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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.