"The economic system which dominates H�rn is an agrarian economy, mostly feudal in nature. The power of the H�rnic nobility is vested in its control of the agriculture which accounts for 80% of all economic activity and which involves 90% of its population."
Ecomomics article in CGI's HarnView, 1983
People have to eat.
That simple fact is the basis of the wealth associated with holding a manoral fief. There is more to it than food, of course - the manors also produce timber, flax, wool, dyestuff, beasts of burden, warhorses, and more. But foodstuff is the largest single commodity and accounts for most of the wealth accrued to the manor holder. How much wealth? The first step in answering that question is estimating the amount of food consumed by Chybisa's populace.
In the original H�rnDex (1983), the entry under "food" gave us these figures as a guide to the diets and normal consumption of H�rn's populace.
Bread | ||
Vegetables | ||
Meat | ||
Dairy | ||
Wine / Ale | ||
Daily Calories |
Depending on your view of how well or underfed H�rnic commoners are, those are pretty fair numbers. For comparison, let's take a look at the USDA's recommendations on dietary requirements.
Daily Calories | |
Teenage Boys, Active Men, Very Active Women | |
Children, Teenage Girls, Active Women, Sedentary Men | |
Sedentary Women, Elderly Adults |
From these figures, and assuming an even gender distribution among the nobility, we can see the figure of 2500 calories per day for the nobility is a fair estimate. The figure of 2000 calories per day for commoners is a bit low, making them underfed by today's standards. That may work for serfs, but not wealthy (but common-born) farmers, craftsmen, mercantylers, etc. Let's create a few more categories.
Daily Calories | |
Noble Warriors | |
Nobility | |
Common Warriors | |
Wealthy Commoners | |
Commoners | |
Serfs / Urban Poor |
The entries for "Noble Warriors" and "Common Warriors" describe professional military, such as Chybisa's High Guard and Low Guard, and include only, or mostly, men. The other entries are the average of the figure for men and the figure for women. Looking at the entry of 2500 calories for "Nobility," for example, assumes a nobleman consumes about 2800 calories and a noblewoman consumes about 2200 calories. The entry "Commoners" includes yeomen and freehold farmers as well as most craftsmen.
To relate calories to agricultural production, we next have to create some typical daily diets to use in forming some assumptions. Note that the barley and vegetables are often consumed in pottage or similar dishes, especially in peasant households. Also note that I don't mean to imply that everyone eats the same thing everyday - certainly there will be some variety and substitutions (oats for barley, for example, or cabbages for onions), as well as the occassional feast - but this set of diets gives us a baseline for comparisons. Lastly, note that I've omitted beverages from the daily diets; from H�rnManor, we can assume eight pints of ale per adult per day.
Noble Warrior: One pound-loaf of wheat bread (1100 calories), one and one-half cup of lentils (300 calories), one cup of peas (220 calories), one onion (60 calories), one leek (60 calories), three medium-sized fruits (150 calories), two ounces of cheese (220 calories), seven ounces (precooked weight) of lamb (735 calories).
Nobility: One pound-loaf of wheat bread (1100 calories), one and one-half cup of lentils (300 calories), one cup of peas (220 calories), one onion (60 calories), one leek (60 calories), three medium-sized fruits (150 calories), two ounces of cheese (220 calories), four ounces (precooked weight) of lamb (420 calories, game replaces lamb on occassion).
Common Warrior: One pound-loaf of maslin bread (1100 calories), one and one-half cup of lentils (300 calories), one cup of peas (220 calories), one onion (60 calories), one-quarter cup of barley (150 calories), one medium-sized fruit (50 calories), two ounces of cheese (220 calories), four ounces (precooked weight) of lamb (420 calories).
Wealthy Commoner: One pound-loaf of wheat bread (1100 calories), one cup of lentils (200 calories), one and one-half cup of peas (330 calories), one onion (60 calories), one leek (60 calories), two medium-sized fruits (100 calories), two ounces of cheese (220 calories), four ounces (precooked weight) of lamb (420 calories).
