Interesting What-If = Time travel to 1500

Alexey Tereshchenko
Freelance Translator (2000–present)Updated 4y
You are dropped penniless into a village in the middle of England in the
year 1500. You maintain all your current knowledge. How would you make
your way to the top?

Middle of England, huh?

So I get into a village located in the vicinity of Fenny Dreyton,
Leicestershire, not far from the field of Bosworth, fifteen years after
the fateful battle. It is Anno Domini 1500.

When I come to my senses, I understand how badly screwed I am. I am
afraid it would take me some time (unless I am forewarned) that I am in
England and that the year is 1500. The language spoken around would not
make any sense to me (unless I have User-9721060672905094809 as an
interpreter or Oscar Tay as a mentor) and it would take several weeks if
not months before I’d finally be able to understand it and to express my
own thoughts in it.

Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Fenny Drayton, Leicestershire,
already existed in 1500.

My big problem is that I don’t know anything useful. I have no idea of
medicine or mechanics, I am not accustomed to work with my hands, I
won’t make a good fighter, my Latin is also rudimentary and of all
ecclesiastical Latin, I know only Pater Noster. I am not even sure that
I would recognise a comestible plant. And before I master the local
language, I am even unable to be a storyteller. It makes the beginnings
of my life in old England extremely hazardous.

However, I believe I would survive. I can stay quite a long time without
food (finally there would be a good use for my body fat) so this is not
a problem for me. My exotic appearance might serve me: for this era, I
would be exceptionally tall and exceptionally fat, royally so if I can
use this adjective. Besides, I can sing fairly well and I know great
many songs. I believe I could earn a piece of bread with singing,
perhaps even with a bit of cheese on it.

When I start communicating with people, I need a legend. This is the
hardest. If I appear near the coast, I can always pretend to be a victim
of pirates that took me from somewhere very far. But what to do in the
middle of England? I guess I’ll have to play the old soap opera trick
with amnesia - they hit me really hard on my head, I don’t remember
anything till I am here in your strange country. Actually, the question
supposes something like this so I won’t be lying too much. Only I would
not tell I am from the future. Better to pretend to be… say, Ethiopian.
Like this, I am Christian but in my own way and my language is a weird
one. No idea if people will believe me. It is the weakest link of my
plan so far.

Finally, I would need to get to the King. By this time, hopefully, I
survived, I can communicate, and, therefore, I am not just singer but
storyteller as well, I know where am I and when am I (thank God, English
already use the AD era in 1500). I fancy that the King himself might
take interest in me. I know that the King is Henry VII, I know that he
is going to stay alive until 1509, I know that he looks for all possible
ways to get money. I have a good money-making proposition.

At this point, it would be important for me to understand how to mete
out the information. I should probably start with some things that can
be confirmed, in order to establish trust. For instance, I can predict
the next moves of the French and the Spaniards in Italy.

The fact is, I know a lot of things that can be useful for His Majesty.
I can draw a map of the newly discovered American continent and I know
where its most valuable assets such as silver, redwood or beavers are. I
can suggest the King to hire young Portuguese guy of the name of Fernão
de Magalhães and to entrust him with sailing along the coast of South
America (and even tell him where he would find his Magellan Strait).
And, by the way, I know how to fight scurvy - a knowledge that would
greatly advance any navy. But there is something more immediate.

I would try to convince the King to equip two or three merchant ships
and load them with metalware, weapons, silver coins, textiles, clothes,
wine and spirits. These ships should start their trip in the second half
of May and follow the Norwegian coast, finally passing the Nordkap and
arriving into the White Sea, near the mouth of Severnaya Dvina. In real
history, Chancellor did it in 1553, establishing a direct trading link
with Russia and securing enormous benefits for England and its
merchants. Let us try to do it half a century earlier.

Actually, this route was known to Russians but to no one else. Grigory
Istoma, Russian ambassador to Denmark, used it in 1496, just several
years ago. If a colleague of Istoma can be found in Europe, he should be
contacted immediately. If not, let our merchant fleet try to find the
route. We could entrust it to John Cabot, could we?

Russia has lots to offer King Henry VII. Wax, honey, lard, leather,
flax, and, of course, furs - all these strategic assets can be bought at
an extremely cheap price. A ship sent to Russia made 100% profits. Why
not try to do it now?

If I manage to convince the King to follow my advice, I guess I am at
the top.

This was my 800th answer. No more answers in at least next two weeks.

Love you, my fellow Quorans. Just wait for me here 😄

EDIT: Pacome Cardon made me remember that I have one more talent that
can be appreciated back in 1500: I can calculate fairly well.

