Hello, I have a lot of questions about how certain things work during the medieval period. I'm not fussed about which specific period or which country in Europe you want to talk about, so it can be England, France, HRE, and any period within the 1000 years. I would be interested to hear all the answers.

I think I have a general understanding of how the feudal system works. King/emperor bestows land onto nobles, and then nobles bestow land to minor lords and so on. That's general, and I know it's not clear cut. It can be ambiguous. But this isn't what I'm confused about.

Villages - owned some land. The minor lord can either rent out land to peasants that pay tax, or the lord would have his own workers that pay in kind. My questions for villages are:

1. How big/much of land did the minor Lord own? And was his land next to another minor lord or was there large swaths of unclaimed land between one village to the next minor lord's village?
2. did the minor lord need permission from his lord on what he can do on his land? Such as need permission to build a mill? Or could the minor lord do whatever they wanted within their land?
3. How did minor lords expand their land? Did they just do it, and if another minor lord or higher up lord had a problem, then it would have to be resolved? Or they were not allowed to expand? Or did they need permission to expand?
4. In terms of expanding land and unclaimed land, how did free people settle on unclaimed land? Would the minor lord care? Or would they try and force them to pay tax even if the land wasn't apart of their allocated domain?
5. Who built the homes and work buildings? Did the lord pay for the building or did the tenants build it themselves? If the latter, did they do it themselves or pay a builder to do it? Did a stonemason or a blacksmith have to build their own home by themselves or would the lord have it built before they were hired? And what if a free blacksmith was looking for a job - would they sleep outside until the home was built or stay in a short term lodging?
6. What if you didn't know how to build a home? What then? (I personally wouldn't know how).

Towns - are those that specialised in a specific craft and trade. My questions are:

1. How did they form and develop in the first place? Were they simply villages that adopted and developed more specific craft and trade, and they simply paid land tax to their lord, like those tenant farmers?
2. If formed and developed through trade routes, are these areas unclaimed?
3. If these craft and trade people decided to settle in these areas, how did they decide? Would one blacksmith decide to build a home and hope others would do the same? Or would a carpenter and blacksmith and a stonemason decide together and then form a small settlement together?
4. Would a local lord care if free people started building their own homes in trade route paths? Would the lord try and force the people to pay tax even if it was their land (unclaimed land)? Or was it always the lord's land, and the free people are trespassing? If you were a fisherman and wanted to build a home, did you need permission or just do it until a lord made a fuss?
5. what would the tax be, if they are not generating food? Would it just be money? Or would it be tools? Like a tithe but for items rather than food?
6. could a farmer decide to build their own farm to feed the craft and trade people? Or would the lord not allow that?
7. how can a town expand if on unclaimed land? Wouldn't they be restricted by the local lord? Or if part of the lord's land, would they need permission or could they just expand?

Cities - it has more trading and specialists. It has guilds and has civics. My questions are:

1. How did cities form and develop? Are they simply towns that grew in more diverse jobs?
2. Were cities developed on unclaimed land or did they develop within the confines of a lord's land?
3. were cities ruled by a lord or were they lordless? If on unclaimed land, would a lord try and force the cities to pay tax? Or would the lord have no power?
4. if a city had a shire reeve (sheriff), did this mean they were a lord or just simply a profession a lord hired?
5. was a mayor always a lord? Could a lord be a mayor? Who would have more power, a lord or a mayor within a city?
6. how and what would taxes be? If a city was overseen by a lord, would the people just pay via money to the collector or could it be produce and items?
7. what does the lord do with the money? Give it to the higher lord or king? Or keep it and distribute it within their own domain?

Free cities -

1. Why would free cities (imperial cities) choose to be subordinate to a king/emperor but not their local lord? Why would the lord accept this? Or do they not have a choice? Could a city choose not to be subordinate to any lord king or minor? That would make them a city state?
2. How would free cities (imperial cities) expand? How do they determine what's their land versus the land belonging to a king and lord? Could a city buy a lord's land? Would that land no longer be part of the kingdom and now be part of a city state? Would a king allow this? But if the king can't threaten them with force? Has the king just lost land and territory (by being bought out)?

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If possible, could you answer each question in the same format that I have written them?

Thank you