The New Money - Old Money Dynamic

China 11th century

The examination system now became a route by which increasing numbers of men from outside the circle of great families could enter the higher levels of the imperial government... The new bureaucrats were increasingly drawm from the families who had benefitted most from the comercial revolution... the rich merchants and wealthy landowners.

Chris Harman quoting a source in his A People's History of the World: From Stone Age to the New Millenium. London, New York, 1999. Verso Books. p.112

"The state itself was run by bureaucrats trained as scholarly officials, whose ideal was the country gentleman. This was also the ideal for the merchant's son who obtained an official position." Same source. A People's History. p.112-113

Byzantium 12th century

"Byzantium survived as a last bastion of Graeco-Roman culture because the imperial bureaucracy was run by a layer of literate Greek speakers. But it was a group that lived off the production of others rather than contributing to or organising it. It therefore prided itself on its remoteness from the material world, and was afraid of any class emerging whose closeness to production might lead to it diverting some of the surplus into its own pockets. It is this which explains the sterile, pedantic character of Byzantine culture. It also explains the strength of superstitious and magical beliefs among all social groups. The priests were usually at least half-literate, and their message relied upon simplified stories of the saints, tales of miracles, and faith in the magic of holy relics." A People's History. p.121

The Islamic Empire 8th century

"The unification of a vast area into a single empire gave an enormous boost to the trade in luxuries. Merchants, shopkeepers, clerks and artisans flocked to the garrison cities, settling in growing suburbs around their walls and providing for the needs of the Arab rulers, their palaces, their armies and their administrators. Mostly they were non-Arabs, but were attracted to the religion of their rulers - which was, after all, not all that different from the monotheistic religions that had dominated the old empires. But the Arab Muslims were not keen to extend the newcomers their religious right to tax exemption and a share in the tribute. So new converts were designated mawali and excluded from the privileges of the Arabs, who regarded themselves as the only genuine Muslims.

"By the time the Arab Empire was a century old, the non-Arab Muslims were the majority in the cities of the empire and the key to its industries and trade, which the Arabs merchants had abandoned to become a new aristocracy." A People's History. pp.127-128

Class collusion among Arab and Persian aristocracies: same period

The surviving Persian aristocracy cooperated with the Arab state as long [as] the state recognized its privileges. On conversion it exchanged its Zoroastrian for a Muslim orthodoxy. The Islamised Persian townfolk and peasants exchanged their Zoroastrian for Islamic heresies directed against the aristocracy, both Arab and Persian. Chris Harman quoting a source in People's History, p.128

One can imagine that the Persian hereditary nobility probably gave tutelage in proper comportment for the new Arab emerging elites not yet used to such things.

European feudalism 14th century

"The lords grew ever more remote from the practicalities of producing the wealth they consumed. The descendants of the warriors in rough fortresses resided in elaborate castles, cloaked themselves in silk and engaged in expensive courtly and knightly rituals which asserted their superiority over other social groups. They regarded themselves as a caste apart from everybody else, with hereditary legal rights sanctioned by religious ceremonies. Within this caste an elaborate gradation of ranks separated the great aristocrats from the ordinary knights who were legally dependent on them. But all its layers were increasingly disdainful of anyone involved in actually creating wealth - whether wealthy merchants, humble artisans or impoverished peasants. The popes, abbots and bishops were part of this ruling class and shared its attitudes, but had distinct interests of their own." A People's History, p.147

"The popes, bishops and abbots also devoted themselves to upholding the wider values they shared in common with the lords. The cathedrals, the greatest artistic creations of the period, were also the greatest symbol of the power of the ruling class, emphasising the God-ordained character of society, with heavenly hierarchies of angels, saints and humans corresponding to earthly hierarchies of kings, lords, abbots, bishops, knights and commoners." A People's History, p.148.

We'll sum it all up next time.

wingedcentaur.