A
manor house is a large country house, which was historically the
capital residence or
messuage within a
manor, the basic unit of territorial organisation in the
feudal system in Europe, in which dwelled the
lord of the manor. It formed the administrative centre of a manor and within its
great hall were held the lord's
manorial courts, communal meals with manorial tenants and great banquets. The term is today loosely applied to smaller country houses, frequently dating from the late medieval era, which formerly housed the
gentry. They were often
fortified, but this was frequently intended more for show than for defense. Manor houses existed in most European countries where feudalism existed, where they were sometimes known as
castles, palaces, and so on. Many buildings, such as schools, are named Manor; the reason behind this is because the building was or is close to a manor house.