ABSTRACT
The manor, or great farm, required a balance of labour and land. Excluding forests, pastures and commons, a manor's territory was divided into strips or fields assigned the demesne, and those held by tenants. The demesne was the main farm, and those who worked it were the landlord's 'family', a household ranging from gentlemen agents to servile domestics, and the tenants, free or servile, paid by land allotted to them by the lord in return for labour on the demesne. The great farm was not universal in Europe, and manors always varied widely in size. Over half the villages of Leicestershire contained more than one manor and one had as many as five. Besides, small farms always existed, and much of Europe's geography was inimical to the community farming of the manorial system. Mediterranean dry soils did not require the heavy ploughs and community traction was needed on the rich but heavy northern soils.
