Hârn Manor Building A Manor

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Building A Manor

Article from Thonahexus No8, by George Kelln and Joe Adams.

A short explanation of how long, it takes to build a manor.

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EVENTUALLY, EVERY GAMEMASTER is faced with the challenges of building a manor. Whether a long-term character has collected enough wealth and power to be rewarded with land or a group of player characters finds employment as craftsmen or labourers, the task of describing how a manor gets built can be daunting. This article describes the construction of a manor from the ground up. While the site described in the following text is in Kaldor, the process and costs are similar in any of the other kingdoms on Hârn or the Lythian continent. Background Fortifications have existed on Hârn for hundreds of years. When the warlike Lythians began to cross the Sea of Ivae and the Gulf of Ederwyn, they raided settlements along eastern and southern Hârn. This aggression forced the Sindarin King, Daelda, to order all coastal settlements fortified and garrisoned. The Jarin lords built timber and earth fortifications where they could be safe from the Lythian raiders. These fortifications consisted of a motte and bailey. The bailey was the main enclosure. It contained the domestic buildings for the manor house, including stables, hall, kitchen, chapel, and workshop for the garrison. A roughly circular ditch ringed the bailey. The earth that was removed from the ditch was piled in the center as a bank to raise the wall of the bailey. A wooden palisade was constructed on top of the bank with a wall-walk from which soldiers could stand guard. The main defence of the fortification was the motte, a steep mound on which a wooden or stone tower was built. Mottes could be natural or man-made and were placed off center of the bailey. The mottes were between 0 and 00 feet tall, with their bases being between 00 and 300 feet in diameter. A ditch was dug around the bottom of the motte and provided access to the bailey via a short drawbridge. The primary reason for building a motte and bailey fort was defence. A lord that raised a tower on a motte gained a tremendous tactical advantage over a would-be attacker. There was, however, a secondary reason – that of making a statement about the lord’s wealth and power. The writings of an early Shorkyni chronicler pointed out both of these reasons in his travel diary of Melderyn: “The richest and noblest men have a practice, in order to protect themselves from their enemies, and … to subdue those weaker, of raising … an earthen mound of the greatest possible height, cutting a wide ditch around it, fortifying its upper edge with square timbers tied together as in a wall, creating towers around it and building inside a house or citadel that dominates the whole structure.” There are motte and bailey fortifications in almost every hundred of Hârn. These relatively inexpensive defences guard villages and manors from Melderyn to Kaldor to Rethem. The rest of this article describes the process of building a motte and bailey style fortification. Starting with the granting of a crenellation license, our future lord assembles his work force and begins construction. The Story of Zhel Manor Sir Ethyn Stiroc, knight of Kaldor and formerly of the household of the Earl of Vemion, has received a grant of ,800 acres from the Earl of the Vemionshire. The manor, which in ancient times was called Zhel, is centered on the junction of the Silver Way and Nenda Road in the Hundred of Thicesund. In addition to the lands, Sir Ethyn was also granted a License to Crenellate from the crown. License to Crenellate … The License to Crenellate gives a fortification official status. Without this document, a tenant-in-chief, in this case the Earl of Vemion or possibly the Baron of Nenda, could

