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racefortheironthrone · 6 months

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Hi, I have a question regarding charter cities in ASOIAF. If I understood correctly, a charter city is a city that can engage in international trade and is self-governed, with the citzens electing their officials instead of being governed by a feudal lord, among other rights. However, in Westeros there are cities, such as Oldtown, Lannisport, White Harbor, Gulltown and King's Landing , that engage in international trade but are ruled by noblemen. Did I understand something wrong?

You've identified two of the big rights - international trade and self-government - that city charters granted, but there were other important elements: burgher (or borough) rights for its citizens, warehousing rights for domestic as well as international trade, the right to erect city walls, market rights, and so forth.

However, when it comes to self-governance, two things are simultaneously true. First, GRRM does not write about city councils, municipal courts, and other evidence of self-governance and instead describes cities as directly governed by noble houses (who control the city watch militias, crucially), albeit with the presence of guilds. Partially I think this is due to a desire to simplify his storytelling, since he's mostly writing about a feudal world, and partially I think GRRM is drawing from older historiography and historical fiction that emphasized more of a "great man" theory of history and pre-dated the "new social history" of the 1960s.

Second, it is also true that the self-governance of chartered cities was often not an absolute. Outside of Italian city-states that were their own independent republics, you had lots of chartered cities that combined local self-governance (especially in internal matters) with some form of incorporation into feudal structures. Often this took the form of the city being a direct vassal of the monarch - thus the City of London gets its charter from the King of England and doesn't owe homage to the lords of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, or Hertfordshire.

Likewise, if you were a Freie und Reichsstädte (Free Imperial City) of the Holy Roman Empire, you were subordinate only to the Emperor, unlike the Landstadt (territorial city) who owed homage to their Prince-Bishop or Herzog or Margrave or Graf. However, both in England and the HRE, the charter structured and limited this vassalage in both material and symbolic terms. (Imagine how complicated it could get when a city was simultaneously a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor and a member of the Hanseatic League along with other cities that were part of the Kingdom of Denmark etc.) Hence why the English monarch still has to ask permission from the Lord Mayor in order to enter the City of London, or why you had Prince-Bishops who were legally barred from entering the cities they ruled.

This mixed governance structure often came with some form of representation in a national assembly - towns and cities with borough rights sent burgesses to the English Parliament alongside the knights of the counties, and in the Holy Roman Empire Imperial Cities were represented in the Imperial Diet along with the Electors and secular and ecclesiastical princes.

GRRM also neglects this part of medieval history: we don't see King's Landing or Oldtown or White Harbor or Gulltown sending their own representatives to the Great Councils, for example.

#asoiaf #asoiaf meta #history #medieval history #city charters #feudalism #city-states #imperial cities

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hungrytravellers · 8 months

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The True Face Of Fes

View On WordPress

#Chouwara tannery #Fes #Imperial Cities #independent travel #Jewish quarter #Medina #Morocco #Royal Palace #Tannery #Travel journalism #travel photography

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kropotkindersurprise · 1 month

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#ruha benjamin #spelman college #liberalism #identity politics #video #intersectionality #2024 #usa #atlanta #stop cop #stop cop city #anti-imperialism

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livesunique · 2 months

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Kien Trung Palace, Imperial City of Huế, Vietnam

#art #design #architecture #history #luxury lifestyle #style #luxury house #luxury home #tiles #ceramics #kien trung palace #palace #imperial #imperial city #huê #vietnam

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rarepears · 8 months

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Instead of being sent on the mission that ended with Shen Yuan getting stripped by a Skinner Demon (before Shen Yuan killed the demon), Yue Qingyuan sends Shen Qingqiu to the imperial city to deal with some political matters.

It's far safer - Shen Qingqiu won't get physically harmed and lost memories or not, Yue Qingyuan reasons that Shen Jiu's innate sharp tongue is going to inflict more emotional damage than he could even possibly receive. Plus, for good measure, he sends Shang Qinghua too.

So, Shen Yuan gets sent to the imperial city to help Shang Qinghua with a particularly difficult trade negotiation and a couple extra days for sightseeing/vacationing because Yue Qingyuan Likes To Spoil Shen Jiu Like That.

As a bonus, Shen Qingqiu's presence also reminds the imperial court to fuck off - Cang Qiong doesn’t deal with politics, they stay out of it and prioritize saving people, so please stop telling them to accept bribes and refuse missions to this or that place that just so happens to be where some enemy politician's fam is located.

Luo Binghe tags along to act as Shen Qingqiu's servant because Shen Yuan demanded it - the sheep can't get bullied on the peak while he's away! - and Yue Qingyuan also thought that Luo Binghe's presence would help encourage Shen Qingqiu to take his meds and eat properly. You know, the basic self-care things that Shen Qingqiu should do more.

