Manorialism

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 got the land, he also received all that was on it. Most of the people that lived on the land also belonged to him. 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 what they grew. This is also called payment in nature or sharecropping.