posted 05-11-2001 05:27 PM            

I see a few sticking points thoogh. If you are a small kingdom relying only on taxing your farmers you would be fairly poor and your fortunes subject to local crop failure. This would make you easy prey for conquest and your little kingdom would not survive!
No man is an island, nor any small kingdom for that matter. To survive you would need to be allied to someone fairly powerful for you could hardly raise a defence against an army from your small population and lack of wealth.
Also, in relation to your 3rd question, note that many small, powerful states in history had some means by which they became powerful. The most common was if you commanded a significant trade route(river, lake, harbour or mountain pass), from which you could derive taxes on passage. This extra money could allow you to purchase the sevices of professional soldiers and also build numerous, very strong castles and town defences. Armies would often pass such well fortified places by.
You might also have an industry such as mining, cloth making, silversmithing etc which would bring your little kingdom extra wealth and thus extra taxes.
So if I were you I would place my kingdom to command a trade route, have mines and workers to value add the mined product and use the extra wealth to build a very strong castle and fortified towns with paid soldiers to garrison them(not enough for an army, but just enough to garrison the places). And be nice to your neighbours.

Hope that helps.

posted 05-12-2001 12:51 AM            

1. Poor kingdom - obviously I would want to be allies with a powerful kingdom, yes? What can I possibly give beside my beautiful Queen your King would want to marry, and grains and crops. You might as well conquer me. But here I am wanting to be independent!
How is that like in the old days? Do I just give up?

2. So I control a trade route, and a centre for barter and trade, naturally I would have a small but powerful army. But for a very small kingdom, the size of London say, it would still be easy for other kingdoms to pick up a fight with me. How does one pick up a fight in the old days besides saying 'Hmmm I like your country cos it's sinfully rich and enticing' and playing the religious issues between Catholic and Protestant?

posted 05-13-2001 12:10 AM            

Scenario number 2. If you fortify your kingdom well enough others may not wish to try and take you over. Don't forget, war was expensive to wage and in the 14th century(the period I know a little about) castles and fortified towns were often bypassed in favour of easier targets. Campaings were usually short lived, so if you could hold them at the gate for long enough they'd eventually go away in search of plunder else where.
Declaring war in the middle ages required nothing more than wanting to expand your kingdom(wealth and power). Excuses varied from religious to purporting some hereditary right over the land. It was basically a free for all as long as you were very careful whose toes you stepped on, who your allies were and that you had sufficient backing. Basically things haven't changed!

Hope that helps.
I base my opinions on general reading and could well have erred in places. My knowledge of military campaings of the middle ages comes mainly from Froissart's cronicles of the 14th century.
Feel free to critique, one and all.

Erik