I'm slowly working out a scheme for changing the advances in my mod to make them more historically accurate and tie them in more with events. However, my knowledge of the Middle Ages is restricted mostly to England and Northern France, so things that I think are true generally about the Middle Ages often turn out not to be when I hear of history from other regions. For that reason, I'm looking for feedback/suggestions on revising the CK advance system. I'm going to start with 'Noble Customs.' Here's my take on the advance category--tell me if you think any of my information is wrong or feel free to give me any suggestions you think might be helpful. Also, it's important to me that my mod be historically defensible, so it would be great if you could provide scholarly sources (i.e. not Wikipedia, etc.) for any info you have, though if you don't know any sources, I appreciate the info anyway.
Cheers,
loseth
NOBLE CUSTOMS
1 – Divine Rights
'Members of the nobility enjoyed special legal status and had immunity from almost all outside authorities. They were also the protectors and arbiter of those who worked.'
My problem with this advance is that nobles having special status predates and postdates the CK period. It's not something that developed during the CK period. Also, the connection of divinity with noble rights is present long before CK begins and develops most strongly quite a while after CK ends (Bragg 2007), so again, it just doesn't seem like an 'advance' for the CK period. What can be said about noble rights in the CK period is that they were extended to a much broader class of people as the period went on, particularly to knights. Knights were generally non-noble and had few noble rights at the start of the high middle ages (Daileader 2001), but were firmly entrenched in the nobility in most places in Europe by the end of the high middle ages. Also, the status of knights as exemplars of nobility underwent a massive change during the period (Daileader 2001, Tuchman 1978). So, I'd replace 'Divine Rights' with 'Development of Knightly Nobility.'
EVENTS: ?
2 – Chronicle Writing
'This was often official history writing, but to call it history in a modern sense would be quite wrong, as there was no, or very little, critique of sources. Most often this was the ideological propaganda of the medieval era.'
My first objection is that chronicle writing is something that pre-dates the beginning of CK by a very long time (and so isn't discovered or developed in the CK period), though in all fairness it certainly developed greatly during the CK period.
My second objection is that this advance is in the wrong place. Chronicle writing was something largely done by monks and later secular priests, not nobles (Given-Wilsen 2004). Furthermore, the writing of history was done for a variety of reasons which might or might not coincide with (and indeed, might clash with) the propaganda needs of secular rulers. In fact, chronicles were in general written for a small, pivate and usually clerical audience (Given-Wilsen 2004), and would thus not have the kind of broad impact that is relfected in CK game mechanics.
Another sense in which this advance is in the wrong place is its spot in the sequence of advances: the flowering of historical writing took placer later, not earlier in the middle ages.
I think this advance should be scrapped and replaced with something else, maybe 'Courtly Love,' which could follow 'Romantic Poetry.' Another good replacement might be 'The Peace and Truce of God.'
3 – Romantic Poetry
'Romantic poetry had its origin in the tough consequences of formal marriages. Thus this form of poetry became an acceptable outlet of emotional and sometimes erotic pressure. '
I think the origin of romantic poetry suggested here is dubious, but otherwise I have no problem with this advance.
EVENTS: This could easily be tied in with sex/romance/love events using the friend/rival system.
4 – Heraldry
'Heraldry was a feudal institution developed by noblemen using personal insignia on seals and shields that came to be transmitted to their families.'
I have no problem with this one.
EVENTS: ?
5 – Oblige Noblesse
'The basic ideology of the noble class, which meant that certain rules of hospitality, honor, and compassion, must be implied to be a good knight.'
This one seems a little odd. The other advances in the 'Noble Customs' category are quite specific, while this one seems like a catch-all for 'everything else about being a noble that we didn't mention in another advance.' The text of the advance seems mainly to refer to chivalry, so I'd just replace 'Oblige Noblesse' with 'Chivalry.'
EVENTS: Once you have the chivalry advance, you might get events firing that give you a prestige boost or hit depending on whether you have knightly (e.g. valorous) or un-knightly qualities (e.g. deceitful). It should also make tournament events less dangerous to the participants, as this was an important effect of chivalry IRL (Daileader 2001).
