The stableman gave him three gold pieces and the rest in silver. Dunk bit one of the gold coins and smiled. He had never tasted gold before, nor handled it…the heft of all that coin in his pouch made him feel queer; almost giddy on one hand, and anxious on the other. The old man had never trusted him with more than a coin or two at a time. He could live a year on this much money. (Hedge Knight)
So according to Dunk, 750 silver or three and a half gold (which he got for selling one horse, btw) is a good year’s income for a smallfolk like himself.
And since we see that a heavy meal of “lamb…as good as any he had ever eaten, and the duck was even better, cooked with cherries and lemons and not near as greasy as most. The innkeep brought buttered pease as well, and oaten bread still hot from her oven,” plus four tankards of ale works out to a handful of copper (when a loaf of bread costs three coppers normally) less than a silver, we can begin to get a sense of what kind of standard of living one could have one two silvers a day.
The reason why I took five gold as the high end is that the Hedge Knight happened a hundred years prior to the present of ASOIAF, and you would have gotten some inflation over that period.
But let’s take Jaime’s example: a fine warhorse works out to anywhere between a third and a fifth of a yearly income for a smallfolk – taking the average income in the U.S today, that horse is worth about $9,000-15,000 – which is pretty high, considering that the “American Association of Equine Practitioners estimates the minimum annual cost of owning a healthy horse — not including stabling costs — to be at least $2,500.”
So back in the day, I tried to figure this out by working out the ratio of cavalry to foot in the armies where we have good figures. Here’s what we know:
Taking Robb’s army at the Twins as our example, we see that 27% of the North’s army was cavalry (6 out of 22k) and 73% was infantry. (You can even go pre-Twins to cancel out the effect of the Freys, as 500 was 10% of the Stark cavalry, meaning that Robb had 5,000 cavalry and 13,000 infantry when he arrived at the Twins).
Combining Tywin and Jaime’s armies together, we see that the Lannisters had ~10,500 cavalry out of a total Lannister force of 35,000, which gives us a ratio of 30%.
Renly’s army at Bitterbridge was 80,000 strong and 20,000 of them were cavalry, which gives us a ratio of 25%. This is part of what started to make me suspicious about Renly’s numbers, because the Reach being the center of chivalry should have a higher percentage than the North, and even if we took 25% as our figure, should have more than 20,000 by itself, and then you have the Stormlands, which should have at least 6,000 cavalry by itself. This is why I’ve come to suspect that a lot of the Reacher lords and Stormlords did not answer the call (at least a third, depending on how much credence you put on Renly’s claim to have 10,000 at Highgarden) and that Renly was, characteristically, overstating his support when talking with Catelyn and Stannis.
So I would put the ratio of cavalry to infantry at ~27-30%. This would suggest that the numbers look like this:
The North: 9,450-10,500.
The Vale: 8,000-10,000.*
The Westerlands: 12,000-13,500.
The Crownlands: 4,000-4,500.
The Riverlands: 5,400-6,000.
The Reach: 27,000-30,000.
The Stormlands: 6,750-7,500.
Dorne:
6,750-7,500.
Ironborn: none.*
* – The Vale might be a special case, in that its army is described pretty much always as just “the knights of the Vale.” So it’s possible they have a higher ratio than normal, which would explain why all these noble houses are in debt. Likewise, the Ironborn have almost no cavalry due to the vagaries of geography, although things were different back when they ruled the Riverlands.
Now, granted, not all cavalry are knights. Northern heavy cavalry are essentially knights when it comes to social class, equipment, training, etc.
even if most of them aren’t given the title.
Squires aren’t knights, but they do fight as knights do on the battlefield, many if not most of them will become knights or are of the social class who become knights. But what about the people who don’t fit that mold?
If we look at Tywin’s army at the Green Fork, we can get a decent picture of how many are which:
The right wing was all cavalry, some four thousand men, heavy with the weight of their armor. More than three quarters of the knights were there, massed together like a great steel fist. Ser Addam Marbrand had the command…
This wing too was all cavalry, but where the right was a mailed fist of knights and heavy lancers, the vanguard was made up of the sweepings of the west: mounted archers in leather jerkins, a swarming mass of undisciplined freeriders and sellswords, fieldhands on plow horses armed with scythes and their fathers’ rusted swords, half-trained boys from the stews of Lannisport … and Tyrion and his mountain clansmen.
