CHAPTER II 



THE MANORIAL SYSTEM 



Origin o the Manor. 



Reference .has already been made > to the tiny villages 

 of settlements created by the Anglo-Saxon invaders of 

 Britain. At first, the dwellers in these " townships," as 

 they were called, possessed considerable freedom. By 

 degrees, however, they were degraded. With the increase 

 in kingly power, certain individuals and religious bodies 

 obtained control over the various " townships." A military 

 class also grew up. To meet the needs of these governing 

 classes, the peasants were called upon to bear increased 

 taxation. The noble was thus no longer the protector of 

 the freemen : he became the master, and they were regarded 

 as his tenants. 



With the advent of the Normans, the position of the 

 real cultivator of the soil became still further debased. 

 Even the name of the little settlement was changed. Hence- 

 forth it was known as a " manor," a Norman name mean- 

 ing " dwelling-place." It is important to remember, how- 

 ever, that the kind of estate to which the name was given 

 existed long before the Norman Conquest. The manorial 

 system was already well established before 1066, and it 

 only remained for the Normans to organize it still further. 



The People of the Manor. 



William the Conqueror claimed all the land as his own. 

 Then he lent portions of it to his Norman nobles and bishops. 

 Some received several estates in different parts of the 

 country. Others obtained a single tract of land. Estates 

 were also granted to certain Anglo-Saxon nobles who 

 accepted Norman rule. Each one who received land in 

 this way was known as the " lord of the manor." In 

 return for this loan of territory, the lord of the manor 

 was expected either to make some money payment to the 

 king, or to provide him with bows and arrows, fish and 

 game, or with a certain number of fighting-men. 



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