Baron

The Kingdom is divided into Duchies, and the Duchies are divided into Counties, and the Counties are divided into Baronies. Thus, the Kingdom is made of a number of Baronies. And each Barony is presided over by a Baron, the lowest of the Titled Nobles in the kingdom. The Baronies must produce the food that feeds the nation, and they supply some other raw materials. And the Baronies send a portion of their tax revenue, called a duty, up to the Count, who sends some up to the Duke, who sends some up to the King.
So the Baron is an important figure to the people and to the Nobility because he is the one who makes things happen.
Barons preside over an area that is about 20 miles wide (high), so that you can ride across a barony in one day, or usually from one barony to the next in one day. Therefore a barony is somewhere between 320 sq miles to 400 sq miles. But at the barony level it is tracked as acres. So converting this we get 204,800 - 256,000 acres. Of the acreage, 40% is typically being used as farmland, 20% is being used as pasture, 20% is forested, 10% is not usable as a waste or swamp, or it is the land that makes up the settlements themselves, the roads and such. The leaves 10% of the land that can be improved to be useful as one of the other categories. At 40%, the barony has 82,000 - 102,000 acres of arable land. The farmland is mostly given to nobles called Manor Lords to manage for the Baron. The Manor Lord is a Landed Noble, but not a Titled Noble. The Manor Lord generally has his manor and a village or hamlet near his manor to manage as well. Although on paper the Village belongs to the Baron, he often allows his Manor Lord to handle it.
The Manor Lord has a staff to manage the affairs of the farmers and the village/hamlet. On the Manor, his chief assistant is the Steward who keeps all the books and supervises the Overseer of the serfs on the Manor. The Manor Lord also has an agreement with one to six experienced farmers called Franklins, and he gives each of them a portion of the land to oversee. Each Franklin will have two to four younger farmers working a portion of his land and he will work at least an equal portion. The Franklin is required to pay "rents" for all the acreage under his authority to the Manor Lord each year. The Franklin has a few buildings including a barn, a work shed, a chicken coop, and a grain storage building. He keeps the grains produced each year and sends a portion to the Manor Lord and a portion to each farmer on his land regularly.
The Overseer manages a like number of acres at the manor house. They have buildings for the serfs to use in their work. The manor house complex also has its own grain storage unit. There is also a gardener at the manor complex and he manages a large garden and a small fruit orchard. There are carpenters at the manor complex and they are tasked with maintaining all the buildings and making furniture when necessary. In addition to the Overseer, the village/hamlet has a Reeve that answers to the Manor Lord (and the Steward) for the management of the village/hamlet.
The village/hamlet has an area of farmland tended by freemen and serfs, and a handful of shepherds that attend to flocks of sheep. They have teamsters/carters that haul goods with wagons and draft animals. There are a few woodsmen that harvest trees to provide the wood needed by the carpenters, but are only allowed to harvest their quota. They also hunt the forest to manage game levels and provide some meat for the village. There is a miller in each village and usually a baker, unless the Manor Lord wishes the baking to be performed on the Manor. There is a blacksmith able to make crude tools and mend iron and steel products in each Village. There is typically a small chapel for observing religious holidays.
The Manor Lords collect the rents and send their portion to the Baron. The Sheriff collects the taxes and sends them to the Baron. The Baron then sends an amount of grains to the Count/Marquis along with his portion of the taxes. With the remaining amount he must manage the town where he resides.
The Baron will have a small staff including a champion of arms, a chaplain advisor, a steward to keep all the records, an exchecker to ensure the taxes have been collected and a chamberlain to serve as the chief of his staff. The Chamberlain is expected to be knowledgeable in all aspects of farming, timber management, shepherding, accounting and etiquette in the event the Baron is visited by another noble. A baron who is doing well will try to have a Herald on his staff; a bard that writes songs to entertain the household and an expert in etiquette to help in managing formal affairs. The baron will also have cooks, a butler, footmen, maids, scullery workers and scribes on his staff, but these folks are generally managed by the butler.
The town will have a small force of guards that are intended to keep people off the street after dark, but would be expected to suppress any riotous activity. These men would be under the authority of the High Sheriff. The High Sheriff has a jail to manage with a jailer. There are typically four other sheriffs helping the high sheriff, and these are the sheriffs that visit the villages and hamlets to collect taxes and check on administrative matters. The high sheriff handles the town itself.
The key members of the Baron's staff and the High Sheriff each have a home and some acreage of their own for which they owe no rent. The home and acreage are theirs as compensation for their office. Usually each of these estate "owners" hire a steward to manage their estate, which is immediately adjacent to the town. Often the workers on these farms come from the town and live in a communal dormitory.
In addition to money and pounds of grain, the Baron must serve in the County Militia as an officer. His Manor Lords likewise must serve in this militia, but the Manor Lords are allowed to pay a knight to serve in their stead. Barons must perform their service themselves. In addition, each Baron is required to supply a number of able bodied men to serve in the militia. There are set quotas for footmen, archers, riders and quartermasters. These obligations, including the taxes and grains are called the Baron's Duties. A Baron must fulfil his Duties each year or he risks being removed. Each wise Baron keeps a war chest of at least one years fees so that he is always able to fulfil his Duties.
Being the only Titled Noble makes the Baron a special 'celebrity' in the barony. The Baron will usually visit each Manor in the barony each year. And he is likely to visit some a few times because the Manor Lord has found particular favor with the Baron or the Manor Lord has fallen from favor with the Baron and he wishes to keep a closer eye on that Manor Lord. Likewise, the Baron may expect to be visited by his Count/Marquis twice each year, and receive a visit from the other barons in the County every other year. The baron will also be summoned to attend to the Count/Marquis in the city three or more times each year, and the Manor Lords will be summoned to the seat of the barony each year in the late fall/early winter. This constitutes a lot of travelling.
Since the Baron has about 80 Manor Lords, he will be out of his home 80 days making these visits. He will be out 2 days visiting other barons, and have 2 days of visits from other barons. He will spend on average three days away each time he is summoned to see the Count. And his household will be at the disposal of the Count for four days each year. And finally the Manor Lords will be in town for two days each winter. So the Baron will be away from the seat of the barony for close to 100 days each year and be formally entertaining visitors at least 10 days, or more. It is expensive for the baron to either entertain or travel but these are obligations of his office.
While the Manor Lords do not have as many obligations for entertaining as the Baron, they must put their homes at the disposal of the Baron each time he visits, but during the winter visit, the Baron does not put up all the Manor Lords. Instead, they must either use a room in the local Inns or they must be prepared to ask for accommodation by one of the Estate Lords or set up a tent for their family and others for their attendants.

