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Imagine you live in a place that is really pretty. There
are hills all around you and lots of open space. There is a beautiful river
and ample rainfall. You have good neighbors and a home of your own. It's
just a little home with a dirt floor and a thatched roof, but you like it.
It's what you know. You also know that there are
other people who live on the hill right next to yours. You have never
actually seen them, but you have heard about them. You have heard that the
people who live on the other side of the hill burn down houses just for the
fun of it. They would burn down yours if they knew where you lived. You
are really afraid of the people who live on the other side of the hill. You
do not want to travel past them. Instead, you stay home where things are
pleasant. You make your own shoes. You bake your own bread. You live among
people you have known all your life. You never travel anywhere because to do
so you would have to pass the people who live on the other side of the hill,
and that would be too scary. One person in your
community is the leader. He is a warrior. He has weapons. He is not from
your community. He showed up one day with some men with weapons. Pretty
soon, he had taken on the job of protecting all the people on your hill. He
promised that if trouble came, if the people who lived on the other side of
the hill came and tried to burn down your house, he would protect you. You
believe him. He has weapons. He knows other people with weapons. You agree
that if he will protect you, you and all the other good people who live on
your hill will promise to work together to grow the crops, tend the
livestock, bake the bread, sew the clothes, make the tools, and do the work.
That is your job. That's what people did for a
very long time. They lived on their hill. They made everything they used.
They grew all their food. They never went anywhere. In exchange, the lord of
the manor, who lived in the best house and did none of the work, promised to
protect them. In these violent times, that was a really important promise.
The people did not believe the lord would live very long, but better him
than them. This was called the Manorial
System. The manor was the smallest unit of feudal government.
A
Walk Around Wharran Percy
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