Commoner: One pound-loaf of maslin bread (1100 calories), one cup of lentils (200 calories), one cup of peas (220 calories), one onion (60 calories), one-quarter cup of barley (150 calories), one medium-sized fruit (50 calories), two ounces of cheese (220 calories), two ounces (precooked weight) of lamb (210 calories).
Serf / Urban Poor: One pound-loaf of rye bread (1100 calories), one onion (60 calories), one-half cup of lentils (50 calories), one cup of barley (600 calories), one-half cup of milk (80 calories), one ounce (precooked weight) of lamb (105 calories).
Next, let's convert the daily diets into annual quantities of produce. For the grain conversion, note that bread is about thirty percent water (by weight), giving about seventy percent flour. With a milling loss of thirty percent in converting grain to flour, it therefore takes one pound of grain to make enough flour to make one pound of bread. Barely is converted to ale at the rate of 1.6 pounds per eight pints of "heady ale;" half of that amount is used for the poor to account for the second and third brewings that produce "pauper's ale." (note that these amounts mean that most of the barley grown goes into ale!) Cheese is converted to milk at the rate of one pound of cheese per gallon of milk. Grain, bean, and pea weights are converted to bushels using the bushel weights given in the published H�rnic material. Other weights and quantities are converted to bushels using modern Terran standards.
Wheat (bushels) | ||||||
Rye (bushels) | ||||||
Barley (bushels) | ||||||
Lentils (bushels) | ||||||
Peas (bushels) | ||||||
Onions (bushels) | ||||||
Leeks (bushels) | ||||||
Fruit (bushels) | ||||||
Milk (gallons) | ||||||
Lamb (pounds) |
Before moving on, let's look at a few ways to put those numbers to work. For starters, let's look at how they might relate to the schemes of a manor-holding PC who wants to get rich by growing as much wheat as he can. First, let's sort out how many bushels of wheat are consumed in Chybisa each year.
Wheat (bushels) |
From that number, we can estimate the number of acres planted with wheat.
Average gross yield per acre: | 9 bushels |
*Seed requirement per acre: | 2 bushels |
Average net yield per acre: | 7 bushels |
Yield per acre * LQ of 1.22: | 8.54 bushels |
Acres planted with wheat (21,420 / 8.54): | 2,508 acres |
*A conservative estimate that accounts for wastage and spoilage. See H�rnManor rules for 'Beadle Success'. |
So, all of Chybisa's manors taken together account for about 2,510 acres of wheat. If wheat cultivation is more or less uniform throughout the kingdom, our PC manor-holder is probably only able to plant about 35 acres of wheat (2,510 acres / 70 manors = about 35 acres per manor). What happens if he plants more? He ends up with wheat he cannot sell at the going market rate - it will either remain unsold, or the price of wheat will drop. In either case, our PC manor-holder is not going to get rich by over-producing wheat.
As a side note, wheat production probably is not uniform throughout the kingdom. Manors with better land or located closer to Burzyn (the main 'export' market), probably plant more while manors out on the frontier probably plant less.
Now, let's look at the market for wheat represented by Burzyn. Assuming the population of 520 persons consists of:
Nobility, Laranian Clerics: | 35 persons |
Wealthy Commoners: | 35 persons |
Commoners: | 160 persons |
Urban Poor: | 290 persons |
...then we can estimate Burzyn's annual demand for wheat as about 1,080 bushels of wheat, or the produce of about 126 acres. All 1,080 bushels might be brought into the city right after the harvest, bought up by the miller (or mercantylers) and kept in storage until needed. Or it might be kept in storage on the manor(s) where it was grown and brought into the city at the rate of about 30 bushels every ten-day, etc. Since wheat cultivation is probably not uniform throughout the kingdom, there are probably only a few manors engaged in growing that wheat for Burzyn's market. Which ones are they, GM? The answer to that sketches in a pattern of local trade.
High Guard - 40 noble warriors * 7.2 bu: | 288 bushels |
Low Guard - 60 common warriors * 3.6 bu: | 216 bushels |
Total: | 504 bushels |
That number represents the produce of about 60 acres. Looking it at from the point of view of the person managing the supply chain, that number represents 25,200 pounds of grain. And that is just the wheat! There are also 10,800 pounds of rye...