Question: how did the lords profit from their land

title: Economy of England in the Middle Ages
text: The Church in England was a major landowner throughout the medieval period and played an important part in the development of agriculture and rural trade in the first two centuries of Norman rule . The Cistercian order first arrived in England in 1128 , establishing around 80 new monastic houses over the next few years ; the wealthy Augustinians also established themselves and expanded to occupy around 150 houses , all supported by agricultural estates , many of them in the north of England . By the 13th century these and other orders were acquiring new lands and had become major economic players both as landowners and as middlemen in the expanding wool trade . In particular , the Cistercians led the development of the grange system . Granges were separate manors in which the fields were all cultivated by the monastic officials , rather than being divided up between demesne and rented fields , and became known for trialling new agricultural techniques during the period . Elsewhere , many monasteries had significant economic impact on the landscape , such as the monks of Glastonbury , responsible for the draining of the Somerset Levels to create new pasture land .