Historical mideval setting

[smurf]

Originally Posted by pestigor

While I'm trying to put together a historical campaign (within reasonable limits) I'm really grateful for the input everyone's been sending.

It really depends on which century and where.

Where is the cut off point - 1500?

Middle_Ages Splits the period from 500ce to 1000ce and 1000ce to 1500ce and then there are regional differences.

Interesting political points would be the stagnation of Byzantium, the creation of Christian states and the rise of Islam in response. A 1000 years of rebellions and wars with all the political intrigue of rival dynasties vying for power.

[DanHoward]

Most people consider "medieval" to be anytime before 1700 but no gunpowder.

[Flyndaran]

The Musketeers were medieval?

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

The Musketeers were medieval?

Cuz not cuz dey got gunz.

[mhd]

Most historic settings used in RPG-dom (and most quasi-historic fantasy settings) tend to gravitate towards either Domesday-book era England ("I've got books about that") or 1500 ("we need gothic plate armor and rapiers").

And in a fantasy world, both will have Vikings.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Most people consider "medieval" to be anytime before 1700 but no gunpowder.

I blame That Other Game for popularizing the notion of "medieval" as "full plate knights, rapier-wielding swashbucklers, no gunpowder kthxbai!" But then, I'm not sure how badly Errol Flynn's Robin Hood movies mangled historical accuracy....

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

I blame That Other Game for popularizing the notion of "medieval" as "full plate knights, rapier-wielding swashbucklers, no gunpowder kthxbai!" But then, I'm not sure how badly Errol Flynn's Robin Hood movies mangled historical accuracy....

I think the tropes were firmly in place well before D&D. Mail predominated in the Errol Flynn Robin Hood, but see, for example, the kinds of armor worn in movies like 1963's The Sword In The Stone or the 1967 Camelot.

[ericthered]

I'd blame the Victorians painting King Arthur in "shining armor"-- full plate.

One thing that always bugs me about fantasy "Medieval Settings" is the social structures. They always seem to have kings and emperors with well defined territory and effective power, big cities, and standing (central) armies.

Of course, what we call "The Middle Ages" have three pretty distinct periods.

Up until about 1000 you have a lot of invasions, from German Tribes to Maygars to Arabs to Vikings. You don't have knights and europe is very different from place to place. Spain looks different from france, which looks different from England, and germany looks like france on one side and completely different on the other side.

Then you have what could be termed the Feudal period, where you get the classic baron parselling land out lands to knights. Power is very decentralized here, but Europe looks much more uniform. Probably because french-influenced knights conquered portions of England, Italy, Spain, and Germany*.

In the next period, the monarchs centralize their power, and national identities become important. Knights fall from their position as the deciding arm of the military.

So what period do you want?

*I use the term "French" here loosely. The Normans took England and southern Italy. The Spanish christian kingdoms took large parts of spain back, but the conquest forced them to rely more on the french and they started acting more like them.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Then you have what could be termed the Feudal period, where you get the classic baron parselling land out lands to knights. Power is very decentralized here, but Europe looks much more uniform. Probably because french-influenced knights conquered portions of England, Italy, Spain, and Germany*.

Actually there were large portions where that did not take either because of the culture or the natural environment. Venetians were just as Medieval as French.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Actually there were large portions where that did not take either because of the culture or the natural environment. Venetians were just as Medieval as French.

Portions of the listed territories? or portions of something else?

Yes, there were certainly holdouts against the flow of the french-influenced knights. But even where the knights didn't conquer, they were copied. And no, I don't think only the french were medieval. I'm saying their style of governance was adopted over large portions of what we know call western Europe.

Venice is something of an exception, but then again venice is always something of an exception. And I frankly don't think of Venice when I think of Medieval europe. It was far more integrated with the east than the rest of europe, and yes, I think that matters. If you want to extend interest to the near and middle east during the medieval period that's fine, but its not medieval Europe in the classic sense.