Plucknett's account indicates the latter reason, at least in the case of the local lords who emerged during the thirteenth century and heavily taxed local landowners in exchange for providing military protection (95-96). As FrancisWhite? said, while the lords benefitted from the monetary proceeds and secondary transfer of power that occurred due to the heavy tax burdens they imposed on their formerly free tenants, they also provided services that may have benefitted their tenants by providing social order. These included courts that Plucknett describes as more "vigorous and flexible" than the king's courts, which recognized and allowed for the resolution of petty crimes that would not have been prosecuted under the common law of the king, but which upset the order of the feudal agricultural village (96).

-- KatherineKettle - 15 Sep 2014