The Role of Patronage in Human History

In many periods, from imperial rome to mediaeval china, probably the most important relationships, at least in towns and cities, were those of patronage. Any one rich and important would find himself surrounded by flunkeys, sycophants, perpetual dinner guests and other sorts of willing dependents. The role of such hangers on has been largely neglected by studets of human history. To this day, informal patronage systems still crop up whenever relatively rich and powerful people feel the need to assemble networks of supporters.