English feudal system

English feudal system

English feudal system: After the Norman conquest of 1066, the feudal system in England was completely established. In this system, the King owned all the land personally. He gave his barons large estates in England in return for a promise of military service and a proportion of the land’s produce. The barons, who had become the King’s tenants-in-chief, parceled out land to the lesser nobles, knights and freemen, also in return for goods and services. At the bottom of the feudal scale were the villeins or serfs, unfree peasants who were little better than slaves. (p.27)