A tenant could not alienate his land
without permission of his lord. In later eras, tenancies would be
held for the life of the tenant, and even later, for his life and
those of his heirs.
This uniformity of land organization plus the new requirement that
every freeman take an oath of loyalty directly to the king to
assist him in preserving his lands and honor and defending him
against his enemies, which oath would supersede any oath to any
other man, gave the nation a new unity. The king could call men
directly to the fyrd, summon them to his court, and tax them
without intervention of their lords. And the people learned to
look to the king for protection from abuse by their lords.
English villani, bordarii, cottarii, and servi on the land of the
barons were subjugated into a condition of "villeinage" servitude
and became "tied to the land" so that they could not leave the
land without their lord's permission, except to go on a
pilgrimage. The villeins formed a new bottom class as the
population's percentage of slaves declined dramatically. They held
their land of their lord, the baron. To guard against uprisings of
the conquered people, the barons used villein labor to build about
a hundred great stone castles, with moats and walls with towers
around them, at easily defensible positions such as hilltops all
over the nation.
A castle could be built only with permission of the King.
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