I have read that in the late Middle Ages some lords moved out of
castles and into manor houses. I would like some more information
about why this happened.  For good answers I tip $10.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 26 Oct 2005 13:57 PDT

I think you may have misunderstood what you read to mean that Lords
literally packed up their belongings and physically moved from a
castle to a manor house, thus giving up castle life for manor life.
The Medieval trend toward moving from castles to manor-houses is much
more complicated that it seems at first glance. While a castle is form
of fortified dwelling and little else, a ?manor? had the
distinguishing characteristics of a political unit. In other words,
districts were formed in the medieval feudal society in which Lords
ruled. Lordship was based on land tenure and the Lord in residence
ruled the manor. The people (peasants, serfs) were not owned by him as
slaves but were dependent upon him in various degrees of subjection
according to custom of the times.

This important political concept that seems to have arisen on medieval
landscape (both literally and figuratively) came to be known as
?manorialism?, or ?seigneurialism? by political historians (the
divisions or local jurisdictions are known as ?manors? or
?seigneuries?).

WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manorialism

So you see, Lords didn't "move" from castles to manors in the lieteral
sense, rather the politics of Lordship necessitated Lords to control
and reign over lands (which translated power, wealth and status - and,
incidentally, is the origin of the term "Land Lord").

You will find much more detailed infromation about this complicated
political period by examining these links:

ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA
http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/MAL_MAR/MANOR.html

HISTORY OF THE MANORIAL SYSTEM
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac80

?MANORIAL SYSTEM?
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22manorial+system%22

MANORIALISM
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=manorialism

FEUDALISM
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=feudalism


Please let me know if this information serves to clarify any confusion
and works for you as an answer.

Regards;
Tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by tonkatiger-ga on 28 Oct 2005 06:15 PDT

Thanks for your question.  I'm sorry for wording the question unclearly.
I understand that individual lords did not necessarily move from castles
to manor houses, but I am interested in what brought about this social
transition.  Can you help with more specific information about this
topic?

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 28 Oct 2005 07:11 PDT

I was hoping the links I provided were sufficient. I'll leave the
question open for the time being so someone else might research for
you also.

tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by tonkatiger-ga on 30 Oct 2005 17:42 PST

Thanks for the work that has gone into this question so far.  Now I
just need one researcher to put it all together for me!

There is another, practical, factor. As cannon became more effective
the advantage of a castle declined. Since castles are unpleasant to
live in, there was a tendency to abandon them once their survival
value declined.

Perhaps there is a misunderstanding about the expression "lord of the
manor".  This title did not designate a peer, a noble person who could
sit in the House of Lords.  That is to say, the nobles ruling from a
castle did not move into "manor houses" at some period, though as
Mikewa has suggested, when fortress-like castles no longer provided
protection, they did move into new palaces, see Hampton Court, for
example.
The manor houses were there all along, as this site indicates, also
explaining the "up-grading" of them in more prosperous and peaceful
times:

http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/M/manorhou.html

Here is another site about the title as such:

http://www.answers.com/topic/lord-of-the-manor

I hope this helps a bit, Myoarin