[removed]

A French or Anglo-Norman noble referring to peasants might call them villeins. Though villein tended to be specific to serfs (rather than free peasants), most peasants in France, the Holy Roman Empire, Italy, northern Iberia, and post-1066 England were serfs.

There are the following reports about two kings of antiquity raping their female subjects:

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Tablet I, column ii, lines 14 - 17

[Yet Gilga]mesh [is the shepherd] of Uruk, the enc[losure].

He is [our shepherd], [strong, handsome, and wise].

[Gilgamesh] leaves no [virgin to her lover],

The daughter of a war[rior, the chosen of a noble]!

Text in the pyramid of Unas

Utterance 317 §510cd

Unas is the lord of semen.

He takes women away from their husbands to the location

of his preference whenever he wishes to.

How much historical truth is here?

I am more knowledgeable about the fall of the Shang dynasty than the Qing. Abolishment of slavery was a centerpiece reform made by the Zhou rulers. Hopefully someone else would have an answer to your question. The Manchu/Jurchens did practice slavery as it was common in the northern steppes to own slaves. Not sure if they kept the practice during the Qing. One could theorize that turkic customs were imported into the empire over the millenia and the laws shifted quite a bit, but I have no evidence nor example to give. Iirc, one of the reasons Genghis Khan declared war on the then Jurchen ruled Jin dynasty was because of rampant slave trade which put many turkic people in bondage in the empire. There were also many Sodgian traders who were famous for introducing slave trade to the then flourishing Tang Dynasty when the culture swinged more liberal and open to foreign culture.

Great post I always enjoy reading this part of history and refreshing my brain. Amazing that this was the precursor to world war 1. Such an amazing time with so many factions. Would be Great to see a Netflix docu on it.

They could also have been worn to show his success as a mercenary. A man who survived long enough to get paid by multiple countries with multiple different coins would probably like to make that known. Vikings were know to sail as far as the Black Sea and then traverse to the Middle East by land and offer services as mercenaries.

[removed]

[removed]

You see that rune that looks kind of like a bow? That was not used by vikings. Same for the one that looks a bit like a capital M. They ARE runes, they just were not used in Scandinavia at the time vikings were active. Also that picture from 1928 (I think the year was) where some people are sitting on the stone? The runes look weird and I’d be surprised if the picture hasn’t been retouched.

Hoarding treasure. What a unique human behavior.

This guy had all these different coins that he wore as pendants. 5 were Arab coins, and the rest from different European countries. He was an early coin collector, and liked to show them off to his friends. He was probably known for it: "Here comes Lothar! Nobody ask him about the coin around his neck, or that's all we'll hear about for the rest of the night."

It's a really interesting, humanizing detail of this person.

My dad took me to see the stone just for the hell of it back when I was in the third grade. Even back then he pointed out that it was probably carved in the 1800s by a Scandinavian immigrant.

I know of no serious Oklahoma historian who believes that these runes were carved by vikings. They are just an interesting road side tourist attraction.

Tel them to return it to the country they invaded and pillaged it from, probably England.

[removed]

[removed]

Okay. Yeah they know. Peasant is not an insult, it's a neutral descriptor. And they know it exist because they know that even if they represent the vast majority of the population, there are people that do not live like them. Even if rural community are relatively isolated (compared to a town) they're not completely cut off from the world (the stereotype of the village man who never saw anyone that wasn't from his village is nonsense). They pay taxes to their lord and/or the king, that means a tax collector (and the lord itself). Their priest is educated in a neighboring city and rarely from the village itself. They sell their products to a market town where they meet people from all other... they are in contact with the wider world.

So yes they use the term or local equivalent... when talking of themselves in relation to other groups. "We, peasants, are not like you city folk", that kind of things. Otherwise if they have to use a term they use the name of their village ("we are the people of St Johnston up Avon" or whatever). Just like if you live in a city nowadays you're more likely to say "I'm from Manchester" rather than "I'm a city dweller" unless you have to specify in context.

yeah, if they knew they were called a specific word, or term, or would they call themselves a specific word or term. Also, I was talking about Medieval Europe, sorry.

That isn't to say there weren't preferred coins though. If a coin wasn't common enough to be recognized as silver other commoners or even some merchants might not accept it out of caution.

This is partially why the roman Denarius is found everywhere. Not only were a large amount minted but because the empire sprawled so far and wide it was easily recognized as silver. The romans even had to set the value slightly above the value of the metal content to help encourage people to keep the currency within their borders.

> Modern science can show us that at least in our current societies women masturbate less, initiate sex less, etc

Can I get some sauce on that?

>quill was invented only in 600 AD.

The Greeks and Romans used reed pens.

https://sites.dartmouth.edu/ancientbooks/2016/05/23/the-writing-instrument-the-reed-and-quill-and-ink/

When and where? 1788 France is very different from 15 AD Rome.

But in general... yeah. Why wouldn't they? It's just a word. Help me here, I'm not really sure I understand your question. Do they know that they are called by a specific word? Is that it?

do the know that they are labelled as ‘peasants’ or ‘countrymen’

Keep in mind Italy managed to unify with their southern half. Germany tried but failed (Austria).

Can you be clearer? What period are you referring to? What do you mean by "peasants or countrymen". Do you mean: do peasants understood their status as "non city folk"?

Did peasants or countrymen knew they were called peasants or countrymen? Would they refer to their areas (villages, neighbourhoods etc.) and the people living in them as something? Doing research for my fiction novel, trying to be as historically accurate as possible.