Magna Carta: The Great Charter
Posted by Orrin Woodward on May 21, 2012
Here is an excellent short history of the Magna Carta, one of the first building blocks of English speaking freedoms, from the Constitutional Rights Foundation. In fact, several of the points from the Magna Carta were carried forward into the United States Constitution, as well as each of the commonwealth nations of the former English Empire. The key to the document was the agreement for the nobles to check the king’s actions, ensuring the protection of the subjects against tyranny. Although the original Magan Carta agreement didn’t last long, many of the principles themselves have withstood the test of time.
The goal of the LIFE community and the Mental Fitness Challenge is to reteach the principles of freedom and following, along with the other six F’s into communities of learners. The only way to ensure freedom is to ensure knowledge, since a person is only as free as what he or she knows. Enjoy the article.
Sincerely,
Meeting at Runnymede
The Story of King John and Magna Carta
Myth and history are intertwined in the England of 800 years ago. We all remember the outlaw, Robin Hood. From his hideout in Sherwood Forest, he and his band of Merry Men preyed on the rich and gave to the poor. Their archenemy was the Sheriff of Nottingham, who took his orders from the sinister Prince John. While Robin Hood never existed, John certainly did. He was the central character in a real life drama that led to a milestone in human liberty: Magna Carta. Prince John’s older brother, Richard, became king of England when their father, Henry II, died in 1189. King Richard I (also called Richard the Lionhearted) spent almost the entire 10 years of his reign away from England. He fought in tournaments, led crusades and waged several wars on the continent of Europe.
Since Richard needed revenue to pay for his adventures, he taxed his subjects heavily. At one point Richard was captured by his enemies and held for ransom (a common practice in feudal Europe). Richard’s tax collectors in England had to raise an enormous sum of money to free him. Despite Richard’s demands, the people back home in England loved him as a conquering hero.
When Richard died in 1199, John became King. Unlike his brother, John tended to stay at home and run his kingdom on a day to day basis. John, however, continued his brother’s harsh tax policy. Because John lacked Richard’s heroic image and charisma, his subjects began to hate him for his constant demands for more tax money.
King John vs. the Church
King John made more enemies when he refused to accept the appointment of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, the most important position in the English Catholic Church. By so doing, John challenged the authority of Pope Innocent III in Rome, who punished John by excommunication. John retaliated by taxing the Church in England, confiscating its lands and forcing many priests to leave their parishes.
While King John carried on his dispute with the Pope, powerful English landowners called barons conspired against him. Fuming over John’s heavy taxes and other abuses of power, the barons plotted rebellion. To head them off, King John made an unexpected move.
In 1212, King John agreed to have Stephen Langton become Archbishop of Canterbury. John also promised to compensate the Church for its money and lands. John even went so far as to make England a fief of the Pope. King John still ruled England, but, as John’s liege lord, the Pope gained tremendous prestige throughout Europe. Pope Innocent was delighted and in 1213 ended John’s excommunication. With John now under the protection of the Church, the resentful barons retreated—at least for a while.
King John vs. the Barons
Convinced that his throne was again safe, King John returned to one of his favorite projects. For years he had dreamed to retake possession of lands in France that had once belonged to his ancestors. Once before, John had led a military expedition to France. Although he won a number of battles, John failed to decisively defeat the French king. Now, in 1213, John planned another campaign.
An invasion of France required many soldiers and more money. Under feudal law, a liege lord had the right to call upon his vassals to provide knights or money during times of war. From the English barons, all vassals of King John, he demanded men-at-arms or gold to support his new French war. Many of the barons refused, having little interest in John’s quarrel with the French king. Enraged, King John set out to punish them by attacking their castles.
Early in 1214, he abandoned his domestic quarrels and left with a force of loyal barons and mercenaries (paid soldiers) for France. History repeated itself. John succeeded in winning some battles, but failed to gain control of the disputed lands.
The Road to Runnymede
Soon after returning to English soil in October 1214, King John resumed his demand for money from the rebellious barons. His demands fell on deaf ears. Sensing John’s weakness after his failure in France, the barons began to make their own demands. In January 1215, a group of them appeared before King John asking for a written charter from him confirming ancient liberties granted by earlier kings of England. Evidence suggests that the newly appointed Archbishop Stephen Langton may have encouraged these demands.
