h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Magna Carta - A13674396
Author: bobstafford - U3151547

please comment

This will be an interesting and useful addition to the Guide, bs.

A few things I noticed:

They were also obliged to provided oxen, ploughs and tools as required'. > provide


All double quoitation marksa should be single quotation marks (i.e "quotation marks"> 'quotation marks')

In your FOOTNOTES, villain > villein.

Might be worth stating that the finest of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta is held at Salisbury Cathedral.

with this.

Oh, and I noticed a 'Runnymede' spelt 'Runymede'

One of the most enduring aspects of the Magna Carta was the foundations it laid for our judicial system - jury trials, writs, etc - that probably needs a section to itself.

Are the lists of names in the middle the signatories? It's not clear.

Wasn't it revised and shortened by Henry III and reissued in 1925 - probably worth a mention?

A few typos, you may wish to run a spellcheck.

"Scholars claim that the Magna Carta appears to have been a document compiled in some haste and reflected many different points of view." do you have a source for that. [aside - it made me smile in a cynical way... how little has changed.]

The footnote police may be after you; I think some of the footnotes could certainly be worked into the main text, eg clause quotes should probably be part of the main article and 'blockquouted'.

-s

Hi bobstafford,

Yours is an interesting summary, in light vein, of Magna Carta which gives the layman the basic flavour of the document and its provisions.
Some years ago, when visiting Salisbury Cathedral, I bought a copy of the booklet by Daphne I. Stroud, M.A.(Paul Cave Publications, published in association with the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury). The Charter is translated from the Latin by W. S. McKechnie and is, in my opinion, a joy to read if one likes the old legalese, as I do myself.
Stroud gives a comprehensive historical background to the document, and the reasons for its drafting.
It is stated that the story of Magna Carta is fascinating not only to Britons but also to the Americans, as certain provisions and clauses of the U.S. Declaration of Independence are taken from its tract.
You could expand this a little, and put in some (just a few) of the more 'surprising' and interesting provisions of Magna Carta. I read it through from time to time for the sheer pleasure of the prose.

Hi Al
I have done that. Any more?

Hi bobstafford

Your links section needs reworking (they're not hyperlinks for a start), I'll do it so you can delete what you have and copy mine because it's a bit complicated

Remove:
Links header

http://>www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/magna.html

http://www.thornr.demon.co.uk/kchrist/templars.html

http://www.robinhood.ltd.uk/robinhood/index.html

Magna Carta web links, there is a huge nunber just type 'Magna Carta' and press go and take your pick.<--- this is unnecessary as you can assume most people will know how to use a search engine


Between your and tags:


The Magna CartaThe Knights TemplarsRobin Hood


When you have updated, the "links" section won't show, but those links you have provided will appear in the "referenced sites" section on the right of your entry. If you add more links later type them remembering the LINK HREF prefix unless it's a H2G2 entry in which case it would be I made this up

I did a quick search of BBC History and found this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/magna_01.shtml
which I suggest you add to the references

GB

In the list of people 'For the Church', 'Archbishop' and 'Bishop' need to start with capital letters. There are several instance of this.

BTW, if you put 'Wiltshire' after #Salisbury Cathedral, you can then link to my Entry on Wiltshire at A6672468.

Those URL's you've put under 'LINKS' haven't hyperlinked.

This is because you need to put them between and Tags; and these go between and at the end of your Entry.

You won't see these URL's until the Entry has entered the Edited Guide. ?

Post 7, Big Al

Hi Bob,

Noticed a couple of little things:

'great of the kingdom'

Great what?


'landowner. 2'

Don't need a space by your footnote

'The largest group of the population landless peasants slaves in all but name who could be sold from the land.'

This sentence needs work, it probably needs punctuation in a couple of places and maybe 'sold from the land' is a bit confusing. Perhaps:
'The largest group of the population- landless peasants, slaves in all but name who could have the land sold from under them.;
Or something?

'The could not leave the land without permission, nor could they be sold and forced to leave the land.'

They could not?
and...
Nor could they be sold? Don't you mean they could be sold?

Is it four days a week, I thought it was less. Either way- did you know they also had to do 'boon days' something like seven additional days a year chosen at random. That's not really a great fact is it?

'Temple.6They'

space before they. Do you mean Kight Templar?