Anyways, Shen Yuan does what Shen Yuan does and wifebeams the crown prince. And the whole court. And the city too.

Yue Qingyuan has Regrets. The sheep is watching everything with wide eyes, only narrowly escaping the wifebeam thanks to his age and having not started puberty yet.

(The Luo Binghe a few years later will view those memories with Very Very different outlook. But it's too late.)

A literal line of horse-drawn carts come stampeding to the peak with proposal letters for Shen Qingqiu. And that's how Shen Yuan starts off his second life with a bang.

[More in #shen yuan's wifebeam hits the entire imperial city and there are Consequences AU]

#svsss #svsss ideas #svsss au #the scum villain's self saving system #shen qingqiu #shen yuan #yue qingyuan #shang qinghua #shen yuan's wifebeam hits the entire imperial city and there are Consequences AU

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elderscrollsconceptart · 2 months

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"Cyrodiil"

Concept art for The Elder Scrolls: Online

Art by Rayph Beisner

#rayph #the elder scrolls #art #concept art #tes #eso #the elder scolls online #cyrodiil #the imperial city #fall #fantasy #vista #rayph beisner

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alwaysbewoke · 2 days

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#black leadership #black women #social injustices #cop city atlanta #genocide against palestinians #black liberation #white supremacy #american imperialism #corruption #black leaders #power exchange #money influence

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connortheconceded · 8 months

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Afternoon in the market district

Gwilin and Da'hari enjoying their lunch after selling the bits and pieces they've collected while adventuring

#elder scrolls #oblivion #tes art #the imperial city #illustration #gwilin #dahari #my art #anahitdoesart #m #my characters

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hotvampireadjacent · 4 months

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Reading more about the American government in Iraq holy shit they were. I could not predict how unprepared they were. Like every lead figure introduced is followed with “they had no experience in Iraq or the Middle East.”

Some guy turned to the internet to ask for help. Which, may be better than some of the other people mentioned, but I can’t understate how unprepared these people were for reconstruction of Iraq.

CANT emphasize how insane this next one is

“Hey that thing you’ve been working on for over a month? There’s a 2,000 page report on it. No you can’t read it btw”

#these are all quotes from the book imperial ljfe in the emerald city

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padawan-historian · 5 months

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Gentle Reminder: Neoliberalism needs fascism to thrive in order to sustain and serve its own settler-colonial impulses ✨️

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peltigaan · 11 months

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the imperial city in the style of firewatch

#imperial city #cyrodiil #oblivion #tes oblivion #the elder scrolls #firewatch #digital art #pel draws #i found the liquify tool on csp lmao

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abby118 · 5 months

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#imperial city #the elder scrolls #oblivion #tamriel #tes #cyrodiil

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rarepears · 7 months

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can't stop thinking about the #shen yuan’s wifebeam hits the entire imperial city and there are Consequences AU.

like i imagine that if everything follows canon to the endless abyss part then we'd have a grieving "I'm not grieving!" sqq roaming the cultivation world so he doesn't have to spend too much time at cqm with the Memories. and word gets around about what happened and oh. poor peak lord shen. who is so struck with grief he's not eating anything. word gets around that poor sqq sometimes calls out to his disciple in his sleep. oh if only i, the first prince/second prince/the emperor could help assuage the pain by inviting him to the palace. talk him into spending more time there. seduce him with rare books and treasures

the only downside is that sqh, yqy and lqg are ALSO on guarding sqq duty so every time sqq visits he's accompanied.

meanwhile in the endless abyss lbh is plotting how to trap shizun in a marriage

Random canon fodder imperial prince: I am Smort. I have acquired a book on cultivation healing and learned about the concept of "Magical Healing Cock". I therefore believe I can heal Master Shen Qingqiu of his-

Shen Yuan: I CAN HEAR MY SECT LEADER SUMMONG BACK TO THE SECT SORRY TO LEAVE SO SOON BUT I CAN SEE NIGHT COMING SO GOOD NIGHT GOOD BYE-

(Meanwhile Luo Binghe surfing through shizun's memories of that day...

Luo Binghe: I have an Idea about Without a Cure. Meng Mo: groans)

[More in #shen yuan's wifebeam hits the entire imperial city and there are Consequences AU]

#svsss #svsss ideas #svsss au #the scum villain's self saving system #shen qingqiu #shen yuan #yue qingyuan #shang qinghua #shen yuan's wifebeam hits the entire imperial city and there are Consequences AU

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molags-balls · 3 months

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