Following victory at the Battle of Hastings, William Duke of Normandy was crowned King of England on Christmas Day in 1066. As king William now owned all the land in England. William had a difficult job though, as he was king of a country where not everybody supported him.

He had brought about 200 Norman barons with him and he needed to use these very carefully. William decided that one of the best ways to control the country was to share out the land. He shared out his land with the 200 barons as a reward for helping him win the Battle of Hastings. In return the barons promised to provide knights for his army. The barons could not control all of the land themselves though, so they shared out the land with the knights. In return the knights promised to serve in William's army for 40 days a year. The knights were really good at fighting but the trouble was that the land still needed to be worked for food to be produced. The knights gave protection to the peasants who in return worked the land and gave a share of the produce to whoever owned it. This system of sharing out the land was called the feudal system.