Quote:
Originally Posted by DanHoward
Amour making in general was controlled by the ruler. Nobody could make it without licenses from the lord and all of the relevant guilds...
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I've read that before. But this is a sort of idealized framework drawn from a European high medieval or Renaissance era sources. It would not work for earlier periods, for non-Europeans locales, etc. In particular, it would not work in many fantasy settings. My comments were directed at how it could work, sans the historical accuracy. Also, I mean this as a way of questioning the prices we have, as I suspect they are not market prices as we know it, but rather priced for legal or licensing reasons, if you will. The local lord who controls armor production is going to get first dibs, and his armor needs will be met first. Perhaps this will be
just materials costs. Selling armor to competitors would be a poor strategy, for instance. So, too, the armor values seen in wills or other legal records, they are possibly inflated, and/or include the pass-through costs for replacement that someone controlling labor would not pay. There is essentially a surcharge, as it were, for nobles who buy armor when it isn't produced by their peasants. Thus, finding a realistic price might not be possible. A workable price in a fantasy setting, well, that's different. And it could be that prices then would be much lower than the historical price lists show.