HIST-102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 55: De Jure, Manorialism, Free Villages
14 Oct 2020
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Document Summary
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries a wide scattering of so-called free villages came into existence, established by various figures (usually kings but also lesser nobles) in order to encourage clearing of the land and resettlement. But farmers, whether serfs or free, did not comprise the entire population of manors. Other essential figures stood somewhat outside the manorial system while nevertheless contributing to it in indirect ways. Manors were by design set up as self-sufficient entities; everything needed to support the populace was ideally produced on the manor: food, clothing, tools, wine. To mitigate this potential weakness, landlords commonly tried to form direct ties with some of those tradesmen who formed a conduit with the outside world: transient shepherds and professional woodsmen were two such figures. Shepherds, if they were lucky, owned their own flocks and spent the months between may and.
