Romans had a form of that game, but I'm not sure how much like our draughts/checkers it was. The Scandinavians did have a kind of board game native to that region whose name I don't recall, however. Mentioning that would have been more accurate, IMO.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
The Aesir played draughts with pieces made of gold. Although the Eddas were written down in the 13th century, WAR OF THE GODS is set in the mythical past that they describe.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
True, and by the 13th century both draughts and chess were being played in Scandinavia, and almost certainly earlier than that time.
Got it, WAR OF THE GODS set in a mythical past, including anachronisms like draughts being played.
Ad astra! Sean
Ulfhild probably wasn't the only ambitious person on that holding, but being of royal blood, she'd be the only one with a realistic set of alternatives.
Most people -had- to live like that, given the productivity levels available, and people knew it.
They also knew that if you were going to rise above it, the only way to do it was to use other people's faces as stepping-stones.
The same point is brought out in THE MERMAN'S CHILDREN, when the bishop notes that gold can't buy more than the land produces.
That was the fundamental 'iron constraint' that set the limits of human action.
There could be enough for basic subsistence... provided there was peace, that the population wasn't pressing too hard against the limits of available resources (land, above all) and that the weather cooperated.
Change any of those factors and there just wasn't enough to go around, no matter how it was distributed.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And that would not really change till the 18th century, when advances in both technology and economic theory led to the beginnings of a truly unprecedented increase in real wealth.
Ad astra! Sean
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