Magna Carta

Paradoxplace BRITISH ABBEYS AND CATHEDRALS

Magna Carta - 15 June 1215

Magna Carta (Dom P points out that scholarly opinion, which he has boned up on, is that there should be no "the") was "negotiated" between King John (1167 - 1199 - 1216 (49)), son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the leaders of England - to wit 25 Barons, 13 Bishops (including Archbishop Stephen Langton), 19 Abbots, a papal delegate and Brother Aymeric, Master of the Knights Templar in England. Note the relative power of the Abbots in medieval society ... the 4th Lateran Council, also run in 1215 and the most important church council of the middle ages, had 800 abbots attending compared to under 500 senior churchmen.

Langton had previously spent some years at the Cistercian Abbey of Pontigny whilst John foolishly disputed his appointment by the all powerful Pope Innocent III, and lost. John, younger brother of the nasty Richard I, was in fact an all-round loser - his nicknames included "Lackland" ("Sans Terre" in French) and "Soft- Sword" (leave that one to you).

Magna Carta was signed on 15 June 1215 in a tent in the meadow of Runneymede on the River Thames. Copies were made for all the participants and although there was probably one with the royal seal, this has not survived. Four copies still do exist - one in Salisbury Cathedral, one in Lincoln Castle, and two in the British Library.

Even after it was signed, Magna Carta nearly did not make it because John successfully appealed to Innocent (now his mate in the fight against this attack on Divine Rights) to annul it as it had been signed under duress. Luckily John died soon afterwards in 1216, leaving his 9 year old son (Henry III) on the throne for more than half of the euro-boom years of the 1200s. In 1225 Henry was persuaded by Langton to reissue a slightly modified Magna Carta, which became the one embedded in English law. As you will see from the Wikipedia Magna Carta page the charter has been extensively amended and added to over the intervening 800 years.

The American Bar Association Magna Carta Memorial (1957) at Runnymede

That's all it is - a just over A-4 sized one pager in wincy handwriting - if only modern corporate lawyers .......

Link to British Library Magna Carta page

Link to Wikipedia Magna Carta page

"Although written continuously, the charter has been traditionally discussed as consisting of a preamble and 63 clauses. Roughly, its contents may be divided into nine groups. The first concerned the church, asserting that it was to be “free.” A second group provided statements of feudal law of particular concern to those holding lands directly from the crown, and the third assured similar rights to subtenants. A fourth group of clauses referred to towns, trade, and merchants. A particularly large group was concerned with the reform of the law and of justice, and another with control of the behaviour of royal officials. A seventh group concerned the royal forests, and another dealt with immediate issues, requiring, for instance, the dismissal of John's foreign mercenaries. The final clauses provided a form of security for the king's adherence to the charter, by which a council of 25 barons should have the ultimate right to levy war upon him should he seriously infringe it." (for more of this, see the Encyclopedia Britannica)

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