John decided to stall for time; he would give the barons an answer later in the spring. In the meantime, John sent letters to enlist the support of Pope Innocent III, and also began to assemble a mercenary army.
In April, the barons presented John with more specific demands. John flatly rejected them. He remarked: “Why do not the barons, with these unjust exactions, ask my kingdom?”
In response, the barons withdrew their allegiance to King John, and started to form their own rebel army. At the head of the rebel forces was Robert FitzWalter, who called himself “Marshal of the army of God and Holy Church.” In an effort to cool things off, John proposed that the Pope settle their differences. With the Pope openly siding with King John, the barons refused. John ordered his sheriffs to crush the rebel barons and they retaliated by occupying London.
A stalemate ensued. The 40 or so rebel barons and their forces held London as well as their own fortified castles throughout England. King John commanded a slightly smaller force of loyalist barons and mercenaries. Unaligned were about 100 barons plus a group of church leaders headed by the ever-present Archbishop Stephen Langton. Langton (who was sympathetic to the rebels if not one himself) began to work for a negotiated settlement to prevent all-out civil war and arranged a meeting to be held at Runnymede, a meadow on the Thames west of London.
Meeting at Runnymede
King John and his supporters, the rebel barons, the neutrals, church leaders and Archbishop Langton all met at Runnymede on June 15, 1215. Significantly, while most of King John’s fighting men were scattered throughout his kingdom, the rebels appeared at full military strength.
Little is known about the details of this historic meeting. We do know that King John placed his seal of approval on a document called the “Articles of the Barons.” Over the next few days these articles were rewritten, expanded, and put into the legal language of a royal charter.
At some point, probably on June 19, King John put his seal on the final draft of what we call today “Magna Carta” or “The Great Charter.” In exchange, the rebellious barons renewed their oath of allegiance to King John, thus ending the immediate threat of civil war.
In its original form Magna Carta consisted of 63 articles or chapters. Many concerned matters of feudal law that were important to the rebel barons, but are of little relevance to us today. Other parts of Magna Carta corrected King John’s abuses of power against the barons, Church officials, merchants and other “free men” who together made up about 25% of England’s population. Magna Carta virtually ignored the remaining 75% of the population.
For people today the most significant part of Magna Carta is Chapter 39:
No free man shall be arrested or imprisoned or disseised [property taken] or outlawed or exiled or in any way victimized, neither will we attack him or send anyone to attack him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
Some have interpreted this provision to mean that Magna Carta guaranteed to free men the right to a trial by jury. However, the idea of a jury trial as we would recognize it today had not yet developed by 1215.
The purpose of this chapter was to prevent King John from personally ordering the arrest and punishment of a free man without lawful judgment. According to Magna Carta, “lawful judgment” could only be made by judges ruled by “the law of the land,” or by one’s peers in a trial by combat.
Magna Carta of 1215 was not really intended to be a list of rights for Englishmen or even the barons themselves. It was more like a contract in which John bound himself to abide by its provisions. The barons only wanted King John to satisfy their complaints against his abusive rule, not overthrow the monarchy. The real significance of this document lies in the basic idea that a ruler, just like everyone else, is subject to the rule of law. When King John agreed to Magna Carta, he admitted that the law was above the king’s will, a revolutionary idea in 1215.
Aftermath
King John surrendered significant power when he agreed to Magna Carta. It is doubtful that he really ever intended to live up to all his promises. While John did satisfy some of the barons’ personal grievances, he secretly wrote the Pope asking him to cancel Magna Carta on the grounds that he signed it against his will. At the same time he continued to build up his mercenary army. Not trusting John’s intentions, the rebel barons held on to London and maintained their own army.
Pope Innocent III replied favorably to King John’s appeal. He condemned Magna Carta and declared it null and void. By September 1215, King John and his army were roving the countryside attacking the castles of individual barons, but he avoided the rebel stronghold of London. The barons charged that King John had defaulted on his agreement with them and they were justified in removing him from the throne. They offered the throne to the son of the French king, if he would aid their rebellion.
