Why did William created the feudal system?
Feudalism was a means of government that had existed in Europe from the Early Middle Ages and had been refined by Charlemagne (the Holy Roman Emperor). So William of Normandy did not create the system. Some of your answerers believe that he introduced feudalism into England following his successful invasion of 1066. This isn’t completely true. Prior to William’s arrival, there had been a form of feudalism practised in England. But William brought over with him a much clearer, well defined system. The basic idea (and it’s demonstrated so clearly in England in the late-11th century) was that the king owned all the land. Keeping the best 20% for himself, he granted portions of the remainder out to his major lords in return for military service. (Some land was granted to the Church, of course) The major lords then kept hold of the best land and granted out portions to lesser barons who did the same for their subordinate knights. All this granting of land was on the understanding that the r
