by Dan Jones
1297
Edward I confirms Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest, along with additional articles of reform, following political dispute with leading barons.
1300
The final confirmation of Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest, by Edward I, takes place.
1508
Magna Carta appears in print for the first time, issued by Richard Pynson.
1619
Barrister and Parliamentarian Sir Edward Coke condemns royal abuses by the Stuart monarch James I, telling the House of Commons that they contravene Magna Carta.
1628
Sir Edward Coke’s Petition of Right seeks to emulate Magna Carta in an attempt to bind James’s successor, Charles I, to specific principles of government.
1687
Magna Carta is published in the American colonies.
1689
The Bill of Rights is passed by Parliament, as a statement of English law and customs.
1775
Massachusetts adopts as its symbol an American patriot holding a sword in one hand and Magna Carta in the other.
1791
An American Bill of Rights is ratified, designed to limit the powers of the newly independent country over its citizens.
1863
The Statute Law Revision Act strikes many clauses of Magna Carta from the British statute book.
1948
The new United Nations Organization produces its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, described by former US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt as ‘the international Magna Carta for all men everywhere’.
1957
The American Bar Association erects a permanent monument to Magna Carta at Runnymede.
1970
New British legislation strikes all but four clauses of Magna Carta from the statute book.
2007
A copy of Magna Carta 1297 is purchased at auction in New York City for $21.3 million.
2015
This year sees the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.
John pays homage to Philip II of France, in a scene from the richly illustrated Chroniques de France ou de St Denis, created some time between 1330 and 1350. John had paid homage to Philip as part of his plotting to wrest Plantagenet land from King Richard; but thereafter John’s failure to conserve the Plantagenet Empire against Philip’s ambitions cemented the weak reputation of a king known as ‘Softsword’.
The marble statue of James Madison, which stands in the James Madison Memorial Hall of the US Library of Congress. It was Madison, Fourth President of the United States, who deepened Magna Carta’s influence on the evolving US Constitution through his amendments for the Bill of Rights in 1791
Notes on the Text
INTRODUCTION
1 Ralph of Coggeshall, Radulphi de Coggeshall Chronicon Anglicanum, edited by J. Stevenson, Rolls Series No. 66 (1875), p. 170
2 ‘De principis instructione’, in G. Warner (ed.), Giraldus Cambrensis Opera, (1891), p. 328
CHAPTER 1
ENGLAND REORDERED
1 Walter Map, De Nugis Curialum, edited and translated by M.R. James, revised by C.N.L. Brooke and R.A.B. Mynors (1983), p. 477
2 Ibid.
3 William of Newburgh, The History of English Affairs, edited and translated by P.G. Walsh and M.J. Kennedy, Book II (2007), p. 15
4 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, edited by J.A. Giles (1914), p. 200
5 Thomas J. Keefe, ‘King Henry II and the Earls: The Pipe Rolls Evidence’, in Albion, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1981), Table 1, pp. 215–17
6 Barratt, Nick, ‘Finance and the Economy in the Reign of Henry II’, in C. Harper-Bill and N. Vincent (eds), Henry II: New Perspectives (2007), p. 249
7 R. Allen Brown, English Castles, new edition (2004), pp. 162–3
8 William of Newburgh, op. cit., Book I (1988)
9 H.M. Thomas, ‘Shame, Masculinity and the Death of Thomas Becket’, in Speculum, Vol. 87, No. 4 (2012), p. 1065
CHAPTER 2
WAR AND TAXES
1 Roger of Howden, The Annals of Roger de Hoveden, translated by Henry T. Riley (1853), Vol. II, p. 114
2 Ibid., p. 120
3 Barratt, Nick, ‘The English Revenue of Richard I’, in English Historical Review, Vol. 116, No. 467, p. 637. The 1188 Pipe Roll shows total income of £21,233, compared with £31,089 two years later, a rise of 47.6 per cent.
