Where Would You Like To Have Lived...

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Istanbul. Safe from wars and in a place of culture.

 

[Algeroth]

So, you're worried about the religious warfare that's several decades away from hitting the Germanies in 1492, but you're completely unconcerned about the Italian Wars that are raging all over that peninsula right that freaking decade? And which will continue for the next sixty-odd years?

Point taken. Istanbul then?

 

[Dachs]

Point taken. Istanbul then?

Meh. If you're halfway important you'll probably end up a victim of the incessant intrigue (reprisals against potential supporters of the erstwhile prince Cem, for instance, or the purges that surrounded the Kızılbaş crisis), and if you aren't halfway important, one early modern hellhole is as good as any other.

 

[BvBPL]

The Ottoman Empire, preferably Istanbul. Odd that it isn't a choice on the poll.

 

[Dachs]

The Ottoman Empire, preferably Istanbul. Odd that it isn't a choice on the poll.

Istanbul is in the Balkans. The Balkans are a choice on the Pole.

It's not really done by country, on the grounds that people here, by and large, are not capable of associating countries with the territory they controlled in 1492. If tk had added, say, the beylik of the Qaraqoyunlu, people wouldn't have had a clue.

 

[muhtesem insan]

Istanbul is in the Balkans. The Balkans are a choice on the Pole.

It's not really done by country, on the grounds that people here, by and large, are not capable of associating countries with the territory they controlled in 1492. If tk had added, say, the beylik of the Qaraqoyunlu, people wouldn't have had a clue.

Karakoyunlu's were gone by 1492.

 

[kochman]

It would be amazing to live in Europe at this time... the New World just being discovered... I would definitely have made haste in trying to get there, in particular the colonies in the Caribbean, with all the potential for adventure, etc.

Unless, of course, I was happily married. I don't think the New World environment would have been any place to raise a family in those earliest stages!

 

[Dachs]

Karakoyunlu's were gone by 1492.

Right, Aqqoyunlu. My mistake.

Although it kinda inadvertently proved my point.

 

[dido]

Either China (around Nanjing and Hangzhou) or Northern Italy, and maybe Istanbul, just for the wealth

I doubt the Renaissance or the discovery of the new world had much effect on the general peasants anyway

 

[kochman]

I doubt the Renaissance or the discovery of the new world had much effect on the general peasants anyway

True, but I wouldn't be a peasant based on the OP.

 

[Traitorfish]

Either China (around Nanjing and Hangzhou) or Northern Italy, and maybe Istanbul, just for the wealth

I doubt the Renaissance or the discovery of the new world had much effect on the general peasants anyway

Depends where and when. Somebody halfway up Ben Shoogleighboogleigh might not have noticed the difference, but an agricultural petty-proprietor in Piedmont, Holland or even Kent wouldn't have been so oblivious. There was no single "peasant" experience.

 

[Veles]

I'd probably be a merchant in what was left of Novgorod republic. I'd have a nice estate somewhere near Archangelsk, an area to which no epidemy, serfdom or any kind of steppe-dwelling scum ever come close. With frosty and clear air in winter and mild summers, it's just the right place to be Russian.

Spoiler :

Alternatively it might have been interesting to be a clergyman in one of the monasteries which are there in abundance. Since Orthodox priests were allowed to marry, it could be a decent career and self-realization, since it allowed a considerable amount of creativity, like painting icons, writing beautiful books or taking part in designing churches.

Spoiler :

On an entirely different level, being an American native somewhere in Oregon somehow looks rather intersting too.

 

[Whiskey_Lord]

Soooo going with coastal Southeast Asia. Varied diet; low taxes and corvee obligations; can flee from overbearing nobles; nice houses and reasonable material culture; good potential for social advancement; attractive women in loin cloths; a high degree of religious freedom; and a large degree of latitude in socio-cultural practices (accepting of homosexuality for instance).

Sold. I suppose it's more than I could ask from any place else.

 

[_random_]

I'd probably be a merchant in what was left of Novgorod republic. I'd have a nice estate somewhere near Archangelsk, an area to which no epidemy, serfdom or any kind of steppe-dwelling scum ever come close. With frosty and clear air in winter and mild summers, it's just the right place to be Russian.

Spoiler :

Alternatively it might have been interesting to be a clergyman in one of the monasteries which are there in abundance. Since Orthodox priests were allowed to marry, it could be a decent career and self-realization, since it allowed a considerable amount of creativity, like painting icons, writing beautiful books or taking part in designing churches.

Spoiler :

On an entirely different level, being an American native somewhere in Oregon somehow looks rather intersting too.

Orthodox priests are allowed to be married (not to marry), but Monastics aren't. You could be the parish priest somewhere though. Any of the scenarios you describe would be pretty sweet to me.

 

[Veles]

Wait, nobody chose France?

Orthodox priests are allowed to be married (not to marry), but Monastics aren't. You could be the parish priest somewhere though.

So women marry and men get married? I always thought it was to marry for either of them. Believe it or not, I heard it now for the first time
Learn something new everyday. In Russian it's different constructs for male and female too.

Rules in different monasteries varied, sometimes you weren't requred to be a chernets (black monk living by the strictest moral code) to hold an administrative position in monatery or to be invited as an artist or an architect.

Any of the scenarios you describe would be pretty sweet to me.

Honestly, there're probaly better places to live in that epoch than Russia
It's only hardcore patriotism on my part

 

[_random_]

So women marry and men get married? I always thought it was to marry for either of them. Believe it or not, I heard it now for the first time
Learn something new everyday. In Russian it's different constructs for male and female too.

And you'd be correct. It's not a gender issue. It's a tense one. Married priests always marry before their ordinations. After you've been ordained into a Major Order of clergy, you can't marry.

Honestly, there're probaly better places to live in that epoch than Russia
It's only hardcore [foolish] patriotism on my part

Maybe. Any of these places could offer good lives and really really terrible ones. Western Europe would definitely be cool for the opportunity to be one of the early explorers,although I'm not sure I'd take it. It's pretty difficult to imagine to what circumstances I'd like to be born and grow completely accustomed. In the meantime, USA #1 in the 21st century is good for me.

 

[W|M]

Judging from chronicles complaining about how liberal the Maldives were, I would have liked to lived there from a merchant family - Trade in the area was also very lucrative, especially with East Africa.

 

[kochman]

Judging from chronicles complaining about how liberal the Maldives were, I would have liked to lived there from a merchant family - Trade in the area was also very lucrative, especially with East Africa.

Having been to the Maldives... that would be quite a life!
I'd almost rather just be a simple fisherman there though.
Were they literate at this point? Highly doubtful, that is a problem.

Of course, most of Europe was also illiterate at this point.

 

[Vylinius]

Hmmmm. I chose Italy but in hindsight the Ottoman Empire would make more sense for me. Anyways I'd be a student of politics in some form or another. Probably middle class family ties. I see myself either dieing for my some time radical ideals or just teaching as I hope to do some day. Anyways that's how I see my life back then.

 

[Tee Kay]

Were they literate at this point? Highly doubtful, that is a problem.

Yeah.