Film and books set in medieval type worlds often have kings or other high officials holding court and dealing directly with seemingly unimportant "regular" people. Did this happen?

by seadev32

I've seen a hundred times in books and movies something like King deciding an insignificant land dispute between two peasants. Were medieval style rulers that accessible to the common people? It just seems like they'd have more important stuff to do. I can't call up Joe Biden to complain about my landlord. Or really anyone at even a mediocre level of government with any hope a real response of resolution.

WelfOnTheShelf

"Medieval" describes a big place and a long time period, so there's always lots more to say, but I answered a similar question last year:

In movies and television we see kings and queens hearing the problems of common folk, peasants lining up to plead their case to their rulers. Was this a thing? How often did royalty hear the problems of the people?

In short, for England and France, no, probably not.