<P> Historically , feudal barons were the king 's tenants - in - chief , that is to say men who held land by feudal tenure directly from the king as their sole overlord and were granted by him a legal jurisdiction ( court baron ) over their territory , the barony , comprising several manors . Such men , if not already noblemen , were ennobled by obtaining such tenure , and had thenceforth an obligation , upon summons by writ , to attend the king 's peripatetic court , the earliest form of Parliament and the House of Lords . They thus formed the baronage , which later formed a large part of the peerage of England . </P>
<P> Historically , feudal barons were the king 's tenants - in - chief , that is to say men who held land by feudal tenure directly from the king as their sole overlord and were granted by him a legal jurisdiction ( court baron ) over their territory , the barony , comprising several manors . Such men , if not already noblemen , were ennobled by obtaining such tenure , and had thenceforth an obligation , upon summons by writ , to attend the king 's peripatetic court , the earliest form of Parliament and the House of Lords . They thus formed the baronage , which later formed a large part of the peerage of England . </P>
what did the barons do in the feudal system
what did the barons do in the feudal system
tenants - in - chief
tenants - in - chief