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Feudalism and Manorialism Feudalism and manorialism were very linked. They go together step by step in the Middle Ages. Feudalism concerned the rights, power, and lifestyle of the military elite: manorialism involved the service and obligations of the peasant classes. Word feudalism was invented in the 17 century by Montesquieu and popularized it in The Spirit of the Laws (1748). In the late eighteenth century people said that feudalism is the privileges of the aristocratic nobility, privileges …

…of payments and service, despite of freedom of land. The peasant had to pay fee to marry someone from outside. They had to give percent of their crop to the lords. They also paid fine. Soon peasants became "part of lord's possession". Of course the transition from freedom to serfdom was slow and its speed was closely related to the political life in a given part of country. Hence feudalism and manorialism were inextricably linked.