The Medieval Manor
  1. Manor
    1. Definition
    1. Place owned by lord
    2. Serfs work land around manor
    3. Serfs work and pay lord for protection
    1. Seneschal
    1. The caretaker/manager of the manor
    2. The seneschal relayed orders to people from the lord
    1. Artisans lived inside manor walls
    1. They kept up shops and lived inside in case of emergency
    2. In an attack, the serfs would come into the manor and could lead their basic life.
    1. Crops
    1. Even in medieval times, serfs rotated crops annually
    2. One of every three fields lay fallow every year.
    1. Outsiders
    1. Traders came from Italy and other european countries
    2. Mercheants brought everything from clothes, to carpets, to spices and vases
    1. There were three classes of people
    1. The serfs
    2. The lords
    3. The kings
  1. Feudalism
    1. The system between masters and serveants
    1. Serfs pay rent and work land around lords manor for protection
    2. The system:
    1. Serf pays lord for rent and protection
    2. Lord pays his superior
    3. Superior pays king

B. Wealth and power were decided by the amount of land you owned
  1. Justice/Laws
    1. The lord made the laws of the manor
    2. Court
    1. Seneschal presides over court
    2. Scribes recorded all previous crimes a person committed
    3. They even had a medieval jury
    4. The main punishment was fining, sometimes the money was donated to the church
    1. For good deeds they were set free, to become freemen
  1. The church
    1. The church was a powerful unity of the people
    2. In the church’s eyes, all people were equal, whether lords or serfs
    3. Monks ran the church and were a part of the manor
    1. There were at least two monks per manor/church
    2. One was a scribe, who wrote for people
    3. The other was a reader, the official reader of the manor