The administrative and logistical abilities of the Roman, Ottoman, and Chinese empires, were simply in a different league to anything that Western Europe could manage, until the late sixteenth centur… (View Post)

A typical medieval army would be 5-10,000 men, with an equivalent number of camp followers (who essentially, performed a similar function to modern support soldiers). By the mid-sixteenth century, yo… (View Post)

War was ruinously expensive (it still is), but would overwhelm the resources of any medieval State. The growth of centralised State power, in the Sixteenth century Europe, primarily meant the growth … (View Post)

War was one function among many for the Church. War was by far, the most important function for medieval, and early modern governments. Success in war, was how you were judged by your peers. That… (View Post)

The abolition of the monasteries was our controlled experiment. Some of the new landowners did take care of the destitute, but in general, the position of the poor worsened. That's why, after 15… (View Post)