The word

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The word 'feudalism' comes from the French word feu, which the Normans used to refer to land held in return for duty or service to a lord. The holding of the land  was the basis of feudal society and its main purpose was economic. The central idea was that all land was owned by the king but it was held by others, called 'vassals', in return for services and goods.
The first one was that every man had a lord and the second was that every lord had land. The king was connected through this 'chain' of people to the lowest man in the country. At each level a man had to promise loyalty and service to his lord.
This promise was generally made with the lord sitting on his chair and his vassal kneeling before him, his hands placed between those of his lord. This was called 'homage', and has remained part of the coronation ceremony of British kings and queens until now. On the other hand, each lord had responsibilities to his vassals. He had to give them land and protection.
Gutenberg’s invention of printing from movable type, though not over fifty years old at that time, had already spread to nearly every country in Europe. On his return to England he established the first English press at Westminster in 1476.
One third of the books he issued were his own translations, and to them he contributed prefaces. Among Caxton’s hundred printed books are Chaucer’s  ‘Canterbury Tales’ and Malory’s ‘Morte D’Arthur’, to the latter of which he contributed an excellent preface. Since books became both less cumbersome and less expensive, and since many different titles were printed, for the first time it became worth while for the average man to learn to read. Thus to a great extent the invention of printing brought England to the close of the Middle Ages and ushered in the Renaissance.