A Medieval social structure where, in theory, the nobility would protect everyone, the peasants would pay for this protection by working the land, and the clergy would pray for everyone. In the secular world, the monarch was at the top of the pyramid, with each layer of nobility and commons owing services or favour to the layers above and below them.
Feudalism
Fact of the Day
Robert Plot, Professor of Chemistry at Oxford, devised a cunning plan to enable James II to permanently rid the country of parliaments: he advised James to found a hermetic college for the alchemical creation of gold, thus making the need for parliamentary subsidies redundant.
Quote of the Day
"Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its students.
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~ Hector Berlioz, composer
On This Day
1787 The 'First Fleet' of 11 ships carrying convicts to Australia left England.
1888 Slavery was abolished in Brazil.