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Emery Larick
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Emery Larick
· Jan 17
“No idea if people will believe me”.

George Psalmanazar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Psalmanazar

Bob Jolley
· Jan 16
Before much of this cool stuff happens, you’ll probably be burned as a
witch.

Peter Gardner
· Jan 17
That didn’t happen for another century or two, and even then, it was
pretty rare. In medieval Europe (and 1500 was still medieval in England)
you would tend to get in way more trouble for accusing someone of
witchcraft than an accused witch would — belief that witchcraft was real
and effective was seen as heresy.

Mike Grossberg
· Jan 21
Not in England. Witchcraft, in England, was seen more as treason than
heresy, and was, therefore, a CIVIL crime. The punishment was hanging.
The only civil crime which carried the penalty of burning was when a
woman poisoned her husband.

Steve Wheeler
· Jan 19
You miss the point. While burning witches is in the future it's only
because that was the excuse. He'd be burnt cos he was weired. No other
excuses needed.

Peter Gardner
· Jan 19
Perhaps to the disappointment of the especially bloodthirsty, lynch mobs
were fairly rare in Medieval England; it was a lot less work to simply
kick a transient weirdo out of town, and very few, if any, negative
consequences for you did. If you killed someone, even a vagrant no one
liked, there would be uncomfortable questions from the sheriff.

Brian Everingham
· Jan 30
Maybe, maybe not. I'm kinda counting on me introducing them to cups of
tea and biscuits and scones to win them over as well, after I invent
them of course, which might take a little time, but if I can keep them
occupied for long enough by teaching them the dance routine to The Birdy
Song, I reckon I stand a fair chance.

Definitely not the NSA
· Jan 21
I can brew beer, distill booze and grow weed. I’ll make myself useful to
the locals.

Stephen Everett
· Jan 23
Great. I’m an epidemiologist. I’ll be burned as a witch.

So, not too different from being dropped into modern day Oklahoma.

Nathan Barton
· Jan 21
If we ignore the fact we may well die from the first cold we get then..

1. Find a nice village and church to get my foundations and critically
learn the language. In theory I might be able to quickly understand some
kind of legible writing among the more noble and church types, the poor
can’t write mostly.

2. Although I’ve no real practical skills I’d need to help out,
critically though I probably have knowledge of what is edible and can
maybe try sell some food or improve a method of doing some kind of
business. Basically be the consultant to the local Lord.

3. In the long run I need to get to a port and like the OP, get missions
to the new world and back funded. Then I get rich.
My knowledge of strategy from the likes of the Nepoleonic Wars or
material use/ways of doings things should allow me to get towards the
industrial revolution assuming the local Lord funds me.

If sufficiently powerful to be in the circle of the King by 1509 then
I’m golden. Henry 8th was a selfish maverick so with my knowledge of
future events I can have the British Empire conquer the world in its
entirety. Not much France, Spain or Portugal can do if we have a few
million more soldiers 20 years later from the Americas and Australia to
conquer the Spanish and French.

Daniel Zwickel Ben Avram
· Jan 22
I can play the violin and know hundreds of tunes (as a professional
musician for 35 years), and could peck out stuff on the harpsichord.
Thus, some entertainment value. However, with my paucity of historical
knowledge, I’d be s**t out of luck in that department. And, Alexey, you
are far cleverer than I, to boot. For one thing, I’d hope for this to
occur to me as a young man. I’m 75 now, not that healthy, and physically
somewhat incapable as far as labor goes. I would depend on the kindness
of strangers, to a large extent. I think I’d have fun discussing
theology, though, so long as I kept from mortally offending the
powers-that-be. Excellent answer, Mr T. I’d hope for you as a companion.

> a425couple
>
> Interesting What-If = Time travel to 1500

A lot of people will say "invent X item from the future and you'll be a rich!"
(for example, the cast iron stove) except there are no copyright/patent laws
at the time (that I'm aware of) and anything you invent, will simply be copied
by everybody else and you won't make a farthing.

So it seems to me the (long term) plan would be to "invent" patents and the
concept of stocks/shares, so you don't get ripped off.

Also, memorize this; https://i.postimg.cc/76P9bGzB/time-travel.jpg

And for American guys; you're most likely circumcised and you probably don't
want to claim you're Jewish, so I'd make up a story of being kidnapped by
Muslims who snipped me before I was able to escape their clutches.