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claim the illegal fortification as his own or could require Sir Ethyn to destroy the manor house, as it poses a threat to the lawfully recognized overlord. Miginath, King To all those whom it may concern, greetings. Know ye, that, of our special favour, we have for ourselves and our heirs, granted and given special licence to our trusty and well-beloved Ethyn Stiroc, knight, that he may be permitted to fortify and crenellate his Manor House of Zhel in the Hundred of Thicesund with a wall of timber, in the defence of the country and in order to resist our enemies. We further give permission to the said Ethyn, and his heirs, to occupy the house so fortified and crenellated for ever, without let or hindrance either from ourselves, our heirs, or any other whether our bailiffs or other officers whatsoever. In witness whereof etc. Given by the King at Tashal, 5th Nuzyael by a brief and under our private seal. Once Sir Ethyn has the License to Crenellate, he can begin the process of gathering materiel and workers for his project. Stage One – Assemble of work force at Nenda Hiring and assembling the work force should be done at a location that is both central to a populated area and in close proximity to the construction site. Sir Ethyn’s first and most important act will be to hire a Master Engineer, the man who will act as the catalyst for the entire operation. Mostly likely, the Master Engineer will be a Master Mason with previous castle building experience. In Sir Ethyn’s case he is fortunate to find Master Korlis Dandril, a respected engineer from Thay, to lead the project. Master Korlis will confer with Sir Ethyn on the location, design, and cost of the fortification and, once satisfied, will start to gather his work force by sending word to the local guilds for the required tradesmen. Master Korlis’ reputation has a lot of influence in gathering of this work force. Guilds will want to spread the work among all their members, but often prefer to send their best tradesmen to those sites that are managed by more reputed Master Engineers. Each Master Craftsmen will bring his own journeymen and apprentices, as well as any tools that they require. Master Korlis will also have to hire labourers and mercenaries. Again, his reputation and previous experience will save time and money by having contacts from previous construction projects, Master Korlis can call on a group of labourers and mercenaries who have previously worked with him and are familiar, if not loyal, to him. All he has to do then is to word to surrounding towns and cities to start gathering the help he needs. Workers will trickle into Nenda throughout the spring. A temporary tent encampment is to set up along the northern bank of the Seleme River to house the workers until it is time to depart. The expedition will consist of over 200 people and is divided as in Table .

While the work force gathers, Master Korlis works with the other Masters and Sir Ethyn’s Chamberlain on the administration and logistics of the project. Provisions, supplies, and equipment must be purchased well enough in advance to have everything ready for day the work force moves to the construction site. Sites for a stone quarry and stands of trees for construction must be identified. If necessary, workmen must set up quarries and sawmills to ensure that raw materials will begin to arriving shortly after the site at Zhel is established. Stage Two – Move to crossroads When the day comes to depart, the assembled work force will head north to the crossroads – a distance of about 0 leagues and a two-day journey. Each day of the journey starts before dawn as the teamsters curse and cajole their beasts into the traces. Despite what seems to be chaos, the group moves with precision and in an orderly manner. Several hundred people must walk in the same direction, at relatively the same speed, all without wandering off or getting lost. They must bring everything they will need to get themselves set up and running before any thought of re-supply can occur. The Huntsman and his hunters will depart first, leaving shortly after sunrise to scout the road ahead for the slow moving group. The mercenaries form a screen around the wagons, as the work force snakes it way through the wilderness to the construction site. The caravan travels to the work site, resting regularly on route to ensure that the men and animals are not exhausted. That night the caravan halts in a suitable location identified by the scouts earlier in the day. The lord will post guards about the perimeter of the caravan. The second day begins much the same as the first and, as wagons trudge along the road, scouts reconnoitre the crossroad and locate a suitable location for the temporary encampment. The lord stops the caravan well short of the crossroads, posts guards, and moves forward with the Master Engineer to confirm the site located by the scouts. Once satisfied of the location, the lord orders the caravan forward and camp is immediately set up. Stage Three – Construction of temporary fortification Once the work force’s caravan has arrived at the selected site, the work force is still vulnerable to attack and must begin construction of a temporary fortification as a soon as possible. This will be a circular palisade that will house the workmen and offer a degree of protection from wild beasts and the local tribesmen. The fortification will be laid out by the Master Korlis and constructed under the supervision of the Master Woodcrafter. He will oversee the construction of the palisade, interior buildings, barracks, and pens for animals. This work is arranged in three phases as shown in Table 2, and will use the entire work force. While the woodcrafters and the labourers construct the temporary camp, no one is idle. Mercenaries patrol the surrounding area. Hunting and foraging parties search for wild game, edible plants, and sources of wood for fire and building. Sir Ethyn and Master Korlis reconnoitre the permanent fortification site. This site will attempt to make use of pre-existing natural defences, such as watercourses, hills, and difficult terrain. Master Korlis will begin surveying the site before drawing detailed plans for the manor house. Stage Four – Construction of permanent fortification Master Korlis wastes no time. As soon as the detailed plan is drawn, his assistants, the Lexigraphers, mark off the locations of all the main walls for the motte, bailey, gatehouse, and buildings. This stage of the construction effort is broken down into two phases, as detailed in Table 4. Stage Five – Dismantling of temporary fortification Once the permanent fortification is complete the temporary fortification will be dismantled with the material being used to construct the villagers’ houses. Stage Six – Construction of tollhouse As a major source of income Sir Ethyn Stiroc, Lord of Zhel, will construct a temporary tollhouse along the Silver Way and begin charging a toll. Once the manor is better established and more funds and workmen become available, a fortified stone tower will replace the wooden structure. These are detailed in Table 4. Stage Seven – Clearing of land for village Most of the initial settlers will be farmers from the more central settled areas of the kingdom. These settlers will look to acquire large plots of uncultivated lands to clear and better support their families. While most of these settlers will be freemen, hard times, bad luck, and poor harvests will be forced to enter into servile service of the local lord.

