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Jan. 28th, 2014 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* From a discussion of why the level of violence in A Song of Ice and Fire is not sustainable in a Medieval setting found here: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/74905357047/why-do-they-find-the-violence-in-asoiaf-unrealistic
Why chevauchée was a bad idea and not sustainable:
In support of medievalpoc’s point, chevauchée turned out to be a really bad idea. While people debate whether or not it worked in the short term tactical sense, it was strategically disastrous.
Before chevauchée was introduced, most peasants didn’t care one way or another which royal house was nominally in charge of France. They didn’t really have much sense of France as a country as central control was very weak and they considered themselves inhabitants of whatever town or village they lived in first and citizens of whatever local or regional area had the most resonance for them second. (A person was a Norman, a Breton, a Picard, etc. rather than a Frenchman or Frenchwoman). The local nobility were the government and the king was some one based out of Isle de France who may or may not much say in what happened here depending on the relative strength of the regional nobility vs. the King that given year. A particular local noble might be better or worse than the previous one, but it wasn’t of much interest if the French speaking noble collecting the rent was born in France or England.
The chevauchée changed that, because suddenly it was really clear that the English were vastly worse, because they were burning and destroying everything. Up until this point it didn’t much matter which army came through, the peasants would hide the valuables and try to get paid for more provisions then were stolen. Now one army was the enemy and the locals hated them. They started thinking of themselves as French. They started helping one army and doing whatever they could to hinder the other. This is the difference between indifference and local folks attempting to slit your throats in your sleep. It may seem a small thing, but the English chevauchée is considered a major factor in starting the development of French patriotism/nationalism. After chevauchée, the English could no longer hold the territories the conquered that way for any length of time because they had to contend with peasant uprisings, guerrilla warfare, and sabotage.
By contrast, in areas where the English taxed with a light hand and ruled even lighter, foregoing the chevauchée, pro-English sentiment lingered. Later, when the French Crown came to conquer Gascony, the locals strenuously resisted centralized French rule, and clung hard to their separate identity even longer. You can see traces of this in early modern writing and even later. The French were still thinking of Gascons as strange, fierce, not quite French into the 19th Century, centuries after Gascony had been integrated into the French body politic.
* "All of these outbreaks could have been prevented with vaccines:" http://io9.com/all-of-these-outbreaks-could-have-been-prevented-with-v-1505667747
* "Visualizing The Companies That Have Created The Most Climate Change:" http://www.fastcoexist.com/3024157/visualized/visualizing-the-companies-that-have-created-the-most-climate-change
* "6 reasons female nudity can be powerful:" http://www.salon.com/2014/01/22/6_reasons_female_nudity_can_be_powerful/
* ...And Interfaith called to say they don't do gatekeeper letters fr trans people, so they've just been dicking me around for no reason. They insist that the Washington Gender Alliance "has resources for that" so they don't need to offer services for trans people. I pointed out they are just a support group and can not provide letters and the closest "resource" the Gender Alliance will point me to is Seattle which involves months of expensive commuting and counseling not covered by Medicare. They kept repeating "Gender Alliance as if they were not lying about them having resources to offer. So basically threy lied about offering services for trans people, wasting my time, energy, and money and are lying about what the Washington Gender Alliance can do. I can only assume they are lying to a whole lot of other trans people about services they are pretending to offer and don't.
* Luckily the trans word of mouth network has pointed me to a clinic in Renton that gives informed consent letters It will likely cost me a couple hundred in travel expenses (I'll have to drive down the night before and sleep there) plus the cost of the appointment, but it is much cheaper then travel costs plus psychiatry for a couple of months to Seattle. Thank you trans benefactor for the tip.
* I have lost track. Is this the forth or fifth time my body had a meltdown in a couple of weeks. GAH! I don't have time for this!
* Tomorrow is packed. Phone calls first, then Tibicina and her gentleman are coming for lunch and to hang out afterwards. Then Greenwick and I take more stuff across. Then I try to do final prep for the movers.