So Marbrand’s 4,000 men make up more than 75% of the Westerlander chivalry, which means that Tywin has around 5,333 knights out of 7,500 cavalry – making knights ~70% of his cavalry. If we extrapolate the same percentage across all of Westeros, we would see something like:
After I did this post, @joannalannister asked if I could do a similar set of estimates for the other Great Houses, so I figured I might as well knock them out.
So what are the incomes of the .01% of Westeros?
House Lannister
Now, this is the one where I have to admit I may have under-estimated in the past. I had previouslyestimated that the Lannisters earn at least a million a year based on their lending to the Crown, but my population-based methodology put the Starks easily at or above that level, so I definitely need to do a rethink.
Given that the Westerlands have a population of around 4.5-5.5 million (depending on which estimate you use), the GDI of the Westerlands would be around 13.5-27.5 million dragons a year if we use the average peasant income. (Which would suggest a Lannister income from taxes alone of 1.3-2.75 million a year…)
However, we know from the text that the Westerlands have an unusually high GDI per-capita due to their vast mineral resources, high levels of urbanization, and high levels of human capital in their skilled artisans. So I would start at the upper range and add on perhaps another third to half, suggesting that their GDI is somewhere around 35-41 million dragons.
This would place House Lannister’s revenue at 3.5 to 4.1 million dragons a year, more than three times as much as House Stark – which would fit the Lannisters’ reputation for ostentatious luxury and the Starks’ reputation for spartan austerity.
House Arryn
I’m actually working on my essay on the politics of the Vale right now, but all evidence points to the Arryns being on the high side of average: we hear that “The Vale of Arryn—a long, wide, fertile valley entirely ringed by the great grey-green peaks of the mighty Mountains of the Moon—is as rich as it is beautiful,” and that “though the Vale itself is famously fertile, it is small compared to the domains of other kings (and even some great lords)…Trade is therefore of paramount importance to the rulers of the Vale.”
So I would put their per-capita income on the high-side of average, but this is offset by their lower population. Given a population of 3-3.5 million, the GDI of the Vale is probably around 15 to 17.5 million a year. This would bring in 1.5-1.75 million a year, but Gulltown’s port incomes probably brings it up to 2-odd million a year – substantially higher than the Starks despite having a roughly equivalent population, but significantly below that of the Lannisters due to their low population.
But as I’m sure the Arryns would be the first to tell you, money can’t buy good manners…
House Tully
House Tully is a fascinating case in how failed governance can waste the advantages of nature. Given that the Riverlands are “rich and fertile…the waters of the Trident make the lands ripe for settlement, farming, and conquest, whilst the river’s three branches stimulate trade and travel during peacetime,” the region’s 4 million inhabitants should produce a GDI of around 20 million dragons a year (taking the high average of peasant income), producing tax revenue of around 2 million dragons a year.
However, whether it’s due to underdevelopment or the weak grasp of the Tullys on their subjects, their actual army size compared to their potential army size suggests that they only have an income of 1 million dragons a year. Obviously in comparison to ordinary smallfolk, this is a staggering sum, but in comparison to their neighbors to the west and to the east, you can see why the Riverlands have struggled to maintain their independence.
House Greyjoy
These estimates are all rather crude, but this is especially true for the Ironborn, since so little of their income is generated by the Iron Islands themselves, and so much of their income is generated from reaving, which makes it very very “off the books.”
However, based on their poor soil and downright Dickensian levels of squalor, I would say that the Iron Islands population produces perhaps4.5 million dragons a year in GDI, which means the Greyjoys earn only 450,000 dragons a year in “legitimate income.” No wonder they turn to piracy to make up the difference.
