Fee (feudal tenure)

Fee, also known as Feudal Tenure, was a fancy way of how property ownership worked a very long time ago.

Imagine you live in a big kingdom with a king as the ruler. The king owned all the land in the kingdom, but he couldn't take care of everything by himself. So, he divided it into smaller pieces called "fiefs" and gave them to his trusted knights to manage and protect.

In exchange for the fief, the knight had to follow the king's laws and serve in the king's army when he needed him. The knight had to be loyal to the king, and he had to swear an oath of fealty to the king.

Now, the knight couldn't just live on the fief and do whatever he wanted. He had to make sure that it was productive and profitable. So, he would allow farmers, craftsmen, and merchants to live and work on the land. These people would pay the knight rent, taxes or provide some goods and services in return.

The knight would then collect all this money and goods and give some of it to the king as a form of payment for the fief. Sometimes, the knight could also give a portion of the fief to another person, who would become a vassal and owe loyalty and service to the knight.

It was like a chain of obligation- the king gave the land to the knight, and the knight gave it to his vassals, and so on. This system helped the king to maintain control over his kingdom and the knights to become powerful lords.

So, fee or feudal tenure was a way to organize land ownership and loyalty in medieval times. The fief represented a piece of land, and the system ensured that everyone knew their place and duties.