Manor (Civ3)/Civilopedia

The Manor is the large, often fortified building from which a local lord presided over his fiefdom, and
where he held his court. As the local administrator for the king (or lesser noble), the lord was granted
lands on which to farm, and peasants to do it with. The lord would divide up his estate among his peasants,
and each would farm a specific plot, for the use of which the peasant would owe rent. The majority of the
peasants’ rents would be collected in the form of crops from their tracts, or (rarely in the early Middle
Ages, but more common in the High Middle Ages) in the form of coinage earned by the selling of surplus crops.
The next major portion of rent was paid by the working of the manor lands (the demesne), a section of farmland
the lord reserved for his own use, and any remaining rents would be paid in the form of labor or services
in the manor house itself or in various and sundry menial labors. The lord then, in the chain of feudal
fealty, would yield a portion of the total yield of the manor lands to the local higher noble, whether
that be a count or duke, or even the king himself. As with the peasantry, this took the form of payment in
foodstuffs or goods in the Early Middle Ages or coinage in the later eras.