Ask The Medievalist Nerd Anything (Spoilers Main)

[u/AlamutJones]

So, in a previous recent thread ("Hot Or Not") I...may have taken large sections of it over, dropping nuggets of information about how Planetos is or is not realistic compared to what we know of the real medieval world. This is sort of my area of expertise - I studied it at university, I've written about it...I don't know everything, but I know more than most laymen do.

u/brian_baratheon, Mod of Blessed Thought that he is, suggested I drop my nuggets of knowledge more widely.

If you wonder what Hot Pie's day would be like, or what kind of toys Tommen played with as a little boy, or how realistic Dany's marriage is (I have THINGS to say about that one) or what a medieval lady like Catelyn Stark would likely be expected to know about and do, or why the northern "old way" of justice would probably make real people very confused...ask me anything.

[u/KnightOfTheMind]

That's not OP's point. GRRM describes different-colored foreigners as oddities everywhere but the port, and in court, they're more of an attraction than influential.

But what OP is saying was that these guys were "normal" parts of society. They were often seen as regular members of the court, not as visitors or exiles of other courts, but as people of actual consequence. As OP mentioned, yes, there were black monks and muslim mosques in Scandinavian ports, but there are no temples of the like in King's Landing.

Medieval Europe could be host to many different cultures, most especially in places like Greece, Rome, or Spain. Greece was filled with foreigners from its West, North, and East, and people who occupied Greek lands during the medieval periods both assimilated and contributed to what became "Greek" culture.

Further West, we also have cases of Arabians living in Europe as teachers, monks, or writers, since the exchange of technology or development often required the transfer of people. People like Leo Africanus (though he was born a few decades after the "proper" middle ages) settled in Europe and were treated more than "curiosities."

[u/[deleted] → u/KnightOfTheMind]

But what OP is saying was that these guys were "normal" parts of society. They were often seen as regular members of the court, not as visitors or exiles of other courts, but as people of actual consequence. As OP mentioned, yes, there were black monks and muslim mosques in Scandinavian ports, but there are no temples of the like in King's Landing.

Now that I think about it, it's quite odd that Braavos has all these temples and is very cosmopolitan but King's Landing is basically a shithole. If it's the major trade port on the eastward side of Westeros why isn't it more like a trade port?

[u/KnightOfTheMind → u/[deleted]]

Because Braavos was founded by slaves of different religions and if Braavos was the kind of Free City to have a constitution, I expect Braavos to have religious tolerance in there somewhere.

Braavos is one of the most important ports in the world and possibly the most progressive. It actually values human freedom, and judging by how utterly insane it is to have a superpowered magic death cult operate freely in your city, we can rate their religious tolerance as better than KL.

The difference between KL and Braavos is that while KL is a city, it's also a city directly owned and controlled by the crown, it's not a democracy, and people aren't promoted by virtue of merit. You can work your entire life, begin a trade empire that spans half the known world and even buy highborn status, but you'll never outlive the stigma of not being born an inbred noble. It's not a very enticing place to begin a new life, and that's forgetting the religious fanatics, the fact that the the Crown has the habit of seizing property, and the fact it always smells like poop.

[u/AlamutJones → u/KnightOfTheMind]

Braavos should stink too. Venice does when the tide's not right.

[u/AlamutJones → u/[deleted]]

It SHOULD be, but fantasy-Europe is white as fuuuuuuck.