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7/24/2025, 3:29:36 AM
Any of you guys know enough about this to correct me?
>From county-scale down there first is the count and his demense, which is land he directly collects taxes from in the form of banalities, cens, corvee, etc. Pieces of he county he grants to (non-hereditary) knights that swore fealty to him, letting them be fully responsible for it. They owe him military service in exchange, sometimes a little money.
>The count also has several barons who owe fealty to his house, and they have been around for a while probably since that is technically his land but he can't take it back from any of those barons without them ganging up on him. They could be called "comital barons" since they swore fealty to the count's family directly in exchange for their lands, and both them and all their knights have to jump when the count says its time for war. This is different from "ducal" or "royal" barons who have sworn to a duke or king and are nearby to the count's sphere of influence. Barons have their own knights, same deal as the count.
>The town probably has charter thus actually owes literally nothing financial to the count, nor any one else. Functionally an independent city state. They host fairs when they want, apply whatever taxes they want, and are almost entirely run by craft guilds, down to electing the sheriff and mayor themselves, and also paying for the defense of the town.
>There are also probably at least one bishop and several parish priests. The bishop is functionally a baron himself, and owes temporal allegiance (including military contributions) to the count but tithes go to Rome/equivalent. Peasants pay secular tax and tithes to bishops, and tithes to their parish priest as well as their secular lord.
>On top of this there are also likely crown holdings within the count's sphere of influence which he can't fuck with and the money from there goes straight to the king, the seneschal or prevot or whatever is a civil servant not a sworn vassal and he handles that.
>From county-scale down there first is the count and his demense, which is land he directly collects taxes from in the form of banalities, cens, corvee, etc. Pieces of he county he grants to (non-hereditary) knights that swore fealty to him, letting them be fully responsible for it. They owe him military service in exchange, sometimes a little money.
>The count also has several barons who owe fealty to his house, and they have been around for a while probably since that is technically his land but he can't take it back from any of those barons without them ganging up on him. They could be called "comital barons" since they swore fealty to the count's family directly in exchange for their lands, and both them and all their knights have to jump when the count says its time for war. This is different from "ducal" or "royal" barons who have sworn to a duke or king and are nearby to the count's sphere of influence. Barons have their own knights, same deal as the count.
>The town probably has charter thus actually owes literally nothing financial to the count, nor any one else. Functionally an independent city state. They host fairs when they want, apply whatever taxes they want, and are almost entirely run by craft guilds, down to electing the sheriff and mayor themselves, and also paying for the defense of the town.
>There are also probably at least one bishop and several parish priests. The bishop is functionally a baron himself, and owes temporal allegiance (including military contributions) to the count but tithes go to Rome/equivalent. Peasants pay secular tax and tithes to bishops, and tithes to their parish priest as well as their secular lord.
>On top of this there are also likely crown holdings within the count's sphere of influence which he can't fuck with and the money from there goes straight to the king, the seneschal or prevot or whatever is a civil servant not a sworn vassal and he handles that.
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