4 Roger of Howden, op. cit., pp. 290–1
5 Ibid., pp. 290–2
6 William Marshal’s Life is a rich source of detail for this period: see A.J. Holden (ed.), D. Crouch and S. Gregory (trans.), History of William Marshal, 3 vols (2002–7), p. 18
7 Barratt, ‘The English Revenue’, op. cit., p. 637
CHAPTER 3
EMPIRE’S END
1 See John Gillingham, ‘The Anonymous of Béthune,
King John and Magna Carta’, passim, in J.S. Loengard (ed.), Magna Carta and the England of King John (2010)
2 T. Wright, The Political Songs of England (1839), p. 6
3 R. Howlett (ed.), Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, Rolls Series No. 82, Vol. I (1884),
p. 390
4 Gerald of Wales, The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis, edited and revised by T. Wright (1894), p. 315
5 See J.C. Holt, King John (1963), p. 20
6 Gervase of Canterbury, The Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury, edited by W. Stubbs, Vol. II (1880), pp. 92–3
CHAPTER 4
THE KING IN HIS KINGDOM
1 Analysed at length in T.K. Moore, ‘The Loss of Normandy and the Invention of Terre Normannorum, 1204’, in English Historical Review, Vol. 125, No. 516 (2010), pp. 1071–109
2 See Holt, op. cit., p. 13. When John visited York in 1200 he was the first English king to have been there for at least fourteen years. His visit to Newcastle the following year was the first since 1158.
3 J. Masschaele, ‘The English Economy in the Age of Magna Carta’, in Loengard, op. cit., p. 156. On prices, see P. Latimer, ‘Early Thirteenth Century Prices’ in S.D. Church (ed.), King John: New Interpretations, passim but especially pp. 69–73, Figs 1–9.
4 Masschaele, ibid., pp. 156–65
5 For John’s annual revenue broken down by year, see Table 1 in Nick Barratt, ‘The Revenue of King John’, in English Historical Review, Vol. 111, No. 443 (1996), p. 839
CHAPTER 5
INTERDICT AND INTIMIDATION
1 Walter of Coventry, Memoriale Fratris Walteri de Coventria, edited by W. Stubbs (1872), Vol. II, p. 203
2 Barratt, ‘The Revenue of King John’, op. cit., p. 839
3 See S. Ambler, ‘Feature of the Month: July 2014 – The Witness Lists to Magna Carta, 1215–1265’, on the Magna Carta Project website: http://magnacarta.cmp.uea.ac.uk/read/feature_of_the_month/Jul_2014
4 King John’s statement is printed and translated in Crouch, ‘The Complaint of King John Against William de Briouze’, in Loengard, op. cit., pp. 169–79
5 The Treaty of Falaise, such as it is known from later transcriptions, is printed in E.L.G. Stones (ed. and trans.), Anglo-Scottish Relations 1174–1328: Some Selected Documents (1965), pp. 1–5. Richard’s quitclaim of 1189 may be found here too, pp. 6–8.
6 The Treaty of Norham, ibid., pp. 12–13
7 J.C. Holt, The Northerners: A Study in the Reign of King John (1961), p. 79
CHAPTER 6
CRISIS AND MACHINATIONS
1 Holt, Magna Carta, op. cit., pp. 190–1
CHAPTER 7
A MEADOW CALLED RUNNYMEDE
1 The original Unknown Charter is held in the French Archives Nationales, Archives du Royaume J.655. It is printed, and its dating discussed, in Holt, Magna Carta, op. cit., Appendix 4, pp. 418–28. The Unknown Charter may be found translated into English in English Historical Documents, Vol. III (1975), edited by H. Rothwell, pp. 310–11.
2 For a recent analysis of Langton’s role in the negotiations of May–June 1215, see D. Carpenter, ‘Archbishop Langton and Magna
Carta: His Contribution, His Doubts and His Hypocrisy’, in English Historical Review, 126, No. 522 (2011), pp. 1041–65.
3 The historiographical arguments are summed up, and a very sensible timetable offered, in D. Carpenter, ‘The Dating and Making of Magna Carta’, in his The Reign of Henry III (1996), pp. 1–16. The present account leans heavily on the sequence of events suggested there.
4 To be found, with discussion, in Holt, Magna Carta, op. cit., Appendix 5, pp. 429–40, and in English translation in English Historical Documents, Vol. III, op. cit., pp. 311–16.
CCHAPTER 8
A CHARTER OF LIBERTIES
1 Holt, Magna Carta, op. cit., p. 255
2 Recent editions of the text of Magna Carta can be found in English Historical Documents, Vol. III, op. cit., pp. 316–24, where it is translated into English, and in Holt, Magna Carta, op. cit., pp. 441–73, where it is in facing-page translation, with a short introductory discussion of the differences between the four surviving editions of the charter.
3. See Carpenter, ‘Archbishop Langton’, op. cit.
4 Ego respectu dei et amore quem erga uos [omnes] habeo, sanctam dei ecclesiam in primis liberam facio (‘Out of respect for God and the love I have towards you [all], in the first place I cause God’s church to be free); see www.earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk/laws/texts/hn-cor/view
5 On this aspect of John of Salisbury’s thought, see N.M. Fryde, ‘The Roots of Magna Carta: Opposition to the Plantagenets’, in J. Canning and O.G. Oexle (eds), Political Thought and the Realities of Power in the Middle Ages (1998), pp. 59–60 and Note 37.