Calanthi has recently expanded to Five Duchies and The Original Province.  The Original Province is the portion that is directly under the authority of the King, and each Duchy is under the authority of a Duke.  Each of these, in turn is divided into five Counties, although Counties on the frontier are called Marches.  The Marches are presided over by a Marquis, and two of the Counties are presided over by a Count, with the final County being presided over by an Arch Bishop with the title of Earl.  Earls are not hereditary titles.
Each County/March is divided into six parts with the first part directly under the authority of the Marquis/Count/Earl.  The five remaining parts are under the authority of a Baron and are thus named Baronies.  One of the five Baronies is managed by a Bishop, who may use the title Baron, but prefers the title Bishop.  His Barony is not a hereditary title either.
There is also a special title called Grand Baron.  A Grand Baron is a title for the spouse of a princess and his lands include a town usually near the County Seat (a city) and surrounding acreage for a number of estates and a few (half-dozen) Manors.
The title Grand Marquis was given to four families that were instrumental in establishing Calanthi.  They are considered special peers of the King.
Finally, the King created a special title, Grand Duke and Protector of the Throne, for the Gaswain family, the Duke of The Central Farmlands in the Duchy of Copernicus.  Duke Gaswain, when he was a Count, was the first to respond to the call to annex farmland to the north of the original borders of Calanthi.  After securing his Duchy, he was instrumental in aiding the other two dukes secure their lands.  At the time this happened, the political power in Calanthi was shifting and the new King, for his father died during the Great Annexation, felt this was necessary to ensure stability would remain.  Prior to The Great Annexation, the two Dukes were both sons of the King, or when the King's sons were not of age to be enthroned (at least 25 years old) they were the King's uncles.  Now, for the first time, three Dukes were not sons of the King AND they carried titles of inheritance.  These new Dukes were at least equal to the four Grand Marquis.  The King wished to make it clear who was responsible for management of the kingdom if the situation arose where no members of the Royal family were of age to be enthroned as King of Calanthi.  With this action, the King made sure succession management was clearly in the hands of the Duke of Copernicus.

The seat of power in a Barony is a town.  There just isn't enough grain to support a city at this level.
The town will have many amenities not found in a village and nobles will often travel to the seat of power just to enjoy some of the luxuries and services available.  Being a town, it will have a wall, a jail and a church, as required by royal decree.  The administrative functions of the barony are managed by the Chamberlain and the Sheriff's office, run by the High Sheriff.  Immediately outside the town will be a number of stables.  This is because there is a tax that must be paid to bring a horse into the town.  Other than a nobleman, anyone bringing a horse into town pays the tax except for the water cart that comes into town each morning to fill up some cisterns in the town.  This large heavy cart is brought into town before dawn, and comes in a few trips, and is out before six in the morning.
Each stable is operated as a part of a business with a tavern and inn.  If you come to the tavern/inn, you leave your horse at the stable, and a man with a cart brings anything you are unable to carry to the Inn for you.  Some taverns/inns are very successful and operate a stable at more than one of the gates.  Advertising and competition for service at the taverns and inns begins at the gates outside the town.
Each town has a market for "external goods" to be sold in the town.  The farmers or villagers with something to sell will bring it to the town gates, leave their animals and wagons at a barn outside the walls and bring their goods in on hand carts.  They will set up their displays in an open market early in the morning.  Merchants in the town will visit the market and agree to buy significant portions of the stock at a set price at the end of the day.  For one day, the vendors can try and get a better price directly with the townsfolk.  Taxes are collected on the way out of town.  Anyone not paying taxes will be pursued by the sheriffs.

Type

Town