The village will be sited where the temporary fortification stood with the main buildings remodelled to house guildsmen, such as the metalsmith, woodcrafter, and miller. Still other buildings will be disassembled and moved to better location or used as materials for new buildings. A typical “three-bay peasant cottage” is wood-framed, wattle and daub construction, with a thatched roof. The building is interconnected by adding a new bay and removing an old one. Typically, one bay will be a barn for livestock and tool storage, one a kitchen (and living room), and one a bedroom. The sleeping chamber might be partitioned for privacy, depending on the size and wealth of the family. The cottage of a serf is property of the lord, but the tenant is responsible for its upkeep and can be fined for failing to maintain the dwelling in good condition. Table 5 shows the time and cost required to build a typical three-bay peasant cottage, by unskilled labourers. Stage Eight – Clearing of land for fields The lord’s gardeners with the assistance of any labourers that can be spared, will initially do the clearance of land for cultivation and then only to plant a small amount of herbs and vegetables for the kitchen. The real clearance of the crop fields will be done by the peasants. For land clearance there are three types: Dense Woods, Forest/Woods, and Open which is multiplied by the rate that it would require a man to make it ready for planting crops. Dense Woods is considered to be the Mixed Forests on Hârn which contain needleleaf evergreens, needleleaf deciduous, and summer green deciduous trees. All three types need not be present but, by definition, at least two will occur. Forest/Woods are areas where the tree canopy shades at least 50% of the ground are considered forest; areas with a tree canopy between 5% and 50% are considered woodland. Open areas are grassy clearings interspersed in woodland and forests. These areas maybe natural, cleared by wild fire, or the result of human or animal intervention. Open areas are most likely to occur within civilized areas and contain the odd stand of trees, no more than 0% of the area. Land Clearance (Length-ft × Width-ft) × Rate LAND BEING CLEARED RATE IN MAN DAYS Dense Woods 0.06 Forest/Woods 0.04 Open 0.02 For example, Rolf the Serf has being granted 3 acres of Woods to farm by Sir Ethyn Stiroc, Lord of Zhel. Rolf wants to clear the land so as to plant additional crops. Acres to be cleared = 3  Acres = 4,700 sq.ft Total Area = 44,00 sq.ft Land Clearance = (l × w) × rate Type of Ground = Woods (0.04) 44,00 × 0.04 = ,764 man-days Regrowth = 2% per year (882 sq.ft) Total time = 2,646 man-days Therefore it would take Rolf 2,646 man-days, or 7 years, 4 months, 6 days to clear the 3 acres of woods in order to plant his crops by himself. This would be highly impractical and villagers would naturally team together to clear larger portions of land in much faster time. Thus in the new settlement of Zhel, the 0 families- consisting of 35 villagers of working age- band together to clear 5 acres of Dense forest, 5 acres of woods, and 0 acres of open ground. Therefore it would take 826 man-days, or 2 years, 3 months, 6 days to clear the 30 acres of heavily forested land¹. This time and effort is why uncultivated lands on the borders is much more difficult to turn into farmland.

¹ CALCULATIONS: Land Clearance + Regrowth = Time in man-days Dense Woods (22,500 sq.ft x 0.06) + (22,500 sq.ft x .02) = 9,800 man-days Woods (220,500 sq.ft x 0.04) + (220,500 sq.ft x .02) = 3,230 man-days Open (47,000 sq.ft x 0.02) + (47,000 sq.ft x .02) = 5,880 man-days Number of villagers = 35 (Dense Woods + Woods + Open) / # of workers (9800 + 3230 + 5880) / 35 = 28,90 man-days

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• Table 2
• Table 3
• Table 4
• Table 5

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Notes

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