The middle ages feudal order placed the Crown’s at the peak of authority, a position enhanced by traveling justices who administered taxes and extended the reach of royal justice. Nevertheless, the barons’ growing disillusionment with this central class structure, specifically under King John, led to increasing stress. His oppressive attitude and unsuccessful military projects just added fuel to the fire. In response, the barons demanded change, resulting in the Magna Carta of 1215– a groundbreaking effort to limit the King’s power and secure their rights within the realm.
In Barbados, feudalism’s legacy was evident in how land was dispersed and managed. The island’s plantation economy developed a society where a little elite held vast amounts of land and wealth, while most of the population, consisting of enslaved Africans and later on freedmen, had little power or autonomy. The consolidation of landownership mirrored the feudal estates of middle ages Britain, where the lords managed the land and individuals who worked it.
The social hierarchies that emerged in Barbados were deeply established, with race and class playing a substantial function in determining one’s location in society. Even after the abolition of slavery, these hierarchies persisted, affecting the island’s social and economic structures well into the modern age.
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