Before feudalism began, there was a lot of fighting between the

people. Because of the fighting, the first half of the Middle

Ages is sometimes called the "Dark Ages."

Feudalism is the system that started when people began trying to

get richer or more important people to protect them. The richer

the person, the better the protection they got.

Feudalism became a way to rank the social classes with the rich

and powerful king at the top; the wealthy nobles, religious men,

and commoners below him; and the poor, powerless peasants and

villeins at the bottom.

A fiefdom was more than just a piece of land with

definite boundaries owned by a nobleman. Though it

usually contained a castle or large home with farm land

and forest like a manor did, a fiefdom also included

rights.

It might include a right that says its owner can

collect money or tools from people who want to pass

over the owner's bridge or fish in his stream. He might

also operate a mill where all the peasants had to pay

to have their corn ground.

Nobles were often wealthy and included knights, barons, lords and

earls. It was good to be a noble's first son because he inherited

the manor. Nobles depended on their vassals, or nobles of lower

rank, for help when they were in trouble. They usually got the

help they needed.

Bishops ruled over churches and religious regions called dioceses

and all the priests within them. They collected offerings and

taxes from their dioceses and were made rich. They often had as

much power as the nobles.

The commoners, those who didn't belong to the nobility or the

church, were divided into several classes. The highest among

those living under the banner of the lord of the manor was his

assistant the bailiff. His duty was to collect taxes and

supervise the running of the whole fiefdom.

Below the bailiff in rank were the skilled craftsmen. They

planned and carried out everything that was accomplished at the

castle or the lord's lands, since their masters, the nobles, were

trained only in the skill of fighting. Among the craftsmen were

the armorers and the blacksmiths, the masons and the carpenters,

gardeners, the stewards, horse trainers, falconers, game keepers,

foresters, weavers, and catherworkers. Even though they were far

beneath even the humblest and poorest knight, they had a much

better life than the peasants.

The peasants were the poorest class of people. They had a hard

life. Not many peasants managed to pay their debts, much less

save money for a new start. There were taxes and charges on

everything they did. Their bread had to be baked in the lord's

oven at a charge, their flour ground for a fee, their firewood

bought from the lord's forester, and their grapes pressed from

his lord's wine press with tax on every gallon!

The villeins were the lowest class of peasant. They worked on

farms for strips of land where they could grow their own crops.

They lived in huts made of mud and wattle (wooden rods).