Not sufficiently emphasized in histories of the past is that almost all political intrigues, cultural stuff, etc, was a very very small % of what was going on. most of what was going on was SUBSISTENCE FARMING. The vast majority of people were engaged in FARMING. That's it. So all the political intrigues in Europe, for instance, were just the tiny 0.01% fighting over control over parcels of land which yielded farming resources. If you managed to control a bunch of land, you had a relaxing life because the farmers would all give food to you and your retinue. So that's what people fought over. But only a very small portion were doing this fighting. Most people were just farming.