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Manorialism is the other side of the feudal coin. You could say that the economic base of feudalism was manorial agriculture. The reason for this is to be found in the climate and the topography. Agricultural techniques were quite different in northern Europe from Mediterranean lands. It is no surprise that feudalism and manorialism never really developed in the south of Europe. In the north you could sow grain both in fall and the spring. …

…such as requisitions of food and animals, and worse yet, forced labor. But the lord needed them. So the lord helped the serfs by providing grain for planting and clearance of land for additional strips. Sometimes the lords helped to introduce improvement of agricultural methods, but that was fairly rare. The lord did protect the serfs from thieves and marauding bands. Both lord and peasant benefit from this system, but vastly different ways. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**