When Harold fell at Hastings, William the Conqueror claimed not just a crown but every acre of England. All land now belonged to him “by right of conquest.” He carved it up for his Norman lords, and the people who lived on it had to pay tribute just to survive. This was the birth of feudal rent: survival taxed because someone else owned the soil. Castles weren’t just fortresses; they were rent offices, looming reminders that power over land meant power over life. We still live with that legacy.