During the Middle Ages, a castle was specifically a fortified structure, largely built to defend nobles against hostile intrusions.

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The idealist Rienzi, tribune of the people, reaches out to the predatory nobles.

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After the fall of the Roman Empire, trade dried up, cities declined and feudalism arose as nobles retreated to heavily armed country estates.

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The feudal nobles tried to suppress it, but precisely because there was no stable government in control of a huge territory, they failed.

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Recalcitrant nobles have to be rallied and mobilized.

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Beer was so important to the Czech political economy at that time that knights and nobles fought for and won the right to brew beer under a landmark royal decree in 1517.

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Thanks to free markets, common laborers can access more comfort, superior sanitation and even entertainment than nobles experienced before the stirrings of modern industry.

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