Do you think Cersei destroying the Sept of Baelor would be considered an even greater offense to the public than the Red Wedding?

Yes.

What do you think is the total population of the Mountain Clans of the Vale and given their nature/situation, what percentage of them can be called upon to fight?

It’s got to be smaller than the population of the wildlings, since the wildlings had a much, much bigger territory to operate in which included land far more amenable to human habitation than mountains.

According to the Wiki of Ice and Fire, which cites Catelyn VI of AGOT, although I can’t find the citation’s source at the moment, the mountain clans can field 3,000 men. Taking the wildlings as an example, this would suggest that there are 10,000 people in the mountain clans in total, and a third of them can fight.

The Vale appears at least as isolated geographically from the bulk of Westeros as the North, Dorne and the Iron Islands are, but they don’t seem to have many of their own traditions the way those groups do. Any thoughts as to why?

In part, that’s because the traditions of the Vale became the traditions of most of Westeros once the Andal invaders took over and then marched out of the Bloody Gate to bring most of Westeros under their control.

When did commoners start to get surnames? Why do some peasants get surnames in ASOIAF, like Masha Heddle or Janos Slynt (before he got Harrenhal), but others don’t?

Generally speaking, surnames came about due to a combination of population growth and increasing urbanization that created situations where you more and more people with the same name living in the same community who now needed to be distinguished somehow.

But as for those examples: Masha isn’t technically a peasant, she’s a descendant of a family of landed knights who’ve fallen into what used to be called “genteel poverty.” Janos Slynt is an ambitious upwardly mobile commoner putting on airs, but he’s also born and raised in a city of a half-million people where there probably are a lot of other Janoses.

You didn’t talk about Sansa much in your S6 podcast. How do you feel about her story arc this season in general?

That’s a good point, forgot about that in the moment. Overall, her rise from terrified fugitive to political mastermind was pretty well executed, but there were some significant hiccups that, come to think of it, were all related to the whole underdog/Vale surprise thing. If Sansa had been more effective at rallying the smaller houses of the North together so that the battle was more on a knife edge, and if her fight with Jon had been over her wanting him to wait for the Valemen who were on their way vs. him wanting not to lose the opportunity, that would have worked better.

how realistic was the shieldwall formation in 6×09 of the show? the multiple ranks of, what looked like, large pavises backed by ranks of pikes? the closest historical precedent i can find are the scottish schiltrons, but those seem to have only used large targes where shields were included

It’s basically a mix of the hoplite phalanx and the Macedonian phalanx, so it’s fairly realistic as these things go. My issue with it had more to do with the arrangement of the battlefield – had Jon’s forces not been in the center of the field, I wouldn’t have a problem with the encirclement.

They still had the printing press along with a much wider spread of literacy by then Steven, which Westeros does not as far as I’ve been able to tell, or the example of a Magna Carta, I’m pretty sure you’ve said Westeros has fluctuated from being an example of the 10th to the 14th century before Steven, a few advanced technology examples does not support an immediate societal shift. And I’m talking purely in terms of economic development/industry, not trying to offend your ancestor Steven.

Printing press came out 59 years after the Great Revolt of 1381 or the Jacquerie or any of the popular revolts of the late medieval period. The printing press is not necessary for people to develop ideology or to fight for justice.

And I have not said that Westeros has fluctuated between the two. Some of its political organization is more reminiscent of the earlier period, but it’s quite clearly late medieval in terms of economic development, and the Renaissance is going on just across the Narrow Sea.

14th century Renaissance is a good long way from the 10th century or RL history or what Westeros resembles, we didn’t have printing presses at that point for one thing to disseminate information or encourage literacy on that scale nor the development of a burgeoning merchant middle class to develop industry or provoke social mobility. I believe gradual transition is needed, from technology, to economy, to society, to sustain such a radical change without falling apart.

14th century England was not in the Renaissance.

And Westeros is certainly not 10th century or anything like that. Given the level of technology, we’re talking 14th century at the earliest.

And Adam Attewell wasn’t a merchant.

Krim here, are you really suggesting a pre-modern abolition of monarchies for large nation states and replacing them with a fully representative people’s assembly? Would that realistically be feasible during such troubled eras in history, RL or Westeros?

Let me tell you a story about my ancestor. His name was Adam Attewell, he was a London butcher, and in the 14th century, he joined an illegal organization created by John Ball, known as the Great Society, dedicated to the proposition that peasants should be free and equal people under the law, and that the land belonged to the man who works it. And when Wat Tyler rose up, here’s what Adam did:

When I say Team Smallfolk 4 Life, I mean it.

I was wondering what’s the difference (if there’s any) between seneschal, a castellan and a steward? the only seneschal I found in the books is Garth the Gross and Vayon Poole the only steward.

warsofasoiaf:

Well, a castellan is typically in charge of military matters of a castle (hence the name, derived from the word castle). So he would be in charge of the garrison, dispensing justice in the name of his lord, and so on. A seneschal is in charge of the domestic administration, servants and finances of a household. A steward was a chief representative and enabled to make decisions and act on the behalf of his patron. As you can imagine, all three of these positions have a great deal of overlap, as does a majordomo or a viceroy. Often the duties were combined and entrusted to a single person, this person would be in essence the lord’s representative to handle affairs when he was not present, a combined representative and chief of staff. I’ve seen the terms be used in fashions where they’re almost interchangeable.

But @racefortheironthrone, please correct me if I’m wrong.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

One complicating fact, however. Some of these titles went in and out of use over time, and could sometimes be used to describe overlapping offices. So at times, the titles of steward and seneschal were interchangeable, for example.