Life of a Fief: Feudal Society and Rural Estates

Feudal society was essentially rural because urban life has declined since late Roman times. A lord's fief was usually a rural estate:

• The demesne was the land that the lord used directly. It consisted of his castle, farmland, fields, and forests. It was farmed by serfs.
• The lord also granted plots of land to free peasants. In return, they had to pay farm produce as taxes and provide services to the lord.
• Feudal lords had absolute authority in their fiefs and administered justice.
• The lord owned the mill, the presa, and the oven, which the peasants had to pay to use. Merchants had to pay a toll when they crossed land or bridges on a fief.

Each fief also contained one or more villages, where the peasants lived.