The Feudal System

King owned all the land. He gave large estates to his friends and relatives included houses, barns, tools, animals, serfs or peasants. The England was too large for him to manage himself so he uses a system of sharing out the land. The king still owned it but he could lend large areas of land to people in return for their loyalty. Most of the people he lent the land to had helped him in the battle of Hastings. He was rewarding them for helping him. “Feudal” is the Latin word for “land,” so because the system was based on land, it became known as the Feudal System.

Knight: The vassal usually served as a knight. This service lasted about 40 to 60 days a year. If they actually had to fight in a war they usually did so for two months. If there was no war the knights did 40 days of training at the castle.

Villeins: They could never leave the lord’s land had to pay for everything. They paid to use the lord’s mill, oven, brew house, when their son was born and when their children get married. Some villeins ran away, but their families were fined if they did. If the villeins were caught, they would be punished. If they are lucky and avoid capture for a year and a day, then they would be freeman. And the other way of becoming a freeman was to ask the lord if you could buy your freedom.