On 2/8/23 12:24, Ed Stasiak wrote:
>> a425couple
>>
>> Interesting What-If = Time travel to 1500
>
> A lot of people will say "invent X item from the future and you'll be a rich!"
> (for example, the cast iron stove) except there are no copyright/patent laws
> at the time (that I'm aware of) and anything you invent, will simply be copied
> by everybody else and you won't make a farthing.
>
> So it seems to me the (long term) plan would be to "invent" patents and the
> concept of stocks/shares, so you don't get ripped off.
>
> Also, memorize this; https://i.postimg.cc/76P9bGzB/time-travel.jpg
>
> And for American guys; you're most likely circumcised and you probably don't
> want to claim you're Jewish, so I'd make up a story of being kidnapped by
> Muslims who snipped me before I was able to escape their clutches.

All that is very valid.

For me, I would be (justifiably or not) most fearful of diseases
in all their guises. So first concern, water. Then food, how to
get it, and how to be safe eating it.

Then in interacting with people, what germs, bacteria, and viruses
are common that I am not used to?

But, if transported without warning,,, you got what you got.
Try to be careful of water, but gotta do what gotta do.

How to communicate, and be useful enough to get fed?
I appreciated the OP who said they could sing and dance and
thus entertain enough to get fed.

I also appreciated the thought that all of us are more
trained in mathematics than was common in 1500,
but communicating is a REAL problem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_mathematics

I think I would try to find a monastery, to ask for
their kindness, learning, and patience to teach me
languages I can use.

On 2/9/23 13:09, a425couple wrote:
> On 2/8/23 12:24, Ed Stasiak wrote:
>>> a425couple
>>>
>>> Interesting What-If = Time travel to 1500
>>
>> A lot of people will say "invent X item from the future and you'll be
>> a rich!"
>> (for example, the cast iron stove) except there are no
>> copyright/patent laws
>> at the time (that I'm aware of) and anything you invent, will simply
>> be copied
>> by everybody else and you won't make a farthing.
>>
>> So it seems to me the (long term) plan would be to "invent" patents
>> and the
>> concept of stocks/shares, so you don't get ripped off.
>>
>> Also, memorize this; https://i.postimg.cc/76P9bGzB/time-travel.jpg
>>
>> And for American guys; you're most likely circumcised and you probably
>> don't
>> want to claim you're Jewish, so I'd make up a story of being kidnapped by
>> Muslims who snipped me before I was able to escape their clutches.
>
> All that is very valid.
>
> For me, I would be (justifiably or not) most fearful of diseases
> in all their guises.  So first concern, water.  Then food, how to
> get it, and how to be safe eating it.
>
> Then in interacting with people, what germs, bacteria, and viruses
> are common that I am not used to?
>
> But, if transported without warning,,, you got what you got.
> Try to be careful of water, but gotta do what gotta do.
>
> How to communicate, and be useful enough to get fed?
> I appreciated the OP who said they could sing and dance and
> thus entertain enough to get fed.
>
> I also appreciated the thought that all of us are more
> trained in mathematics than was common in 1500,
> but communicating is a REAL problem.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_mathematics
>
> I think I would try to find a monastery, to ask for
> their kindness, learning, and patience to teach me
> languages I can use.

A different thought,

A total stranger could try seeking aid and assistance from
a University. If they thought you worth a couple minutes
of their attention, a teacher there should understand that
you are not a fool, and have some interesting abilities.

from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medieval_universities

3 1096–1167 (1248 charter granted)[11] University of Oxford
Kingdom of England Oxford, United Kingdom "Claimed to be the
oldest university in the English speaking world, there is no clear date
of foundation of Oxford University, but teaching existed at Oxford in
some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned
English students from attending the University of Paris."[12] Teaching
suspended in 1209 (owing to the town execution of two scholars) and 1355
(owing to the St Scholastica riot), but was continuous during the
English Civil War (1642–1651)—the university was Royalist. All Souls
College and University College have repeatedly claimed[citation needed]
that they own documents proving that teaching in Oxford started in the
year 825, but these documents have never been produced (allegedly, John
Speed dated his famous 1605 Oxford maps based on these documents).
However, it was not until 1254 that Pope Innocent IV granted to Oxford
the university charter by papal bull ("Querentes in agro").

5 1209 (1231 charter granted)[13] University of Cambridge
Kingdom of England Cambridge, United Kingdom Founded by scholars
leaving Oxford after a dispute caused by the execution of two scholars
in 1209, and royal charter was granted in 1231. The university takes
1209 as its official anniversary.

45 1413 University of St Andrews Kingdom of Scotland St
Andrews, United Kingdom Founded by a papal bull

54 1451 University of Glasgow Kingdom of Scotland Glasgow,
United Kingdom Founded by a papal bull.