The Feudal System
The feudal system was introduced into Britain by William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
William brought feudalism from Normandy where it defined a hierarchy of control from the king all the way down to the poorest in the
land. William allocated land in England to members of his family and the Norman lords who had helped him
conquer the country. These people were known as tenants-in-chief. The land had been
confiscated from the Saxon lords.
The tenants-in-chief did not get the land for free, they rented it from the king in exchange
for providing the king with an army and money. The land allocated to the tenants-in-chief tended
to be dispursed across the country rather than being one big area. These areas were
known as manors.
The most important service a tenant-in-chief had to supply to the king was a number of knights.
The king would request the knights in time of conflict or war. They could also be used for
defending the king's many castles. The tenant-in-chief, or lord, had to provide for himself and
his family and to support a number of knights. To do this the lord used people to work on the
land growing crops and raising animals. Some of these people rented land from the lord
Oath of Salisbury
William the Conqueror summonsed his tenants-in-chief to a meeting at Salisbury in August of 1086.
At the meeting the most powerful barons in the land swore an oath of loyalty to William ensuring
William of their full support.
Chivalry
Chivalry defined the way in which a knight was supposed to behave and the ideas grew up in France during
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries before coming to England. The knight was to show
loyalty, morality and generosity. In other words the knight should always support his
king or lord and be prepared to put his life on the line to protect him. The knight should
always do the right thing and should be prepared to provide his time and energies for free.
Chivalry is possibly best known for the the courtly love between the knight and his lady.
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