noun
- the medieval European economic and social system in which peasants were bound to work on a lord’s estate in exchange for protection and the right to work small plots of land
Usage: historical
Examples
- Manorialism dominated European agriculture from the 9th to 15th centuries.
- Under manorialism, serfs could not leave the manor without their lord’s permission.
- The decline of manorialism began with the growth of towns and trade.
- Students studied how manorialism shaped medieval society and economics.
- The manor system of manorialism provided both labor and military service to feudal lords.
- Manorialism created a rigid social hierarchy between lords and peasants.