> The still unresolved concept of ownership in Heortling society will
be
> slightly different in urban settlements. "Land ownership" will be
> personalized - each parcel of the city will be registered on one
(head
> of) household. This is probably an office whose holder is appointed
by
> that household.
>
> There are bound to be urban land owners who let residents live in
> their property for a rent. These residents will have a less direct
> relation to their "steadholder" than in rural areas, but they will
> have to provide an amount of their family speciality (craftsman's
> product, shop supply or work force) or some other means of exchange
as
> per "tribute" contract.
I'd suggest a slight variant on this. When the cities were founded, most were cooperative ventures between tribes. I imagine that each tribe was given control over a certain amount of space in the city. In addition temples would have been given some space. When it comes to imported craftsmen, it is possible that they were given their own land, or else that the tribes competed to get them on their holdings ("we'll build you a stead" "we'll build you a stead with a wooden floor" "We'll match that, and build it only a minute from the well."). They would have competed, because of course they'd get a share of the goods and glory that each tenant on their lands produced.
I think this is a fairly key question.
If the craftsmen were given their own pieces of land, this would have created houses and yards that are owned, at most, by a small bloodline. This isn't quite private property, but it does raise possibilities of sub-tenants and so on, which would all push you towards something resembling an exchange economy, where you make a lot of specific deals of one specific thing for another. It may not be for cash, but basically you sell everything, and hopefully get all the essentials of life and some luxuries for it in return. (depending on demand, competition, your skill, etc).
On the other hand, if all lands are either controlled by temple or tribe, then you will retain more of the traditional heortling favor/relationship economy. The tribal representative in the city would probably be charge of handing out food and raw materials brought to the city by the clans, and of receiving the majority of the craftsmen's produce in return. This isn't a "I'll make you 20 new wagon wheels in return for a side of beef." but more a matter of steadily churning out wagon wheels, of which you give three in every four to the tribal representative, and depending on your success and status and skill he'll feed and reward you better or worse, much like a clan chieftan. Of course there is some left-over to be sold at market, but it is just the surplus that is sold. (btw, technically I think the craftsmen would be guests of the tribe, being given hospitality, and honoring their hosts with the products of their labour in return. Some may have indeed been adopted into, or married into, the tribe/clans).
Anyone have opinions on which way the cities were parcelled out?
--Bryan
Powered by hypermail