The history of the of the Magna Carta has been given a somewhat romantic slant over the years. For generations, the picture in most people's minds has been the one they were given during their school days, which tends to go as follows:

'It was a fine day, there is a large open fronted tent with trees behind with a table set within. Behind the table is a seated man with an angry expression surrounded by several men pointing at a document the angry looking man is signing'.

However there is much more to it than that. The angry looking man is, in fact King John, the unwilling participant in this affair, the lookers-on his rebellious barons. The tent is sited in a meadow at Runnymede, near Staines in Surrey, England. The document is the famous Magna Carta - the charter of privileges. It was signed in the following way, 'given by our hand in the meadow which is called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines on the 15th day of June in the 17th, year of our reign.'¹

The Great of the kingdom, the most powerful men in England, were there to witness the signing.

Magna Carta

As a document it is now fondly regarded as a statement of the rights and liberties of the common man.
The last words of the first paragraph make it clear to whom the Magna Carta addressed:

'To all free men of our kingdom we have also granted, for us and our heirs for ever, all the liberties written out below, to have and to keep for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs.'

It is clear that the common man did not get a mention at all; it simply did not apply unless one was a freeman and/or a landowner. In the 1100's, very few people were in fact 'free men' at all, It was addressed in particular;

'To the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, foresters, sheriffs, prevosts, serving men, and to all his bailiffs and faithful subjects" the common man, villeins and serfs are conspicuously and deliberately omitted.

There is little of the law in the Magna Carta; more a list of grievances the nobility had with the Crown. The first draft was called the 'Articles of the Barons'. However the Magna Carta did establish the principal that the power of the king could be limited.

Scholars speculate that the Magna Carta may have been a document compiled in some haste and edited to reflect many different points of view. The document is constructed with 63 clauses, and included clauses to free the hostages of the Scottish and Welsh kingdoms. These were members of the royal families held by the English Crown.

Clause 58. 'We shall straightway return the son of Llewelin and all the Welsh hostages, and the charters delivered to us as surety for the peace'.
Clause 59. "We shall act towards Alexander king of the Scots regarding the restoration of his sisters, and his hostages, and his liberties and his lawful right, as we shall act towards our other barons of England; unless it ought to be otherwise according to the charters which we hold from William, his father, the former king of the Scots. And this shall be done through judgment of his peers in our court".

There was also an attempt in Magna Carta to set standards of weights and measures in England, particularly for wine, ale, corn and cloth.

Clause 35. "There shall be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm, and one measure of ale and one measure of corn--namely, the London quart;--and one width of dyed and resset and hauberk cloths--namely, two ells below the selvage. And with weights, moreover, it shall be as with measures".

All the common people got out of Magna Carta was the legend of 'Robin Hood' - a product of the time, a man who was supposed to have stood against the king's injustice on behalf of the people²; and a document that would make no difference to them until the abolition of the feudal system.

The Feudal System

Most of the population were peasants, and very few peasants were free men - they were better than slaves, but not much. Peasants who were not free men were either :

villeins:

The largest group of the population landless peasants slaves in all but name who could have the land sold from under them.

Serfs:

A tenant farmer of sorts with a commitment to work on his lord's land, 4 out of the 6 days of the week without pay for the use of their land, (church was an obligation on Sunday). The could not leave the land without permission, they could be sold and forced to leave the land.

The main reason for the existence of both classes was labour. They were also obliged to provided oxen, ploughs and tools as required (use their own equipment).They also had to work 'boon days' seven additional days a year chosen at random

The great men of the kingdom who were called to witness the signing was a selection of the most powerful men in England: 11 churchmen and 16 powerful landowners.

The most influential and powerful man of all was probably Brother Aymeric of The Knights Templar.³ The Knights Templar were a religious military order, established during the crusades in 1096. They had property and held military and financial power in every European country at this time. They were distinguished by their white surcoat and shield which on which there was a red cross.⁴

Witnessed For The Church

Witnessed For The State

King John A Short History

The youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, John was born on Christmas Eve 1167. The youngest of four brothers, he was called 'Lackland' due to his poor prospects of getting land.

John was not entitled to any lands of his own, these had already been endowed to his three older brothers, of which Richard (the 'Lionheart') was the best known. It looked like John's fate would lie with the Church.

In 1183, his eldest brother Henry died and John was offered some of the lands of Aquitaine. The next in succession Geoffrey died in a tournament in 1186, that made Richard king in his turn. In March of 1199, Richard died at the castle of Chalus, he was attacking it at the time, and an archer on the walls was lucky saw his chance and shot Richard, it was a mortal wound. John was now King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjuo. It is forgoten now but he made a good start as the King and things went well.

He married Isabella of Gloucester in 1200, and after a short period had the marriage annulled and married Isabella of Angouleme. The fact she was engaged did not seem to matter. Now things started to go wrong for John. The French possessions of the English Crown, Normandy, and lands in the west of France were by far⁶ their most important assets. And they were now under threat from the French Crown.

