>But, for "the uncountable thousands who grew crops and reared beasts
>only to be looted and burned and led away with tied wrists, this
>economy, even at peace, was an order of exploitation of a most
>thoroughgoing kind: a property in men as well as land; a reduction
>of most men to working animals, tied by forced tribute, forced
>labour, or 'bought and sold like beasts....'"
>
>I agree with the general sentiment, but this is the Middle Ages as
>viewed by modern (that is, post-Enlightenment) Europeans, not the
>real Middle Ages, which were much more sophisticated than they are
>normally believed to have been.
It's not off for the uncountable thousands. The sophisticates weren't many. Their numbers were comparable to the 1% and .01% super rich in the U.S. today (according to Doug's breakdown in the new LBO).