CHAPTER 9
WAR AND INVASION
1 Pope Innocent’s letter is printed in translation in English Historical Documents, Vol. III, op. cit., pp. 324–6.
2 History of William Marshal, op. cit.
3 Walter of Coventry, op. cit., p. 228
CHAPTER 10
AFTERLIFE OF THE CHARTER
1 History of William Marshal, op. cit.
2 Roger of Wendover, op. cit., p. 205
3 The 1225 edition of Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest are printed in Holt, Magna Carta, op. cit., Appendices 12 and 13, pp. 501–17, and translated in English Historical Documents, Vol. III, op. cit., pp. 341–9.
4 D. Carpenter, ‘Feature of the Month: April 2014’, on the Magna Carta Project website: http://magnacartaresearch.org/read/feature_of_the_month/Apr_2014
5 The account of this episode by Matthew Paris may be found in H.R. Luard (ed.) Matthaei Parisiensis, Monachi Sancti Albani Chronica Majora, Vol. IV (1877), pp. 185–7.
6 S. Ambler, ‘Feature of the Month: March 2014 – Henry III’s Confirmation of Magna Carta in March 1265’, on the Magna Carta Project website: http://magnacarta.cmp.uea.ac.uk/read/feature_of_the_month/Mar_2014
7 R. Horrox (ed.), Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, Vol. XVI (2012), January 1497: Item 9
8 Held in the British Library: BL C.112.a.2.
9 Coke, quoted in F. Thompson, Magna Carta: Its Role in the Making of the English Constitution 1300–1629 (1948), p. 302
10 A. Cromartie, ‘The Constitutionalist Revolution: The Transformation of Political Culture in Early Stuart England’, in Past & Present, No. 163 (May 1999), p. 101
11 R.V. Turner, ‘The Meaning of Magna Carta Since 1215’, in History Today, Vol. 53, No. 9 (2003); online at: www.historytoday.com/ralph-v-turner/meaning-magna-carta-1215
12 The full text of Mandela’s speech may be found on the ANC website: www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=3430.
13 D. Cameron, ‘British values aren’t optional, they’re vital. That’s why I will promote them in EVERY school’, in the Daily Mail (15 June 2014).
14 See, for example, the interview with web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee: J. Kiss, ‘An Online Magna Carta: Berners-Lee Calls for Bill of Rights for Web’, in The Guardian (12 March 2014)
15 A. Rickell, ‘A New Magna Carta’, disabilitynow (2009): www.disabilitynow.org.uk/article/new-magna-carta; T. Kahle, ‘Miners for Democracy and the Planet’, in Socialist Worker (24 June 2014): http://socialistworker.org/ 2014/06/24/miners-fighting-for-the-planet; J. Casillas, ‘Magna Carta for Medical Banking’: www.himss.org/files/HIMSSorg/content/files/medicalBankingProject/MBP_Magna_Carta_Aligning_Banks_Healthcare.pdf; J. Galolo, ‘BPOs, workers back proposal to exempt OT, graveyard pay from taxes’, Sun Star Cebu (7 July 2014): www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/business/2014/07/07/bpos-workers-back-proposal-exempt-ot-graveyard-pay-taxes-352400.
APPENDIX III
THE ENFORCERS OF MAGNA CARTA
1 Luard, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 605
2 Lambeth Palace Library MS 371 fo. 56v, reprinted in Holt, Magna Carta, op. cit., Appendix 8, pp.479–80
3 Walter of Coventry, op. cit., p. 228
Further Reading
The following is a concise list of secondary books and articles. Leading primary sources are mentioned in the Notes.