The Five Month War

His grandfather, King Henry I had left John a 'Charter of Liberties' put forward by the barons about one hundred years previously. John did not agree with this, and he was also in the process of loosing Normandy and his holdings in the west of France. To support this war, the demands on the people were huge.

In January 1215, a group of barons sought to remind John of the 'charter of liberties' as a safeguard against the King's behaviour. Lord Robert Fitz Walter⁷ was the leader supported by Saire de Quincey, Eustace de Vesciand and others. This uprising had nothing to do with the ordinary people who could never have raised a force of 2,000 knights.

For a month they chased John from Northampton, to Bedford, to Stamford, to Brackley, to Oxford. Here on April 27th, the barons delivered their 'Articles of the Barons'.

At Wallingford on May 5th, the barons renounced their allegiance to King John.
Fitzwalter was made their leader, and they moved to, and captured London in May 1215.
John was cornered at Windsor Castle in early June, and by 10th of June, was forced meet the Barons and hold negotiations at Runnymede, a meadow by the River Thames.

John left for Runneymede from his castle at Odiham in Hampshire, he spent the night before signing Magna Carta here.
It is thought that Brother Aymeric, master of the Templars was part of his retinue.⁸. The Magna Carta was signed on the 15th June, and on 19th June, the rebels again swore allegiance to the King. All except John's loyal supporter. Gerard de Athyes who did not need to and was singled out by the Barons for mention in Magna Carta.

Clause 50. We shall entirely remove from their bailiwicks the relatives of Gerard de Athyes, so that they shall henceforth have no bailwick in England: Engelard de Cygnes, Andrew Peter and Gyon de Chanceles, Gyon de Cygnes, Geoffrey de Martin and his brothers, Philip Mark and his brothers, and Geoffrey his nephew, and the whole following of them.

Clause 51. And straightway after peace is restored we shall remove from the realm all the foreign soldiers, crossbowmen, servants, hirelings, who may have come with horses and arms to the harm of the realm.

The Six Months That Was Forgotten

Now because of John's excommunication and his deal with the Pope, England technically belonged to Pope Innocent III,⁹ and as John was his vassal and this was a rebellion On September 24th, 1215, the Barons were now excommunicated and the Magna Carta was declared invalid.

The Barons attempted to put Magna Carta into action, this ended in a fight. A war broke out between Jonh and the Barons, The Barons took and held London and the surrounding country, (although John had promised London it's own charter, and other powers,in exchange for their loyalty, the Londoners opened the gates to the rebels, giving them a massively influential stronghold.). John held power over the rest of England and the castles of :

The French Invasion

John looked although needed military support as on May 21st 1215, a French army landed at Stanhope and Louis the Dauphin of France landed at Sandwich and marched to London, they had taken John’s French lands, now it looked like it was time to finish the task.
John fell back to Winchester and they moved to Windsor just before the Dauphin laid siege to the city. Dover fell in October. A French army of 35,000 now held London and the Home Counties and would for about a year.

Now for a short time, things started to turn in John’s favour. The Pope excommunicated Louis Dauphin, as the French were about to invade papal territory. Moreover, John made headway in his war with the French. However, On October.9th, John stopped at Lynn (now known as Kings Lynn) here he fell ill with dysentery. He managed to move to his Castle Newark where on October 18th, he died. He was buried in Worcester Cathedral.

London was still held by the French and the Barons who were now subjects of the French King.

As Henry III was to young to rule, William Marshall was appointed Regent of England. He created a powerful army to face the French. He lured the French north to Lincoln where it was defeated so thoroughly that the French surrendered.

At Runnymede in 1217, the French Dauphin signed the peace and left England, it is said he sailed from Portchester Castle in Hampshire. And Henry III was now the King of England. Henry III reissued the Magna Carta in 1216 in an attempt to prevent the son of Philip of France replacing him as King of England. (Their claims to the throne were said to be equally valid). A year later in 1217,
At Runnymede the French Dauphin signed the peace and left England. There was a third version of the Magna Carta issued in 1225, this was the document eventually ratified in 1295.

The Magna Carta contained the first establishment in law of 'habius corpus', (Its full name is habeas corpus ad subjiciendum – Latin for "you may hold the body subject to examination") it is the law which states that you can't arrest someone unless you charge them with something. This is one of our few legacies from the Magna Carta.

Magna Carta, demanded, fought over, declared invalid by a Pope and practically of no use to any one but the Barons, revised and shortened by Henry III and reissued in 1295 was consigned to history to be forgotten, or was it?

Echoes of the Magna Carta can be found in these documents

The Constitution of the United States.

The United States Bill of Rights.

The Constitution of the State of Maryland.

The United Nations Charter.

Runnymede Meadow Today

Runnymede meadow today is a pleasant place, large grassy area in a loop of the Thames flanked by the A308 Windsor Road. There is little to see or do¹¹ so take a picnic and soak up the atmosphere, and try to imagine the events of history over the noise of the traffic.