The feudal system
The feudal hierarchy
After 1066, William claimed that all the land in England belonged to him. People held land from the person above them, in return for service:
| Level | Who | Held land from | In return, they owed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The king | God | Protection and justice for his people |
| 2 | : barons and senior churchmen | The king | Knights for the king's army, money and advice |
| 3 | Knights | A tenant-in-chief | Military service |
| 4 | Peasants | A knight or lord | Work on the lord's land, and some of their produce |
Remember
Land went down the hierarchy; loyalty and service went up.
Key terms
Landholding and homage
Land was not owned outright: it was held from a lord, on condition of loyalty and service.
A person who held land from a lord became his . To do this, he performed : he knelt before his lord, put his hands between the lord's hands, and swore an oath of loyalty. In return, the lord promised to protect him.
Significance: homage bound everyone in a chain of personal loyalty leading up to the king. Breaking that oath was a serious crime.
Key terms
Knight service and labour service
: each tenant-in-chief had to provide a set number of fully armed knights for the king's army when needed, usually for 40 days a year. The tenants-in-chief gave land to knights, who served in return. Knights also guarded castles.
Labour service: peasants worked on their lord's own land (his ) for a set number of days each week, as well as farming their own strips. Many peasants were , who were not free to leave their lord's land.
Significance: knight service meant William always had an army ready, without paying for it.
Key terms
Forfeiture
If a vassal broke his oath, for example by rebelling, his lord could take his land away. This was called .
Consequences: forfeiture was one of William's most powerful weapons. Every rebellion between 1068 and 1075 ended with rebels forfeiting their land, which William then gave to loyal Normans. It made rebellion very risky, and it helps explain why so much land passed to Normans by 1087.
Change and continuity: Anglo-Saxon England already had lords and service in return for land. Historians debate how much the Normans changed this, but they made the link between land and military service much clearer, and controlled it from the top.