Manorialism

Timeline

1. c. 900–1020Kingdom of France · FranceAfter the collapse of Carolingian order, local lords annexed land and controlled peasants' persons; the manor became a self-sufficient economic unit, with serfs owing labor service on the lord's demesne each week and the manorial court exercising judicial power.
2. c. 1011–1300England · EnglandAfter the Norman Conquest, the Domesday Book systematically recorded manor structures; the three-field and open-field systems were widely adopted, and manors produced grain and handicrafts while supporting knightly fiefs and church estates.
3. c. 1350–1500Western Europe · Western EuropeThe development of commodity-money relations, serfs' redemption of freedom, and the commutation of labor service into rent weakened the manor's self-sufficiency; lords turned to tenancy farming, and manorialism in the Western European core gradually gave way to modern agriculture and rural structures.