Fief: A Look at Medieval Society from its Lower Rungs (2001)

From the Publisher's Website:

Enjoy a trip to a world where powerful priests can charge sinners with the death penalty, and where knights gather for illegal combat sports . . . where thieves can thumb their nose at the authorities from within the walls of a church, and where a foraging band of the King's own soldiers is more dangerous than a pack of brigand outlaws. In the midst of all this, ordinary people survived to work the land, weave the cloth, and pray for safety from famine and plague. The real Middle Ages were as brutish and wild as any fantasy world.

Fief is a sourcebook that examines the Middle Ages from the viewpoint of the ordinary farmer, priest, and landholder – the inhabitants of a feudal manor. It's both a friendly primer on the basics of medieval life, and a treasury of hard-to-find details for the student, Game Master or re-creationist, including:

• Lists of historical wages and prices for things from common beasts to the construction of houses, from the price of swords to the cost to hire mercenaries. And the lists in Fief aren't assembled without context: details are tied to a specific year and country
• Sins, crimes, and the penalties for getting caught, including lists of fines, fees, and holy penances
• Anecdotes and accounts that bring the Middle Ages to life and provide surprising insights into the workings of medieval society
• Magic and superstition with a historical slant: Learn the reputed magical powers of blacksmiths and shepherds, and the everyday miracles the priests were believed to perform
• Details on life on the manor, from the brewing of ale to the baking of bread to the clatter of weapons in times of war
• Over 70 illustrations, mostly historical woodcut art – and the attractive layout is carefully designed to print cleanly and attractively in either black-and-white or full color, to make the most any home or office printer!
• And more! Fief is 100 pages long, and includes details ranging from daily intake of calories to breeds of dogs and horses – all referenced with a huge 1,300+ entry index!

Fief is by Lisa J. Steele, author of Medieval France from White Rose Publishing, GURPS Cops from Steve Jackson Games, and more. It's produced and indexed by S. John Ross, creator of the All-Systems Library and creator of works ranging from the Star Trek Narrator's Toolkit to GURPS Russia. This is a revised, expanded edition of the underground classic, now available worldwide from Cumberland Games!