For months I’ve been gaining knowledge and inspiration from Sherri Olson’s second book. Recently I bought her first book on the same subject. It’s less interesting for my purposes. The first book is highly quantitative with detailed lists and analyses of peasants who served as jurors or committed crimes or practiced trades. In science jargon the first book is Data and Methods, the second is Discussions and Conclusions.
The first book has a few interesting topics that aren’t mentioned in the second book.
Licensing is OLD. A license, then as now, is a two-way obligation. The worker and the boss have specific privileges and responsibilies, sometimes in money and sometimes in work or behavior. I appreciate licensing in authorship. A license specifies what you can use and how much you’ll pay. Without a license you have to defend your meaningless copyright in court, which ALWAYS gives full advantage to the bigger army. Disney’s 1996 revision degraded the original license-like copyright, giving ALL the power to Disney and other giants.
In 1300 trades like brewer or blacksmith were licensed to practice the craft. The community of peasants was licensed to hold and work on the land for an annual rent, payable by the entire community. Licensing also worked in the sacred realm, which was continuous with the secular until the Endarkenment turned off the sacred light. A peasant who wanted to train as a monk was licensed, paying rent by praying for the landlord’s soul.
Libertarians HATE licensing of crafts for obvious reasons. The libertarian utopia gives ALL power to the biggest monster, eg Elon or Bezos. He can squash any company or craft or country with no obligation on his part. The workers have full “rights” to be squashed.
Polistra's Mill 