'far 9'm

space again.

Got as far as the five month war, I'll read the rest later, but this a good entry- well done!

Oops GB.

S'ok BigAl

Another history link for you to add, bob:

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page64.asp

Re post 12 "The Great of the Kingdom" refers to the most powerful lords of the land.

Haven't actually read it so far, but I will do and provide some feedback later.

In which case Great should have a capital G. Would 'great and the good of the kingom' be clearer or am I just being thick again?

Hi benjaminpmoore
I need to check the ratio of work days, the boon days I had missed thanks added in text.
bs

Time for a first poke at it...

"The last words of the first paragraph make it clear to whom the Magna Carta addressed:"

consider changing this to clauses? Using the word paragraph might tlead to confusion with the preamble to the clauses. The words are at the end of the first clause, not the first paragraph of the document.

"In 1183, his eldest brother Henry died and John was offered the lands of Aquitaine."

Not sure, but I thought Acquitaine was to go to Richard, either before or after Henry died, through the political maneuvering of his mother.

Why nothing re the political background between 1200 and 1215, the time that led up to the rebellion of the northern lords that brought about the Magna Carta (even why they chose this form, rather than the (traditionlly) easier means of killing John, and placing someone else on the throne).

"The Barons took and held London and the surrounding country, John held the rest of England and the castles of :"

Would it be worth noting here, that although John had promised London it's own charter, and other powers, to stay loyal, the Londoners opened the gates to the rebels, giving them a massively influential stronghold.

Why no mention of the fact that Henry III reissued the Magna Carta in 1216 in an attempt to preved the son of Philip of France replacing him as King of England. (Their claims to the throne were of a close quality), or that the third version of the Magna Carta (1225) was the one eventually ratified in 1295?

I'm sorry if it seems I'm digging holes in it, what's there is a good piece of work.

Hi

Done 90% of that please review and comment see if it feels right.
>"In 1183, his eldest brother Henry died and John was offered the lands of Aquitaine."< We must have conflicting information....

>Why nothing re the political background between 1200 and 1215, the time that led up to the rebellion of the northern lords that brought about the Magna Carta (even why they chose this form, rather than the (traditionlly) easier means of killing John, and placing someone else on the throne).< Looking for a way to fit it in.....

any suggestions...

bs

'ould have the land sold from under them'

Could?

'The could not leave the land without permission, nor could they be sold and forced to leave the land.'

Don't you mean that they could be sold and / or turfed of the land (the latter practise was commonly known as 'serfing and turfing')

'To support this war, so the demands on the people of England were huge.'

Do you mean 'to support the war, the deamnds on people were huge'?

'remind of the 'charter '

Redmind John of the charter?

'meet and hold negotiations at Runnymede'

Meet the barons?

'Hampshire,he'

space after the comma

'master of the Templers'

Templars

'ecept Johns loyal supporter.'

E(x)cept John(')s loyal supporter

'Johns right hand'

John's, again

'Johns excommunication'

John's

'country,(although'

space after the comma

'to stay loyal'

Maybe 'in exchange for their loyalty' would work better? I think it's a little confusing as it is

'Dauphin' you need to explain who he is

'Jhon's favorite castle)'

John's favo(u)rite castle

'things started to turn in John's favor'

favo(u)r

' The pope excommunicated

Pope?

'stopped Lynn'

stoppeed at Lynn? Is this the place that is now known as Kings Lynn, and is so, maybe you should mention it?

'French Dauphin singed the peace'

Signed. Or did he in fact sing it. I hope he did

'attempt to preved the son of Philip'

prevent?

'Their claims to the throne were of a close quality'

what does 'close quality' mean?

'singed the peace and left England.'

Signed again. or sang

' was a the third version of the '

'loose either 'a' or 'the'

'declared in valid by a Pope'

invalid is one word

'Echo’s of the Magna Carta'

Echoes

Mostly typos, really.
It might be worth mentioning that the Magna Carta contained, I believe, the first 'habius corpus' (excuse my spelling), the law which states that you can't arrest someone without having to charge them with something. This, I think, is not only one of our few legacies from the Magna Carta, but aslo especially pertinent as it seems under some threat these days.

Good work, very thorough and detailed. Just the kind of entry the Magna Carta deserves.