House Tyrell
As has been said repeatedly, House Tyrell’s incomes likely fluctuate depending on the price of foodstuffs, given that the Reach is the breadbasket of Westeros. It’s also home to one of the oldest and largest cities in Westeros, and more towns and villages per capita than any other kingdom in Westeros, so you have to add that into the equation. As a result, it’s also the most populous region in all of Westeros.
Add all of these factors together, and you should adjust upwards from the initial projection of 60 million dragons a year in GDI. For consistency’s sake, let’s take the lower bound of the Lannister adjustment, and say that the Reach produces 78 million dragons a year in GDI.
This would suggest that the Tyrells have a yearly tax revenue of around 7.8 million dragons, almost twice what the Lannisters do. However, a few factors probably reduce that somewhat – first, the Tyrell revenues are probably less liquid than those of House Lannister, with much and more being held “in kind” as grain; second, the Tyrells don’t have additional income from Casterly Rock, which is no small factor.
All the same, no wonder they can afford a political strategy of bread and circuses for the people of King’s Landing…
House Baratheon
Given that the Stormlands are notoriously “thinly-peopled,” subject to poor weather for growing cereal grains, and rather under-urbanized compared to other regions, I would peg the Stormlands at the lower end of Westerosi per-capita incomes. This in turn suggests a GDI of around 7.5 million dragons a year, which is only a little bit above that of the North – which makes sense when you consider that the North has about 10,000 more men under arms despite the Stormlands having much better weather (relatively speaking).
This would put House Baratheon’s incomes at only 750,000 dragons a year, making them among the poorer Great Houses of Westeros. And that’s a hell of a step down from where they used to be, consider that the Stormlands once owned the Crownlands and the Riverlands, which would have made them richer by many times over.
How the mighty have fallen.
House Martell
House Martell is a difficult calculation indeed – Dorne is also thinly peopled, and much of its land is not arable. On the other hand, Dorne also has an unusual level of manufacturing and many high-valuable export commodities, which compensate for its desert climate.
Adding those two factors together, I’d put them around the middle for per-capita income, which suggests a GDI of around 10 million dragons a year – richer than the Stormlands largely due to trade and manufacturing, substanially poorer than the Vale despite roughly equal populations due to the Vale’s legendary fertilty, and way below the Reach or the Westerlands.
This is turn makes for an tax revenue of around 1 million a year, putting them roughly in the middle of the pack.
Which is, of course, not the same thing as agreeing with Jon Darry when he told Jaime that it was A-OK for them to listen as the queen was raped. As I believe you’ve argued before, young Jaime was right; the oaths they swore as knights should’ve come before those they swore as Kingsguard.
The problem with smashing this system is you need to have something better or you’re just breaking shit. Looking at you, Renly.
Yes, especially to the point of about the precedent of oaths. If more Kingsguard had received a bit of legal training from their maesters, Westeros would be a quite different place.
I’ll get to this more when I get to Beric Dondarrion and the BWB, but the oath of knighthood is potentially quite revolutionary if you think about it in the right way – because the oath says:
As I’ve said before, a feudal society is a society built of oaths – oaths of fealty going up the chain from knight to lord to king, and oaths of protection going down the chain. And those oaths are not incidental or merely ceremonial – it’s how property and political power are distributed, it’s how armies and taxes are raised.
Here’s how important oaths used to be: while most people think of medieval justice in the context of trials by ordeal, ordeals were an innovation that sought to improve upon the pre-existing practice of trial by compurgation, where someone accused of something would take an oath (usually on some holy relic) that they hadn’t done it, and if they could find enough people to take an oath saying they believed the accused, they were innocent.
What I would say is that the social order is under threat if oathbreaking isn’t immediately punished by the law of man or gods, if people generally begin to believe that there are no consequences for oathbreaking. Because Westeros doesn’t have any social institutions that could function in the absence of this system, so the Hobbesian war of all against all would be coming along very fast and it would stay for a while.
“in the name of the Warrior I charge you to be brave.” The sword moved from his right shoulder to his left. “In the name of the Father I charge you to be just.” Back to the right. “In the name of the Mother I charge you to defend the young and innocent.” The left. “In the name of the Maid I charge you to protect all women.”
