What was the medieval economic system centered on a lord’s manor and peasant labor called?

The story behind the answer

It refers to the estate-based agrarian system where a lord’s land (the demesne) and surrounding peasant holdings formed a largely self-sufficient unit. Peasants, often serfs, owed labor services, rents, and fees—such as using the lord’s mill or oven—while receiving access to land and protection. Manor courts governed local disputes and enforced obligations, making the manor the basic cell of rural medieval life.

Distinct from feudalism’s political ties between lords and vassals, this was the everyday economic engine of the countryside. Common practices included the three-field rotation to maximize yields. After the Black Death reduced the population, labor grew scarce, many obligations were commuted to cash rents, and peasant revolts flared—signs that this system was beginning to loosen and give way to a more market-oriented economy.