By the time of the Norman Conquest, the people of England had become one nation under the Danelaw of the Saxons. Landowners with holding of at least 5 'hides' (600 acres), known as 'thegnes' lived in a Hall surrounded by the huts of villagers and freemen. Freemen or churls paid rent for their land. Geburs or villeins held about 30 acres in return for two or three days work per week. The cottager also gave service to the thegne in return for a smaller area of land. Free labourers held no land but worked for pay while serfs were little better than slaves. A law instituted by Alfred in the late ninth century decreed that 'every man must have a lord' to whom he gave service or duties and who was responsible for his good behaviour.

Disputes were settled by the Moot at which the elders of the village gave judgements. More serious crimes were taken before the Hundred Moot consisting a a district of a number of villages. The Shire Moot was held two or three times a year, presided over by the sheriff who acted for the king. The Witan Moot was a meeting of wise men who elected the king from amongst the members of the royal family and advised him on matters of war and peace.

This system was formalised by William. The King became the sole land-owner. Retaining one fifth of the land for himself, he divided the remainder amongst the Church and his followers. Each tenant was required to support the King by supplying a certain number of mounted knights, the payment of dues and attendance at the royal court. The tenants then rewarded their own followers by dividing up their land under the same conditions.

In 1085 a great census of England was carried out to determine who owned what and what taxes were due to the crown. This document became known as the Domesday Book. It listed the tenant-in-chief and their sub-tenants both before and after the conquest. The lowly were simply numbered.

The system of labour service remained in existence until the mid 1600s when the Black Death plague decimated the population and land tenure became based wholly on money rents. Villeins held their land by copyhold or by leasehold. As the manorial system declined as an economic unit during the reign of Elizabeth I, the township and the parish began to take on many of the rolls of the manor, such as care for the poor, maintenance of the highways and law and order. Some manorial courts continued to meet well into the twentieth century.

Bibliography

Hey, David editor The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Unstead, R.J. The Medieval Scene London: A & C Black, 1978.