* "Sunday Sweets: Deco-licious:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2014/1/26/sunday-sweets-deco-licious.html
Why chevauchée was a bad idea and not sustainable:
In support of medievalpoc’s point, chevauchée turned out to be a really bad idea. While people debate whether or not it worked in the short term tactical sense, it was strategically disastrous.
Before chevauchée was introduced, most peasants didn’t care one way or another which royal house was nominally in charge of France. They didn’t really have much sense of France as a country as central control was very weak and they considered themselves inhabitants of whatever town or village they lived in first and citizens of whatever local or regional area had the most resonance for them second. (A person was a Norman, a Breton, a Picard, etc. rather than a Frenchman or Frenchwoman). The local nobility were the government and the king was some one based out of Isle de France who may or may not much say in what happened here depending on the relative strength of the regional nobility vs. the King that given year. A particular local noble might be better or worse than the previous one, but it wasn’t of much interest if the French speaking noble collecting the rent was born in France or England.
The chevauchée changed that, because suddenly it was really clear that the English were vastly worse, because they were burning and destroying everything. Up until this point it didn’t much matter which army came through, the peasants would hide the valuables and try to get paid for more provisions then were stolen. Now one army was the enemy and the locals hated them. They started thinking of themselves as French. They started helping one army and doing whatever they could to hinder the other. This is the difference between indifference and local folks attempting to slit your throats in your sleep. It may seem a small thing, but the English chevauchée is considered a major factor in starting the development of French patriotism/nationalism. After chevauchée, the English could no longer hold the territories the conquered that way for any length of time because they had to contend with peasant uprisings, guerrilla warfare, and sabotage.
By contrast, in areas where the English taxed with a light hand and ruled even lighter, foregoing the chevauchée, pro-English sentiment lingered. Later, when the French Crown came to conquer Gascony, the locals strenuously resisted centralized French rule, and clung hard to their separate identity even longer. You can see traces of this in early modern writing and even later. The French were still thinking of Gascons as strange, fierce, not quite French into the 19th Century, centuries after Gascony had been integrated into the French body politic.
* "All of these outbreaks could have been prevented with vaccines:" http://io9.com/all-of-these-outbreaks-could-have-been-prevented-with-v-1505667747
* "Visualizing The Companies That Have Created The Most Climate Change:" http://www.fastcoexist.com/3024157/visualized/visualizing-the-companies-that-have-created-the-most-climate-change
* "6 reasons female nudity can be powerful:" http://www.salon.com/2014/01/22/6_reasons_female_nudity_can_be_powerful/
* ...And Interfaith called to say they don't do gatekeeper letters fr trans people, so they've just been dicking me around for no reason. They insist that the Washington Gender Alliance "has resources for that" so they don't need to offer services for trans people. I pointed out they are just a support group and can not provide letters and the closest "resource" the Gender Alliance will point me to is Seattle which involves months of expensive commuting and counseling not covered by Medicare. They kept repeating "Gender Alliance as if they were not lying about them having resources to offer. So basically threy lied about offering services for trans people, wasting my time, energy, and money and are lying about what the Washington Gender Alliance can do. I can only assume they are lying to a whole lot of other trans people about services they are pretending to offer and don't.
* Luckily the trans word of mouth network has pointed me to a clinic in Renton that gives informed consent letters It will likely cost me a couple hundred in travel expenses (I'll have to drive down the night before and sleep there) plus the cost of the appointment, but it is much cheaper then travel costs plus psychiatry for a couple of months to Seattle. Thank you trans benefactor for the tip.
* I have lost track. Is this the forth or fifth time my body had a meltdown in a couple of weeks. GAH! I don't have time for this!
* Tomorrow is packed. Phone calls first, then Tibicina and her gentleman are coming for lunch and to hang out afterwards. Then Greenwick and I take more stuff across. Then I try to do final prep for the movers.
* "Sunday Sweets: Deco-licious:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2014/1/26/sunday-sweets-deco-licious.html