Page:The child's pictorial history of England; (IA childspictorialh00corn).pdf/77

 small estates out of them to men who were not so high in rank as themselves, on the same conditions as the king had given the large baronies to them, so that the lesser nobles were the vassals of the great ones, and were bound to aid them with men and money when required.

19. Then all the nobles, from the highest to the lowest degree, were the absolute lords of all the common people that dwelt on their lands, and could make them do just whatever they pleased, as I told you they could in the Saxon times; but then the Norman lords treated them, at first, a great deal more harshly than the Saxon lords did, and took a great deal more from them.

20. After the Norman conquest they were called villeins, which meant villagers, and they lived in the same manner, and had the same kind of duties to perform for their lords, as in the Saxon times; but there were many new feudal customs brought here by the Normans; as for example, a mill was set up on every estate, to which all the poor people were obliged to take their corn to be ground, instead of grinding it at home with hand-mills, as they used to do; and, out of each measure, a part was taken for the baron, which was a very hard tax upon them, especially if they had large families.