There’s nothing in there about obedience to your social betters or the rightful place of kings, and a lot in there about upholding justice and protecting the defenseless. Hence Dunk and “a knight who remembered his vows.”
As I’ve said before, a feudal society is a society built of oaths – oaths of fealty going up the chain from knight to lord to king, and oaths of protection going down the chain. And those oaths are not incidental or merely ceremonial – it’s how property and political power are distributed, it’s how armies and taxes are raised.
Here’s how important oaths used to be: while most people think of medieval justice in the context of trials by ordeal, ordeals were an innovation that sought to improve upon the pre-existing practice of trial by compurgation, where someone accused of something would take an oath (usually on some holy relic) that they hadn’t done it, and if they could find enough people to take an oath saying they believed the accused, they were innocent.
What I would say is that the social order is under threat if oathbreaking isn’t immediately punished by the law of man or gods, if people generally begin to believe that there are no consequences for oathbreaking. Because Westeros doesn’t have any social institutions that could function in the absence of this system, so the Hobbesian war of all against all would be coming along very fast and it would stay for a while.
How standard dowries are in Westeros is unclear – in ASOIAF, we only have the case of Fat Walda and Roose, Lyonel Corbray and the merchant’s daughter, Myranda Royce’s potential engagement to Harry the Heir, and in WOIAF we only have Argilac Durrandon’s offer to Aegon, and Aegon IV’s payment to the Archon of Tyrosh. They seem to be used in cases where a match is being made that one party wants more than the other, and the first party is sweetening the deal to get the other side to sign on, or as a match between unequals (House Bolton being older, formerly royal, and somewhat more powerful than House Frey, Corbray marrying “into trade,” Myranda being already married and only recently belonging to a house with its own fiefdom).
If Westeros is anything like medieval Europe, however, they’re not just for the nobility. In a world where there isn’t a free market in land, marriages are how peasants can try to access economic security and social mobility, by merging neighboring farms into larger farms so that you can take advantage of economies of scale. Thus, poor peasants become middling peasants, and middling peasants can become rich peasants, and rich peasants become merchants.
A standard dowry would obviously vary by rank, but it would usually take the form of a regular yearly income or a one-time store of treasure if one’s family was flush with cash, or in the form of land if one’s family had huge tracts of…you get the idea.
Well, let’s start with in real life. Especially in the early Middle Ages, you would be widely seen as unmanly and not really living up to your obligations, especially if you were that blunt about it instead of saying instead that you couldn’t be there personally because you needed to guard against border raiders or to deal with bandits or you were ill or something. But by the 12th century, when the institution of scutage was developed, you’d just be paying your taxes as a good subject ought, so the social consequences change enormously over time.
In Westeros,look at how people think about Walder Frey as a coward and disloyal, etc. Unless there was some extenuating reason – no one else to look after the holdfast, for example – you would face a pretty sharp loss of face.
However, attitudes are different depending on other social norms. If you are a younger son like Leobald Tallhart, as long as your older brother is representing the family on the field and you’re needed to look after Torrhen’s Square, you’re not going to be treated the same way. If you’re the heir and your father is still of age, you might be left behind like Benfred Tallhart as opposed to being taken along like all of the Karstark lads, although Benfred forming the Wild Hares shows a certain impatience and a lesser but extant degree of social pressure.
I’d recommend reading “Who Stole Westeros?” to find out more of my thoughts on this, but…
The short version is that Littlefinger is using his money to buy ships, urban real estate, lending money at interest, speculating in commodities markets, and acting as your classic putting-out merchant type with an eye to vertical integration.
If you’re asking why he doesn’t have more land (other than the lands of Harrenhal, which are quite extensive if slightly cursed), it’s that Westeros doesn’t have a free market in land, wherein land becomes a fungible commodity that can be bought and sold at will and abstracted into derivatives and futures, etc.
Land in Westeros is distributed through feudal relationships that are traditional and customary in nature – fiefdoms are hereditary, taxation and rent levels are fixed, and tenancies are more likely to involve feudal obligations than pure cash rents.
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