page_title: Manorialism
hierarchical_section_title: Manorialism
caption_attribution_description: Plan of a fictional mediaeval manorThe mustard-colored areas are part of the demesne, the hatched areas part of the glebe.
context_page_description: Manorialism is the name for the organization of the economy in the Middle Ages in Europe. The economy relied mainly on agriculture. Manorialism describes how land was distributed and who profited from the land.
  A lord received a piece of land, usually from a higher nobleman, or from the king. When he received the land, he also received all that was on it. That means that most of the people that lived on the land also belonged to the nobleman. The people, called peasants, had to pay to the lord, or they had to work for him. This way, the nobleman could live and support his family from what he received from the peasants. He had also certain legal powers, like that of a police force. The peasants were commoners or subjects and had to pay tribute to the lord. In return they received protection.
  The tribute the subjects had to pay varied. It could be money but subsistence farming meant most had no money. They could pay by doing work for their lord, or pay a certain part of what they earned. That meant that if they grew a crop such as some form of corn, the lord got a tenth of their earnings in corn. This is also called payment in nature or sharecropping.
context_section_description: Manorialism (Seigneurialism) is the name for the organization of the economy in the Middle Ages in Europe.  The economy relied mainly on agriculture. Manorialism describes how land was distributed and who profited from the land.
  A lord received a piece of land, usually from a higher nobleman, or from the king. When he received the land, he also received all that was on it. That means that most of the people that lived on the land also belonged to the nobleman. The people, called peasants, had to pay to the lord, or they had to work for him. This way, the nobleman could live and support his family from what he received from the peasants. He had also certain legal powers, like that of a police force. The peasants were commoners or subjects and had to pay tribute to the lord. In return they received protection.  
  The tribute the subjects had to pay varied.  It could be money but subsistence farming meant most had no money.  They could pay by doing work for their lord, or pay a certain part of what they earned (like one tenth).  That meant that if they grew a crop such as some form of corn, the lord got a tenth of their earnings in corn.  This is also called payment in nature or sharecropping.
caption: Generic plan of a medieval manor; open-field strip farming, some enclosures, triennial crop rotation, demesne and manse, common woodland, pasturage and meadow
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