BARRATT, NICK, ‘The English Revenue of Richard I’, in English Historical Review, Vol. 116, No. 467 (2001), pp. 635–56
BREAY, CLAIRE, Magna Carta: Manuscripts and Myths (2010)
BROWN, R.ALLEN, English Castles, revised edition (2004)
CARPENTER, D.A., The Reign of Henry III (1996)
–––—, ‘Archbishop Langton and Magna Carta: His Contribution, His Doubts and His Hypocrisy’, in English Historical Review, Vol. 126, No. 522 (2011), pp. 1041–65
CHURCH, S.D. (ed.), King John: New Interpretations (1999)
CROMARTIE, A., ‘The Constitutionalist Revolution: The Transformation of Political Culture in Early Stuart England’, in Past & Present, No. 163 (May 1999), pp. 76–120
FRYDE, NATALIE, ‘The Roots of Magna Carta: Opposition to the Plantagenets’, in J. Canning and O. Oexle (eds), Political Thought and the Realities of Power in the Middle Ages (1998)
HOLT, J.C., The Northerners: A Study in the Reign of King John (1961)
–––—, King John (1963)
–––—, Magna Carta, 2nd edition (1992)
JOLLIFFE, J.E.A., Angevin Kingship, 2nd edition (1963)
KEEFE, THOMAS K., ‘King Henry II and the Earls: The Pipe Roll Evidence’, in Albion, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1981), pp 191–222
LOENGARD, J.S. (ed.), Magna Carta and the England of King John (2010)
MCGLYNN, S., Blood Cries Afar: The Forgotten Invasion of England, 1216 (2011)
MCKECHNIE, W.S., Magna Carta, 2nd edition (1914)
Magna Carta Project:
http://magnacarta.cmp.uea.ac.uk
MOORE, TONY, ‘The Loss of Normandy and the Invention of Terre Normannorum, 1204’, in English Historical Review, Vol. 125, No. 516 (2010), pp. 1071–109
SANDOZ, E., The Roots of Liberty: Magna Carta, Ancient Constitution and the Anglo-American Tradition of the Rule of Law, new edition (2008)
THOMAS, HUGH M., ‘Shame, Masculinity and the Death of Thomas Becket’, in Speculum, Vol. 87, No. 4 (2012), pp. 1050–88
THOMPSON, FAITH, Magna Carta: Its Role in the Making of the English Constitution 1300–1629 (1948)
TURNER, R.V., ‘The Meaning of Magna Carta Since 1215’, in History Today, Vol. 53, No. 9 (2003): online at www.historytoday.com
VINCENT, NICHOLAS, Magna Carta: A Very Short Introduction (2012)
WARREN, W.L., Henry II (1973)
Index
Page references in italic refer to illustrations; those with ‘n’ refer to footnote.
A
Acre 23, 27
Alexander II, King of Scots 96, 141, 164
Allan of Galloway, Constable of Scotland 155
Anarchy, the (1135–54) 12, 93, 95n
Angevin Empire 11n; see also Plantagenet Empire
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 12
Anjou 11, 37, 41, 80, 119
Anonymous of Béthune 33, 67
Aquitaine 11, 37, 80, 119
Arthur, Duke of Brittany 36, 37, 53, 55, 155
Articles of the Barons, The 74–5, 76, 81
Artois 41
Ascalon 27
Athée, G
erard d’ 138
Aubigny, Philip d’ 158
Aubigny, William d’, Earl of Arundel 154
Aubigny, William d’, Lord of Belvoir 172
B
Baldwin, Count of Flanders 30
Barons’ War (1215–17) 95–7; 101–3
Basset, Alan 119, 158
Basset, Thomas 119, 156
Becket, Thomas 12, 13, 17n, 19, 20, 81, 105
Benedict of Sawston, Bishop of Rochester 119, 150
Berengaria of Navarre 31
Berry 30
Berwick 96
Bigod, Hugh, 3rd Earl of Norfolk 167
Bigod, Roger, 2nd Earl of Norfolk 53, 73, 164–5
Bill of Rights (1689) 110–11
Bill of Rights, US (1791) 112
Bohun de, Henry, Earl of Hereford 164
Born, Bertrand de, the Younger 33
Boulogne, Count of 59, 66
Bouvines, Battle of (1214) 64, 65, 66–7, 69, 70, 154
Brabant, Duke of 59, 66
Brackley 72, 77, 164
Breauté, Falkes de 155
Briouze, Matilda de 55–6
Briouze, William de 53, 55, 73
British Library Magna Carta 79, 86–7, 90
Brittany 11, 30, 71
Burgh, Hubert de, Seneschal of Poitou 103, 119, 148, 155–6, 157
C
Caen 37, 59
carucage 30
Cerne Abbey 105
Châlus-Chabrol, Castle of 31, 53
Chancery 17, 77, 79; writs of 17–18, 127
Charles I, King 108, 110
Charter of the Forest 103, 104, 105, 106–7
Chinon, fortress of 21, 37, 155
Clare, Gilbert de, 6th Earl of Hertford 166
Clare, Richard de, 5th Earl of Hertford 161, 166
Clarendon, Assize of (1166) 17