Surpluses (How many healers)

From: Benedict Adamson <ben_at_cd.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 10:57:34 +0000

> >The question is not whether it will be beneficial but whether he has
> >the surplus to pay for full-time healer (let alone a Priestess!)...
> This seems to beg the question as to what the actual
> surplus is....

FWIW:
When Hengest came to Britain in the 5th century, he came with '3 ships', which means 90--120 warriors (a ship load is variously 30 or 40, traditionally).
Vortigern gave him the Isle of Thanet. Bede tells us that Thanet has 600 hides/ families. That fighure seems reasonable, because the Tribale Hidage gives 500 hides for the Isle of Wight and 15000 hides for all Kent. Vortigern would not want to reduce his income too much, and Hengest would need enough income to support his men,so we can assume that was a reaonable amount.

Therefore one warrior requires 5--7 hides. Hengest would have craftsmen, servants, and dependents in addition to his warriors.

• -- Benedict Adamson, Project Engineer, Computational Dynamics Limited. PHONE: +44 (0)181 969 9639 FAX: +44 (0)181 968 8606 POST: Olympic House, 317 Latimer Road, London W10 6RA, ENGLAND.

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End of Glorantha Digest V4 #289

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