Norman England Definitions Flashcards
Feudalism
The system of land ownership where rulers (kings, lords) divided land among their followers in return for loyalty
Peasants
The people who worked on a lord’s land
Oath of chivalry
Sworn by a knight to be loyal to his lord, protect the poor and weak and be brave in battle
Open field system
The system of farming where peasants were each given strips of land to farm in large fields
Fallow
Leave the land uncultivated for one year so that the soil could recover its nutrients
Commons
Used for grading the animals that belonged to the peasants
Tithe
The payment of one-tenth of a peasant’s annual income to the Church
Guild
an organisation of skilled people who worked in the same trade
Charter
A contract whereby a town was granted freedom to run its own affairs but paid taxes to the king
