could inherit a fief if she married. The primary way for a
man to acquire control of land was to marry an heiress. If a man
were in a lower station than she was, he had to pay for his new
social status as well as have royal permission. A man could also
be awarded land which had escheated to the King. If a noble woman
wanted to hold land in her own right, she had to make a payment to
the King. Many widows bought their freedom from guardianship or
remarriage from the King. Women whose husbands were at war also
ran the land of their husbands.

Barons were lords of large holdings of farmland called "manors".
Many of the lesser barons left their dark castles to live in semi-
fortified stone houses, which usually were of two rooms with rug
hangings for drafts, as well as the sparse furniture that had been
common to the castle. There were shuttered windows to allow in
light, but which also let in the wind and rain when open. The roof
was of thatch or narrow overlapping wood shingles. The stone floor
was strewn with hay and there was a hearth near the center of the
floor, with a louvered smoke hole in the timber roof for escape of
smoke. There were barns for grain and animals. Beyond this area
was a garden, orchard, and sometimes a vineyard. The area was
circumscribed by a moat over which there was a drawbridge to a
gatehouse.

The smaller room was the lord and lady's bedroom. It had a
canopied bed, chests for clothing, and wood frames on which
clothes could be hung. Life on the manor revolved around the
larger room, or hall, where the public life of the household was
passed. There, meals were served. The daily diet typically
consisted of milk, soup, porridge, fish, vegetables, and bread.
Open hospitality accompanied this communal living. There was
little privacy. Manor household villeins carried the lord's
sheaves of grain to the manor barn, shore his sheep, malted his
grain, and chopped wood for his fire. At night some slept on the
floor of the hall. Others, who were cottars and bordars, had their
own dwellings nearby.

The manor house of lesser lords or knights was still built of
wood, although it often had a stone foundation.

About 35% of the land was arable land, about 25% was common
pasture land (for grazing only) or meadow land (near a stream or
river and used for hay or grazing), and about 15% was woodland.
There were these types of land and wasteland on each manor. The
arable land was allotted to the villeins