2.    Feudal Tenures and Services – the evolution from tenure to the modern system of estates
a.    Tenure – the hierarchy status set up by the king of England where a person’s status was tied to his land use, each tenure had a land lord and all were subservient to the king
i.    A system established in Feudal England that established a hierarchy of title
ii.    The possessor had seisin, or possessory use of the land.
b.    2 Types of Tenure
i.    Free Tenures – land held by free men
1.    Military Tenures – in return for seisin, the tenant fought for the king
2.    Economic Tenure (or Socage) – in return for seisin, the landholder offered some non military service to the king
3.    Religious Tenures – land bestowed on the church by the king in return for prayer or some other religious service
ii.    Unfree Tenure: Villeinage
1.    Villeins – the name for peasants that got to possess land in return for actual manual labor, usually farming
2.    Villeinage was an unfree tenure because the peasant did not get possession recognized in the king’s court