A long and bloody civil war loomed across England, when suddenly, King John died. A round of heavy eating and drinking apparently led to a case of dysentery causing his death on October 18, 1216. Ten days later John’s nine-year-old son, Henry, was crowned as the new king of England. With John out of the way, the conflict gradually ceased. Less than a month after Henry was crowned, his supporters confirmed Magna Carta in his name. This time it received the approval of the Pope.
Magna Carta, carrying with it the idea of “the rule of law,” was reconfirmed a number of times over the next 80 years, becoming a foundation of English law. Eventually, Magna Carta would become the source of important legal concepts found in our American Constitution and Bill of Rights. Among these are the principle of no taxation without representation and the right to a fair trial under law. These foundations of our own constitutional system had their beginnings in a meadow beside a river almost 800 years ago.
25 Responses to “Magna Carta: The Great Charter”
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CJ Calvert said
On the Magna Carta: “The real significance of this document lies in the basic idea that a ruler, just like everyone else, is subject to the rule of law.”
On the LIFE COMPENSATION PLAN: “The real significance of this document lies in the basic idea that the founders, just like everyone else, are subject to the rules of compensation.”
SJ Barakony said
Loved reading this blog post, Orrin. I was familiar with Magna Carta before I knew of a self-directed/liber education, however, this post taught me a great deal more & was very insightful! Thank you. Here’s a Q that crossed my mind … did Samuel Rutherford ( http://www.constitution.org/sr/lexrex.htm ) use Magna Carta as a basis for Lex-Rex? I see clear parallels, however, to this point in my journey, I have yet to read Rutherford’s book; as George G. has said in a few of his talks, Rutherford has mostly been erased from conveyor belt history classes.
Orrin Woodward said
SJ, Great questions. Rutherford took his concepts from the rule of law based upon Biblical principles. The nobles fought for rule of law based upon the Bible and English Common Law principles. Since the Bible was before both the Magna Carta and Lex Rex, I would think that was the original source of both books, with Ciceronian and Aristotelian rule of law thrown into the mix from Middle Age theologians, mainly Thomas Aquinas. thanks, Orrin
SJ Barakony said
Thank you very much, Orrin! Much appreciate your feedback. Would you recommend reading any of Cicero and/or Aristotle’s works alongside or before Rutherford? My reading list grows by the week, however, I am committed to reading however much I need to to influence the Freedom shift 🙂 ( p.s. I had an excellent Professor in my private liberal arts / professional track college – however, to cover the Magna Carta, let alone Rutherford or Aquinas in depth (or at all) in a course that spanned a couple milennia would have required a history major’s independent study — I was a minor and came in with an AP Euro History credit from HS 😉 )
Derrick Knoff said
Yes this was a fantastic article indeed. I, too, knew of the history behind Magna Carta due to the teachings in my Medieval History course. However, our professor discussed mostly the ‘science’ behind this document. What I liked about your article, Orrin (and all your teaching for that matter) is how you discussed the ‘art’ side of it too. It was cool reading about the thought processes and personalities of the people who were involved in writing Magna Carta. Great post as usual Orrin! I appreciate everything you stand for and do. Thanks, Derrick.
Mark Mester said
So let’s see…the Magna Carta was in part the result of an over-reaching king who demanded more and more from his irritated subjects to fund his exploits.
Here’s hoping we are on the precipice of another such freedom shift. After all, we already have an over-reaching government and an exasperated populace.
Speaking of our bloated government, it is spending and borrowing at such a rate that we will never be able to repay it in our lifetimes. Thus, our kids and grandkids will be burdened with that debt. How will the government collect the money from our progeny?? They will tax them!
Isn’t this a form of taxation without representation??
Don Schultz - Team VIP - Phalanx said
Orrin, thanks to this “business” learning environment I have learned more about history and it’s applications to everyday life than I ever did in school in the 70’s. And no, it’s not because I was doing stupid things during that time period, I just learned facts of history but it was never taught about those events came together and impacted the establishment of thinking, movements and governments. I like the analogy of someone handing you an ice cream bar (history) without unwrapping it for you. Of course it will taste bad because it (history) has never been presented properly. We as a community, and consequently the people around us, benefit greatly as you “unwrap” history. Thank you for your dedication to not only being on a continual quest for learning but teaching what you are learning.
