If Magna Carta granted so many liberties, how come feudalism survived in this country for another 300 years?
Individuals in Anglo-Saxon England were ceorls, or free peasants, who were not bound to any feudal master. The English common law was, essentially, a system in which voluntary arrangements between individuals were lawfully valid, and did not have to be approved in advance by the state
Of course, there were some problems with Magna Carta. In recognising the rights of "freemen", it appeared to exclude the peasants who had been reduced to bondage after the Norman conquest.
The concept of a "freeman" was gradually extended to cover every individual in the kingdom after the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Certainly a more peaceful method than Continental Jacqueries of the 14th century.
Commenting by HaloScan
