The feudal system was a way of government based on obligations between the lord or king and vassal. The king gave large estates to his friends and relatives. These estates known as the fief included houses, barns, tools, animals, and serfs or peasants. The king also promised to protect the vassal on the field or in the courts. In return the nobles who were granted the fiefs swore an oath of loyalty to the king. …showed first 75 words of 504 total…

…showed last 75 words of 504 total…chicken, and other animals. There were also some freemen peasants. These people were usually in a trade. These people were not bound to the land. They paid a fixed rent to the lord. The freemen had more legal rights than the serfs and fewer duties to the lord. In actuality there was little real difference between the freemen peasants and the serfs. By the twelfth century this system was found throughout most of Western Europe.