Retainers were regularly let off their rents
"Hence the vast banqueting halls found in castles, as well as the hospitality of Arab princes. Such lords lived surrounded by an army of retainers, for lack of anything else on which to spend the rents paid them by their tenants. Though these retainers were regularly let off their rents when they couldn’t pay and enjoyed free food, this bounty depended entirely on the ‘good pleasure’ of the lord, who, like the aforementioned
‘African King’, had his retainers’ property and lives at his command (A. Smith, the Wealth of Nations, 415)." (Jonathan Conlin, Critical Lives-Adam Smith)
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Retainers were household employees of a wealthy person of high rank, such as house servants and ostlers, who lived with him. Smith mentions rents, which suggests that at least some of them rented land from the lord, and one of the benefits of being that lord's retainer was that he migh waive the rent if he liked you. Also, they apparently were fed by the house's kitchen.
- Retainers were household employees of a wealthy person of high rank, such as house servants and ostlers, who lived with him.
- Smith mentions rents, which suggests that at least some of them rented land from the lord, and one of the benefits of being that lord's retainer was that he migh waive the rent if he liked you.
- Also, they apparently were fed by the house's kitchen.
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Retainers were household employees of a wealthy person of high rank, such as house servants and ostlers, who lived with him. Smith mentions rents, which suggests that at least some of them rented land from the lord, and one of the benefits of being that lord's retainer was that he migh waive the rent if he liked you. Also, they apparently were fed by the house's kitchen.
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