Magna Carta
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Magna Carta is one of the most celebrated documents in English history, but later interpretations have 
tended to obscure its real significance in 1215. This iconic document was not intended to be a lasting 
declaration of legal principle. It was a practical solution to a political crisis which primarily served 
the interests of the highest ranks of feudal society by reasserting the power of custom to limit despotic 
behaviour by the despised king John. Magna Carta was the first grant by an English king to set detailed 
limits on royal authority. Through its statement of liberties, it sought to prevent the king from further
exploiting his power in arbitrary ways and it made clear that the king was subject to the law, not above it.

There is no evidence that a single Magna Carta ('Magna Carta' is Latin and means "Great Charter") was 
written up and sealed when King John met the barons at Runnymede in 1215. Instead, once the terms of 
Magna Carta had been finalised, the barons renewed their oaths of allegiance to the king. In the days 
that followed, the terms of the agreement were retrospectively written up into a grant by scribes 
working in the royal chancery. Many copies of this grant, which later became known as Magna Carta, were 
sent out to bishops, sheriffs and other officials throughout the country.

Magna Carta is an example of what citizens could force the Crown to concede. It defined rights to 
justice and recorded many customary legal practices for the first time, especially those relating to 
inheritance rights, women's entitlements and military service. Particularly important from the 
medieval point of view, it attempted to define 'good lordship' - what subjects could expect from their 
superiors.

Magna Carta also reveals the extent of the pope's influence in England before the Reformation. Fearing 
the pope's reaction, the clergy would not endorse the charter. Deprived of the church's support, the 
barons decided to insert a clause establishing a group of 25 lords responsible for ensuring that the 
Crown observed the conditions of the charter. This 'security clause' indicates that the charter was 
extorted from King John by force.

The pope was horrified by Magna Carta and declared it annulled. King John did not feel that he was 
bound by it and, with the 25 lords already attempting to take charge of counties where they were 
strong, civil war resulted. King John's death ended the crisis, but the principle of broader control 
over royal power became absorbed into English politics and society.

Despite what many people expect, Magna Carta includes very few statements of legal principle. In fact, 
the majority of the 63 clauses in the charter deal with the detail of feudal rights and customs, and 
the administration of justice. It was King John's excessive and arbitrary exploitation of his feudal 
rights, and his abuse of the justice system, which more than anything else had fuelled the barons' 
rebellion in the first place. So it isn't really surprising that the regulation of feudal rights and 
the justice system dominate the content of Magna Carta.

Magna Carta 'promised' laws that were good and fair. It states that everyone shall have access to courts 
and that costs and money should not be an issue if someone wanted to take a problem to the law courts. 

It also states that no freeman (i.e. a person who was not a serf) will be imprisoned or punished 
without first going through the proper legal system. In future years the word "freeman" was replaced 
by "no one" to include everybody. 

The last few sections deal with how the Magna Carta would be enforced in England. Twenty five barons 
were given the responsibility of making sure the king carried out what was stated in the Magna Carta
 - the document clearly states that they could use force if they felt it was necessary. To give the 
Magna Carta an impact, the royal seal of King John was put on it to show people that it had his royal 
support.

Only three of the original clauses in Magna Carta are still law. One defends the freedom and rights 
of the English church, another confirms the liberties and customs of London and other towns, but the 
third is the most famous:

        No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or 
	possessions, or outlawed or exiled. nor will we proceed with force against 
	him, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. 
	To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.

This statement of principle, buried deep in Magna Carta, was given no particular prominence in 1215, 
but its intrinsic adaptability has allowed succeeding generations to reinterpret it for their own 
purposes and this has ensured its longevity. In the fourteenth century Parliament saw it as guaranteeing 
trial by jury. Sir Edward Coke interpreted it as a declaration of individual liberty in his conflict 
with the early Stuart kings and it has resonant echoes in the American Bill of Rights and the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights.

The real legacy of Magna Carta as a whole is that it limited the king's authority by establishing the 
crucial principle that the law was a power in its own right to which the king was subject.


The background
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It was signed (by royal seal) between the feudal barons and King John at Runnymede near Windsor Castle. 
The document was a series of written promises between the king and his subjects that he, the king, 
would govern England and deal with its people according to the customs of feudal law. Magna Carta was 
an attempt by the barons to stop a king - in this case John - abusing his power with the people of 
England suffering.

England had for some years owned land in France. The barons had provided the king with both money and 
men to defend this territory. Traditionally, the king had always consulted the barons before raising 
taxes (as they had to collect it) and demanding more men for military service (as they had to provide 
the men). This was all part of the Feudal System.

So long as English kings were militarily successful abroad, relations with the barons were good. But 
John was not very successful in his military campaigns abroad. His constant demands for more money 
and men angered the barons. By 1204, John had lost his land in northern France. In response to this, 
John introduced high taxes without asking the barons. This was against feudal law and accepted custom.

John made mistakes in other areas as well. He angered the Roman Catholic Church. The pope, vexed by 
John's behaviour, banned all church services in England in 1207. Religion, and the fear of Hell, were 
very important to the people including the barons. The Catholic Church taught the people that they 
could only gain entrance to Heaven if the Catholic Church believed that they were good enough to get 
there. How could they show their goodness and love of God if the churches were shut ? Even worse for 
John was the fact that the pope excommunicated him in 1209. This meant that John could never get to 
Heaven until the pope withdrew the excommunication. Faced with this, John climbed down and accepted 
the power of the Catholic Church, giving them many privileges in 1214.

1214 was a disastrous year for John for another reason. Once again, he suffered military defeat in 
an attempt to get back his territory in northern France. He returned to London demanding more money 
from taxes. This time the barons were not willing to listen. They rebelled against his power. The 
barons captured London. However, they did not defeat John entirely and by the Spring of 1215, both 
sides were willing to discuss matters. The result was the Magna Carta.




Sources:
magnacarta800th.comw
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
www.bl.uk
www.historylearningsite.co.uk