manor system
nounUK /ˈmæn.ər ˌsɪs.təm/
US /ˈmæn.ɚ ˌsɪs.təm/
A way of living long ago where a rich lord owned the land and poor farmers worked it for him.
In the manor system, peasants farmed the lord's fields and gave him part of their crops.
OTHER MEANINGS
2. The organized set of rules and customs that governed life on a medieval estate.
Historians study the manor system to understand how medieval villages were run.
3. The economic arrangement in which a landlord's land was farmed by tenants who owed labor and goods.
Under the manor system, tenants paid rent by working the lord's land.
4. A historical model of rural society centered on a lord's manor house and its surrounding farmland.
The museum's exhibit explains the manor system with a model of a manor house and fields.