I've seen so many of these that just use very vague guesses at what medieval life was like, how it was organized, etc. If you want to use the term "medieval," why not try to get your facts right? So: -Medieval Times, the Middle Ages, and the Dark Ages are all one and the same. -All took place throughout europe only -There were no Medieval kings, there were, however lords -Lords were generally greedy and annoying -There were feudal estates rather than kingdoms, each of which was about the size of a european country today -There generally weren't great battles, in fact, most of the only fighting was against "barbarians" (Celtic people) Feel free to add/correct things. [edited by - cowsarenotevil on March 3, 2004 4:19:43 PM]

firstly, they arent the same

Medieval Ages
400 AD: Dark Ages
stuff happened

500AD: The Early Middle Ages
700 AD: Carolingian Age (Barbarian Successor States - current central europe)
750 AD: Golden Age (Pre-Islamic Arabia - Abbasid Dynasty)
850 AD: Macedonian Revival (Byzantium Empire)

1000AD: The Central Middle Ages
1300AD: The Later Middle Ages

this was followed by The Renaissance
(Please note that Medieval India is ALSO included as part of the Medieval Empires, not just the Barbarian States (franks, germanics and poms etc), Byzants and the Islamics - why the hell do you think they were scared of elephants otherwise - they don''t just walk across continents in search of peanuts and beer)
Greenlandic Vikings are also linked in because they settled all of europe between Greenland to the Islam borders.


Secondly for the kings.

Lets take England.

The FIRST King of All England was a bloke called Egbert (Norman - not Saxon)

775AD: Born
He was from the house of Wessex, born 775, and got exiled by the King of Mercia in Charlemagne,
802AD: Returned and became king of Wessex
825AD: he defeated the Mercians
829AD: the Northumbrians accepted his rule and was was proclamed "Bretwalda" (sole ruler of britain - King of All England)
839AD: he died on the 4th of February.

Note: although he was the king of all england and defeated the Danes repeatedly, about 10 generations on, the Danish Line became ruler of england with Svein Forkbeard (1014). The Wessex line didn''t come back until Edward the Confessor came into power.(1042-66)



Lets take the Franks now

768-814 Rule of Charlemagne
Charlemagne was the most successful of all Frankish kings, promoted enducation bascially which created the "Carolingian Renaissance."


Other ones in less detail
1157AD-1199AD Richard the Lion-Hearted
1188AD-1252AD Queen Blanche of Castile
That''s a famous king and queen for you






Oh, and for the battles: Please note that the Central Middle Ages was where one of those battles that you said didn''t happen actually happened

First Crusade (1096AD-1099AD)
oh, and in 1096AD was also when many european cities started attacking the Jews

You just got told...

Yes, I was mostly referring to the Middle Ages up to the Crusades. The dark ages are often placed in the same period as the middle ages (I have several sources, would you like them) up to the renaissance. And so what if there are a few stray kings in there (OK, I had that slightly wrong, but hey), there still weren''t the types and amounts of "kingdoms" that are shown in many of today''s games.

Note: I the Dark Ages should come before the Medieval ages. The Dark ages was just the name of the transition between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages. That was about the time when Rome lost some power, and some people stopped having that public plumbing (aqueducts) and there was more of the "bashing around the head with large implements of death"

oh, and for the time line, they weren''t "barbarians" that attacked them.
In about 850AD Viking, Muslim, and Magyar Invasions attacked the Western Barbarian Successor States.

It was the Barbarians that got attacked - not the other way around.


Another note (bit off topic): The term Gothic in its real sence refers to the Architecture on churces. Those tall spiraly pointy things with gargoyles all over them. Lots of fun studying that architecture.

Note: Gargoyles were originally just a way to decorate the end of the gutters on church rooves (where the water flows out).

oh, and for extra info between 1254AD and 1273AD was when the Holy Roman Empire went rulerless (interregnum).
Did you know that they use to use communal sticks with sponges on the end as toilet paper?


Oh, and in 1320AD was when gunpowder was first use for military purposes (cannons/bombards), and in 1415AD at the Battle of Agincourt was when the first hand gun was used
another note: The Victory at Agincourt was won buy one of those people whom you said didn''t exist - Henry V.
Henry V also married the daughter of another King (whom you said didn''t exist). Charles VI''s daughter, Katherine.

they still had kingdoms, which consists of lords, and the crusades are only in the central middle ages which lasted for 300 years.


Note: I also forgot the Mongol Empire. That was around 1200AD.

oh, buy the new lionheart game (or something similar).

It is based on historical events up until around 900AD, when they diverge it by adding in daemons which never got removed. It is based on historical events, is an RPG and still has fantasy in it.


BTW - Robin hood did exist aswell (not like the hero that we all know though apparently - but he did exist). There is still a park where that bloody big tree is in Nottingham too. It''s in the park.


For non-RPG games, try medieval total war.

quote: Original post by Dredge-Master Note: I also forgot the Mongol Empire. That was around 1200AD.

The Mongol Empire was in Europe?

quote: Original post by Dredge-Master
oh, and for extra info between 1254AD and 1273AD was when the Holy Roman Empire went rulerless (interregnum).
Did you know that they use to use communal sticks with sponges on the end as toilet paper?

Yes.

quote:
Oh, and in 1320AD was when gunpowder was first use for military purposes (cannons/bombards), and in 1415AD at the Battle of Agincourt was when the first hand gun was used
another note: The Victory at Agincourt was won buy one of those people whom you said didn''t exist - Henry V.
Henry V also married the daughter of another King (whom you said didn''t exist). Charles VI''s daughter, Katherine.

As I clarified, I meant the middle ages up until the crusades.

That was only the first half of the medieval ages (500AD to 1500AD - rennasaince)

Even them, if you want a lot of little kings all over the place, how about


Mercia (saxon)
Wessex (norman)
Northumbria (saxon)
Viking (the other normans)

Then there are the scots.

No offence, but face it - alot of those RPGs didn''t do as bad as you though



Regarding the Europe bit, I was pointing out that the Medieval Empires spread out across the majority of the continent. Started from the Barbarians, Byzants and Islams, then expanded to India, Mongols and Greenland (due to the settlements over europe and the islamic borders - but the majority settling in greenland until 1330 when it was abandoned). cowsarenotevil said it only took place in europe (which is incorrect but really easy to make a mistake with due to all the movies around)