In the 5th century AD, after the fall of the Roman Empire, pretty much all of Europe

was up for grabs.

Entire nations of people emigrated to the continent while others fled, this was the time of Viking

marauders.

Anything was yours if you could take it by force, whether your own or that of an alliance

made through any combination of wealth, religion, family, or fear.

These territories formed themselves into kingdoms, states, and republics, with names you've

never heard, because they were soon conquered or allied through some treaty and renamed,

again and again and again.

As political order began to define itself within this chaos, the most successful nations

were those with prosperous lands and enough wealth to hire and reward the militaries needed

to defend and or acquire the prosperous lands and wealth.

In great victories, warriors who had excelled in battle stood or kneeled to receive knighthood,

money, advantageous marriage, property and serfs, all needed out according to and possibly

including a promotion of rank and title.

In the peace time which followed war, however brief and intermittent, knights found themselves

with too much free time and not enough people to kill.

Whether you're a king or some lesser lord, you don't want your warrior aristocracies sitting

around with no reason to keep themselves or their battle skills in shape.

Even worse, you don't want them conspiring with each other to find a reason to use those

battle skills, possibly against you in a coup d'état.

By the end of the 10th century AD entering the high middle ages, a solution had been found.

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