Re:Share of Income Gains by Quintile - Great Depression til Now
by true_religion on Saturday September 10, 2011 @10:55AM
(#2981665)
Fair enough, they "owned" it but it wasn't a liquid asset. That much was what I was trying to get across.
Re:Share of Income Gains by Quintile - Great Depression til Now
by nl on Saturday September 10, 2011 @12:54PM
(#2981894)
That's not true either.
Both land and other stores of value (eg gold & silver) were frequently traded between medieval landowners.
Even looking at Europe alone, the Kinghts Templers acted as bankers as early as 1000AD, which allowed the rich to transfer money over distance. By the 1300's the Medici's had created an institution that would be recognizable as a modern bank.
If they didn't own anything then why do their ancestors still own great chunks of places like the UK - where many members of the upper classes can trace their ancestries, and the lands they own, back to the Norman conquest?
Life as a royal in medieval times was pretty tough, but largely because they were still expected to fight to maintain their position, compared to the lifestyles of most people in the countries they ruled they were well fed, well clothed and had much better accommodation than most.