OFF: settlement of England (was: Re: Mountain Grill (!))

[Eric Siegerman]

On Thu, Mar 03, 2005 at 12:50:31AM -0000, Jill Strobridge wrote:
> [...] without maintenance, money
> or stone working knowlege town centres may have become very
> dangerous places and probably best avoided.

Not to mention the animate dangers -- thieves, invading armies,
etc.

> And when the supply of
> coinage dried up then land became wealth and the best place a
> landowner could be was in his house on his country estate with a
> private army to guard it.

Much the same happened in Italy, didn't it?  As Rome -- empire
and city both -- deteriorated, those as could, got the hell out.
They retreated to their country villas and began fortifying them
against marauders -- the seed of an arms race that would
ultimately lead to the mediaeval castles.

(At least, so I recall reading once; I don't really know that
much about it.)

> The Visigoths (I
> think I'm correct in this?) attempted to emulate Roman authority
> and adopted the trappings of Roman power

Or Ostro-, not sure which.  Some kind of Goths anyway.

> This has travelled a long way from Mountain Grill I fear!

Well, that Aelfred Jewel would make a fine addition to Smaug's
hoard.  And if he happened to flame some pesky dwarves and
hobbits who came nosing around, that'd be a Lonely Mountain
grill.  And if he then decided to make a meal of them, he might
wash it down with beer made from Misty Mountain hops.

There and back again, ba-dum boom!

--

|  | /\
|-_|/  >   Eric Siegerman, Toronto, Ont.        erics at telepres.com
|  |  /
The animal that coils in a circle is the serpent; that's why so
many cults and myths of the serpent exist, because it's hard to
represent the return of the sun by the coiling of a hippopotamus.
        - Umberto Eco, "Foucault's Pendulum"