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A lord was a man who had control of a piece of land, known as a demesne (pronounced "domain" - its actually the root of our modern word). His job was to develop the land with the resources he had and to collect taxes and rents. A demesne usually had a small village on it, and was surrounded by fields. One half or one third of these fields were the lord's, the rest were available for the villagers to work. The lord could charge rent for livingspace and workspace, meaning he charged rent for a house or land in the village, and for the land the villagers grew crops on. Rent could be in coin (ie gold or silver), produce (like grain, wheat, chickens, etc), or labour (working in the lord's fields), the most common being labour.

Essentially the lord made this agreement with the villagers: "I'll let you grow things on this bit of land and have this little hut so you can live, if you work this piece of land and grow things for me."

A lord would also be responsible for settling minor disputes in the village, collecting and paying taxes, and supporting the king or greater lord's army with money, food/supplies, or fighting men.

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14y ago

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