By the Great Charter of 1215, King John promised that his ministers would not meddle in the Church or stuff his Treasury with taxes on trade.
The Great Charter of England was signed under duress by King John (r. 1199-1216) at Runnymede in June 1215. It has inspired critics of Government overreach ever since, and the Provisions of Oxford (1258), the Petition of Right (1628) and the US Declaration of Independence (1776) owe much to it. Below is a selection of provisions that speak to every generation.
Lord Macaulay believed that the disastrous reign of King John brought the country together.
Lord Macaulay argued that ‘bad’ King John’s reign did England a lot of good. It pulled the country away from Continental Europe, forcing the supercilious Normans in government to feel less European and more English, and to connect with their everyday countrymen after generations of neglect.
King John promised his nobles respect, but he was not a man to regard his word as his bond.
The ‘Great Charter’ of England, signed on June 15th 1215, has been regarded for over three centuries as one of the foundational documents of the British and American constitutions. It was not always regarded with the same awe.