The Signing of the Great Charter

King John promised his nobles respect, but he was not a man to regard his word as his bond.

1215

King John 1199-1216

In 1957, the American Bar Association erected this memorial to Magna Carta on the site where the proclamation was signed in 1215. Magna Carta was taken to America by British jurists in the late 17th century, and has come to be regarded as an indispensable charter of liberties.

Introduction

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.

by Clay Lane

AS the thirteenth century opened, King John of England was losing the support of his noblemen, the barons. High taxes, unsuccessful military campaigns in France, and persistent disagreements with the Pope became a source of anxiety and grievance.

So the Barons met the King at Runnymede in Surrey on June 15th, 1215, and handed him a document to sign. The King must stop using foreign troops against his own people. He must stop imprisoning political opponents without trial, bribing judges, and ordering arbitrary punishments. He must not burden England’s ports and cities with taxes and regulations, and the English Church must be free from interference.

This was the ‘great charter’, in Latin, Magna Carta.* John signed it, but within months it was a dead letter. Safe at home in Windsor Castle, the King repudiated it; Pope Innocent III declared it void. The Barons called on the French and the Scots to oust John, but were saved the trouble when he died the following year.

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Read the whole text in modern English, at The British Library.

Précis

King John’s high-handed government so offended his barons that in 1215 they presented him with a charter of liberties to sign. No sooner had he done so than he went back on his promises, plunging the country into revolt. A year later he died, and the charter, broken, and now having outlived its key signatory, was all but forgotten.

Clay Lane The Copybook

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