Sources
Given-Wilsen, C. 2004. Chronicles: the writing of history in the middle ages.
Daileader, P. 2001. The High Middle Ages.
Bragg, M. 2007. The Divine Right of Kings.
Tuchman, B. 1978. A Distant Mirror.
Cheers,
loseth
NOBLE CUSTOMS
1 – Divine Rights
'Members of the nobility enjoyed special legal status and had immunity from almost all outside authorities. They were also the protectors and arbiter of those who worked.'
My problem with this advance is that nobles having special status predates and postdates the CK period. It's not something that developed during the CK period. Also, the connection of divinity with noble rights is present long before CK begins and develops most strongly quite a while after CK ends (Bragg 2007), so again, it just doesn't seem like an 'advance' for the CK period. What can be said about noble rights in the CK period is that they were extended to a much broader class of people as the period went on, particularly to knights. Knights were generally non-noble and had few noble rights at the start of the high middle ages (Daileader 2001), but were firmly entrenched in the nobility in most places in Europe by the end of the high middle ages. Also, the status of knights as exemplars of nobility underwent a massive change during the period (Daileader 2001, Tuchman 1978). So, I'd replace 'Divine Rights' with 'Development of Knightly Nobility.'
EVENTS: ?
2 – Chronicle Writing
'This was often official history writing, but to call it history in a modern sense would be quite wrong, as there was no, or very little, critique of sources. Most often this was the ideological propaganda of the medieval era.'
My first objection is that chronicle writing is something that pre-dates the beginning of CK by a very long time (and so isn't discovered or developed in the CK period), though in all fairness it certainly developed greatly during the CK period.
My second objection is that this advance is in the wrong place. Chronicle writing was something largely done by monks and later secular priests, not nobles (Given-Wilsen 2004). Furthermore, the writing of history was done for a variety of reasons which might or might not coincide with (and indeed, might clash with) the propaganda needs of secular rulers. In fact, chronicles were in general written for a small, pivate and usually clerical audience (Given-Wilsen 2004), and would thus not have the kind of broad impact that is relfected in CK game mechanics.
Another sense in which this advance is in the wrong place is its spot in the sequence of advances: the flowering of historical writing took placer later, not earlier in the middle ages.
I think this advance should be scrapped and replaced with something else, maybe 'Courtly Love,' which could follow 'Romantic Poetry.' Another good replacement might be 'The Peace and Truce of God.'
3 – Romantic Poetry
'Romantic poetry had its origin in the tough consequences of formal marriages. Thus this form of poetry became an acceptable outlet of emotional and sometimes erotic pressure. '
I think the origin of romantic poetry suggested here is dubious, but otherwise I have no problem with this advance.
EVENTS: This could easily be tied in with sex/romance/love events using the friend/rival system.
4 – Heraldry
'Heraldry was a feudal institution developed by noblemen using personal insignia on seals and shields that came to be transmitted to their families.'
I have no problem with this one.
EVENTS: ?
5 – Oblige Noblesse
'The basic ideology of the noble class, which meant that certain rules of hospitality, honor, and compassion, must be implied to be a good knight.'
This one seems a little odd. The other advances in the 'Noble Customs' category are quite specific, while this one seems like a catch-all for 'everything else about being a noble that we didn't mention in another advance.' The text of the advance seems mainly to refer to chivalry, so I'd just replace 'Oblige Noblesse' with 'Chivalry.'
EVENTS: Once you have the chivalry advance, you might get events firing that give you a prestige boost or hit depending on whether you have knightly (e.g. valorous) or un-knightly qualities (e.g. deceitful). It should also make tournament events less dangerous to the participants, as this was an important effect of chivalry IRL (Daileader 2001).
Sources
Given-Wilsen, C. 2004. Chronicles: the writing of history in the middle ages.
Daileader, P. 2001. The High Middle Ages.
Bragg, M. 2007. The Divine Right of Kings.
Tuchman, B. 1978. A Distant Mirror.
