Was the feudal systems new

Answer 1

Feudem is a Latin word meaning to give land in return for services. As king, William owned all the land in England. But he could not manage it on his own, and he wanted to reward those supporters who had helped him beat Harold in the Battle of Hastings. So he shared the land with his loyal followers.

William lent large estates of land to powerful barons. They gave smaller areas of this land, called manors, to knights. Knights were fighting men with little knowledge of farming. So they shared their manors among peasants, or villeins, who worked on it.

Lending land in this way was called the feudal system. In the system, each person made promises in return for their land.

The feudal system was totally new, however before 1066 their was an organising like the feudal system. But unlike the feudal system the people did not have to make promises for their land, they had to pay money for their land. As in both systems there was ranking of the people and the king was at the top and then to follow was the church.

In the system before 1066 the rankings were in the following order

The king and the Church , the earls, the thegns, the ceorls, the cottars and the serfs.

After 1066 in the feudal system the ranking were in the following order

The king and the Church, the barons, the knights, the villeins