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Mary Hermsen said
Thank you, Orrin, for another thoughtful and enriching history lesson. I’m amazed at how little we actually learned in school. By learning history, I’m praying we will not be doomed to repeat it.
Greg Mazur said
Thanks for posting this history lesson Orrin! I remember only vaguely discussing it in my history classes of grade school and college. It sheds new light given the current state of our country’s rising taxes and political battles.
Bernie said
This is an amazing article! Thanks Orrin!
Phil Wall said
Orrin thanks for leading by example, you do it well.
dan white said
Thanks again for a great history lesson. Not many people understand principles of freedom. It’s awesome to be reminded of what we have and where it came from. I pray that lessons like these will keep tyranny at bay in our own country. Keep teaching brother!!!!
Patrice Caldwell said
Thank you Orrin. As mentioned in theTeam/ LIFE Leadership education system, “books and CD’s are decades of information reduced to invaluable hours”, So are your amazing articles. I learn so much about history in just 15 minutes of reading your blog. This information is so imperative in order educate people so we can maintain the freedoms of this country.
Lucas Moldenhauer said
We recently watched Russel Crowe’s performance of Robin Hood- thanks for the clarification of fact and fiction. 1215 is a long time ago- proving Jefferson’s comment that preserving freedom requires ‘eternal vigilance.’
Scott Staley said
I think history often repeats itself. The only defense would be to learn/study our history to prevent the negative from recurring. There are many similarities that present themselves today. Its amazing that government operates seemingly above the law – in essense, if something is detrimental to ‘their’ cause, they sytematically remove the barriers from having their causes advanced. I think that our ratio is a little off – less than 25% seems to be the targetted audience with many of the fiscal policies of today.
Cody Moyer said
Thanks yet again Orrin for the fantastic information! Its no surprise to me or the thousands and thousands of people who turn to you for LIFE changing information, that you are the #6 leadership guru and #1 IAB’s list for top leaders! Orrin Woodward thank you for the tremendous inspiration and information!
Matt Foote said
Great post Orrin. I too was familiar with some of the events surrounding the Magna Carta, but not to this extent. It makes me want to dive in even more to learn all I can about these events that are continuing to shape our country today.
Chris Brady said
Great post…excellent job of boiling down the history and how it applies today!
Barry Quinn said
Thank you for the great history lesson. History is a great teacher-are we willing to learn?
Catherine Crichlow said
How do you take away someone’s freedom? Make him forget he ever had it. The fact that people barely talk about documents like these in most public schools (which are controlled by government) says a lot about the direction in which this country is trying to head. People need the Mental Fitness Challenge because it’s one of the only ways we’re ever going relearn the principles that made us free in the first place. Thanks so much for posting this Orrin. Onward in victory!
Heather Woods said
What a great point, Catherine! I really appreciate the history lesson. I didn’t learn this in public school! But to see how freedom, as we understand it, had its beginnings centuries ago really helps me to appreciate what our Founders created for us. What kind of a government did they create? “A republic, if [we] can keep it!”
Red Eagles are First to Serve!
Mike Bouknight said
Great article. The more I learn about the foundation of our great nation, the more disturbed I am about what’s going on around us today.
Anthony Nieto said
I think the comment that “The only way to ensure freedom is to ensure knowledge, since a person is only as free as what he or she knows” is so powerful. In that we can turn the tide by just reading and associating. Changing what we know can do so much because we have control over it. Awesome Orrin, that is Faith in action.
Chuck said
Fantastic article. The more I read, the more I realize how much I don’t know (or have forgotten!). This was so informative and compelling. Just like the MFC is doing – postings such as this are helping me to feel like the cobwebs are being cleaned out, the energy is returning, a desire to live a life of purpose is gaining momentum. The vision of leaving a better tomorrow for the next generation is starting to feel like a very real idea.
wildtarg said
Wow. Quite informative and enlightening, Orrin. Many thanks for that summary!
Now to turn a corner… ;~
Comic Relief from Disney’s Robin Hood
XD