What an excellent article! And it has resurfaced a question I’ve been pondering about my world-building, which will probably matter to nobody but me, but will probably bear future story-fruit!
Thanks, Leanne! I get the feeling that "it will only matter to me," but for every reader who enjoys your work, these bits of worldbuilding are what goes into it and makes it into something they'll enjoy. It will matter to them, they just might not know it.
Funny thing, already knew all this and have a tendency to apply all these ideas as I'm a historian by trade or was, and so have always thought that a true monarch combines all of these legitimizing factors, so good on you for noting all of this mon ami.
In many ways your words reflect why I write on these historical topics. No one ever sat down and told me about the theories of legitimacy for medieval rulers, and yet I learned all of these by osmosis by studying the events, characters, and cultures of the period. Then, when working with some other writer friends, I realized that some of this—which has now become more intuitive to me—was not necessarily common knowledge. Why would it be? But because I don't remember learning it explicitly, I had this weird assumption that I never had to learn it.
Now, I just hope to pass some of that "osmosis" knowledge along as a way to help other writers, fans, and fellow history nerds.
Really interesting. IIRC both the verbose George R.R. Martin and the pithier Andrzej Sapkowski are keen students of history — the former frequenting medieval conventions and latter even writing a historical novel. It's easy to see Carthage in Qarth and The Witcher books abound with what to me come across as tongue-in-cheek historical parallels. As a lay reader of history and writer of all kinds of fiction, it's an easy and limitless source of inspiration.
And come to think of it, Asimov wrote the Foundation series based on Gibbon's Fall of the Roman Empire. He was inspired by the crisis of the third century, where any general gaining legitimacy in battle would then march on Rome to try and seize power.
Very interesting, I didn't know that about Asimov, and the other parallels you mentioned are right on point. I think that those parallels are always more interesting and nuanced when they're based on historical principles rather than 1-to-1 historical "parallels," but given that cultures are always so complex, taking bits and pieces from different societies often doesn't make sense, since each real-world culture is, on its own, one whole---even as they are ever changing. It's just a super fascinating topic to me that I love exploring. Glad you liked joining me on the way, and hey! Welcome to the Forge, Andy!
I've adopted something similar for Crann Na Beatha.
There are gods, then their disciples, then their temples. Temporal leaders either a) claim fealty to a god and follow their laws. b) claim to be freemen and lead armies by right of combat, earning the appropriate ranks and specialties. c) a mixture of both.
For Instance, Rhyslin is called the son of magic and a goddess claims him as her son. This is something he denies, since in his mind it ties him to a crown he doesn't want. His leadership has been earned by becoming an arch-magus, a military general, and the civil leader of the equivalent of a county.
Balgair was a captain of a special force unit, attached to Rhyslin's command, and he became a reve, running a far flung part of Rhyslin's county.
Really interesting mix, Joseph. I especially like the idea of a god foisting legitimacy on a guy who doesn't want it! I suppose that's happened before with other reluctant heroes, so to speak, but still that's a cool thought to explore in fiction! That's exactly the kind of creativity I hope to spark by exploring some of these historical dynamics.
Great essay, really interesting. It's really cool how you can see some combination of all or most of these at play in pretty much all functional societies, both historical and modern.
Also, “because the world sucks and everyone was dumb back then.” made me laugh, it's unfortunate how many people actually think that though. Both in the context of writing fiction as well as their general attitude to people of the past.
I absolutely love how modern, anti-religious countries reenact medieval acts of political anointment in their own ways: the former USSR, China, North Korea etc. It seems the praxis of political theology, or the idea of what is sacred and consecrated, disappears only in liberal socities.
What an excellent article! And it has resurfaced a question I’ve been pondering about my world-building, which will probably matter to nobody but me, but will probably bear future story-fruit!
Thanks, Leanne! I get the feeling that "it will only matter to me," but for every reader who enjoys your work, these bits of worldbuilding are what goes into it and makes it into something they'll enjoy. It will matter to them, they just might not know it.
Funny thing, already knew all this and have a tendency to apply all these ideas as I'm a historian by trade or was, and so have always thought that a true monarch combines all of these legitimizing factors, so good on you for noting all of this mon ami.
In many ways your words reflect why I write on these historical topics. No one ever sat down and told me about the theories of legitimacy for medieval rulers, and yet I learned all of these by osmosis by studying the events, characters, and cultures of the period. Then, when working with some other writer friends, I realized that some of this—which has now become more intuitive to me—was not necessarily common knowledge. Why would it be? But because I don't remember learning it explicitly, I had this weird assumption that I never had to learn it.
Now, I just hope to pass some of that "osmosis" knowledge along as a way to help other writers, fans, and fellow history nerds.
Ohhh ok, well that makes sense
Really interesting. IIRC both the verbose George R.R. Martin and the pithier Andrzej Sapkowski are keen students of history — the former frequenting medieval conventions and latter even writing a historical novel. It's easy to see Carthage in Qarth and The Witcher books abound with what to me come across as tongue-in-cheek historical parallels. As a lay reader of history and writer of all kinds of fiction, it's an easy and limitless source of inspiration.
And come to think of it, Asimov wrote the Foundation series based on Gibbon's Fall of the Roman Empire. He was inspired by the crisis of the third century, where any general gaining legitimacy in battle would then march on Rome to try and seize power.
Very interesting, I didn't know that about Asimov, and the other parallels you mentioned are right on point. I think that those parallels are always more interesting and nuanced when they're based on historical principles rather than 1-to-1 historical "parallels," but given that cultures are always so complex, taking bits and pieces from different societies often doesn't make sense, since each real-world culture is, on its own, one whole---even as they are ever changing. It's just a super fascinating topic to me that I love exploring. Glad you liked joining me on the way, and hey! Welcome to the Forge, Andy!
Glad to be here.
Thank you for the great article.
I've adopted something similar for Crann Na Beatha.
There are gods, then their disciples, then their temples. Temporal leaders either a) claim fealty to a god and follow their laws. b) claim to be freemen and lead armies by right of combat, earning the appropriate ranks and specialties. c) a mixture of both.
For Instance, Rhyslin is called the son of magic and a goddess claims him as her son. This is something he denies, since in his mind it ties him to a crown he doesn't want. His leadership has been earned by becoming an arch-magus, a military general, and the civil leader of the equivalent of a county.
Balgair was a captain of a special force unit, attached to Rhyslin's command, and he became a reve, running a far flung part of Rhyslin's county.
Really interesting mix, Joseph. I especially like the idea of a god foisting legitimacy on a guy who doesn't want it! I suppose that's happened before with other reluctant heroes, so to speak, but still that's a cool thought to explore in fiction! That's exactly the kind of creativity I hope to spark by exploring some of these historical dynamics.
Fantastic Read!
Fantastic read!
Thanks! Happy that you enjoyed it. There’s more of this sort of stuff to come.
Great essay, really interesting. It's really cool how you can see some combination of all or most of these at play in pretty much all functional societies, both historical and modern.
Also, “because the world sucks and everyone was dumb back then.” made me laugh, it's unfortunate how many people actually think that though. Both in the context of writing fiction as well as their general attitude to people of the past.
I absolutely love how modern, anti-religious countries reenact medieval acts of political anointment in their own ways: the former USSR, China, North Korea etc. It seems the praxis of political theology, or the idea of what is sacred and consecrated, disappears only in liberal socities.