A Treatise on Economic fulfillment, the funding of the nobility and the Theme system/The Funding of the Nobility

The Funding of the Nobility

The beginning of this second chapter will outline the various premises I aim to discuss and examine.

• Proper Funding Required of the Nobility: A minimum amount should reach the coffers of each noble week on week, supplemented by additional monthly incomes provided by the realm at large. This allows a noble to properly pursue all matters of the realm, including warfare, education and other pursuits of noble interest. Without such, a noble is reduced to that of a mere peasant, unable to fund a proper retinue or increase their lands proper.

• Efficient Structuring of the Knightly Estate: Proper research conducted into the management of estates has yielded some surprising results. Whilst it is often preferable to maintain efficiency over size, this is not always a beneficial stance, as will be explained further on. With more properly managed estates, the lords and knights maintaining them can yield even greater revenues to fund their endeavours.

• Additional Infrastructure to Support the Nobility: As mentioned above, a proper infrastructure ought to be created in order to support nobles who retain land of less value. Whilst the realm ought to consider carefully whether to hold territory that is marginal and unproductive first, should it be considered appropriate, the nobles taking up the mantle should receive additional funds for their time and effort.

• Appropriate Spending of Wider Realm Funds: An evaluation of the use of realm funding need be done to ascertain when, where and how realm funds should be spent. Without a critique of this, realm funds often lie idle within the treasury when they could be put to more productive uses, such as the construction of guilds, temples, funding of armies and more.

The next section shall discuss the initial point in question; the funding of the nobility.

Proper Funding Required of the Nobility

A properly funded nobility is the cornerstone to any realms expansion of internal and foreign affairs. Raising the funds has already been discussed, and as such the distribution of these funds, from the lowliest field to the highest palace towers, need be examined. Some of these points have already been examined briefly in the previous chapter, but I aim to expand them here to properly explain my views on the subject at hand.

The first point I would raise is the brackets of what is acceptable as an income for the nobility, and how much would be preferable for any one particular noble. This is substantiated by some facts I have collated from Luria's own expenditures, although this should not vary so much from place to place. For example, a cadre of twenty well trained and armed Lurian arbalests costs 200 gold to hire. With the requisite paraphernalia added on and the upkeep taken into consideration, fielding this unit will cost around 250 to set up, and 100 per week to maintain. These are conservative estimates, and of course this is assuming one of the most popular and expensive retinues within the Lurian empire. Many retinues will cost substantially less.

• Sub one hundred gold income: Nobility located in provinces which provide them the paltry sum of less than one hundred gold per tax week ought to seek restitution via other means. Of course, knights should be relocated via decree to more prosperous areas in order to receive a more acceptable income. The stewards of these regions, however, should be offered monthly compensation via a guild house in order to supplement their income. A case by case basis should be applied to each region of this level and appropriately ranked in the guild houses that distribute funds.

• One hundred to one hundred and fifty gold income: A more acceptable level, nobles who reside in provinces of this amount of gold should have relatively little coin to spend, but enough to keep most pressing matters at bay. This weekly income should be able to outfit a small retinue, regularly help fund projects overtime, but on the whole be somewhat penniless after spending. A flat monthly stipend from the guild house that provides additional funds should range between 200-400, depending on realm treasury and how well funded these regions need to be.

• One hundred and fifty to two hundred gold income: An average income for a noble. This amount of gold should upkeep an acceptable force, fund projects week on week, and have some to spare. A monthly stipend from the guild house should still be considered, so that each noble may be able to raise additional resources should the realm require it. I would advise no more than 100-200 however.

• Over two hundred gold income: The prime income of a noble. What every realm should aim the majority of their nobility to earn week on week. This will upkeep a sizable retinue and fund extensive projects. A monthly stipend from the guild house is probably unnecessary, but if the realm is deemed rich enough, 50-100 should suffice.

From these estimates, one might begin to build a picture of how much a noble should be earning month on month. The realm should aim for an average of 800-1000 gold per month, or 200-250 per week. Since guild house stipends/revenues are only calculated month on month (and the day of joining to boot), bureaucracy can be a little annoying to work out when nobles will receive their funds and no.

I would recommend keeping the guild houses providing this additional income in each major gold producing province, likely the cities, although additional guild houses should be constructed in order to spread out the guild funds where possible. For a working example of this practice currently in place, see the Grand Pantry of Luria Nova, currently operated by Margravine Ciarghuala Dubhaine, Grand Panetier of Luria Nova.

There is little more to discuss on this matter, as revenues earned only explains how wealthy a noble might be. How those funds should be used is the real problem for many a realm. The next section will aim to enlighten the reader as to what realm, and individual noble spending, should be.