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Magna Carta being signed |
Magna Carta
In 1213 King John gave England to the Pope as a fiefdom. The barons and the English Church were outraged and they came together under the leadership of Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury. They acknowledged the laws of Henry I and in 1215 produced the Articles of the Barons and eventually the Magna Carta.
They aimed to protect the monarchy and nobility from any one king. The boldest of the barons and churchmen met at Runnymede, they had prepared a short document, which would become known as the Article of the Barons. They called on the king to attend. John arrived with the Papal legate, the Archbishop of Canterbury and several bishops and agreed to the terms set down.
The Charter establishes the rights of the whole landed class, it establishes a law which is above the king and which even he must not break.
The Charter did not solve the problems of the day. The barons were at war with each other and at war with the King.
KING JOHN I (1167-1216)- The youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine
- Rebelled against his father and his brother Richard I when it suited him
- Became King of England in 1199
- In 1203 believed to have murdered his nephew Arthur of Brittany who had a claim to both the English throne and the French provinces
- Lost all the French provinces to Philip August II of France in 1204
- In 1207 quarrelled with Pope Innocent III who imposed an interdict on England
- In 1213 made peace with the Pope by offering England as a Papal fiefdom this led the English barons and Church to draw up the Magna Carta which John accepted in 1215 though he had no intention of implementing it
- His reign ended with England at Civil War
There are four original drafts of the Magna Carta, the very parchment that was at Runnymede. Two are in the British Museum, one in Salisbury Cathedral and one in Lincoln Cathedral.
SOME OF THE 49 ARTICLES IN THE BARON'S CHARTER
- Article one
- After the death of their predecessors, heirs who are of full age shall have their inheritance on payment of the old relief, which is to be stated in the charter.
- Article six
- The king shall not grant any baron the right to take an aid from his free men, except for ransoming his person, for making his eldest son a knight and for once marrying his eldest daughter, and this he shall do by a reasonable aid.
- Article twelve
- That the measure for wine, corn and widths of cloth and other things to be improved; and so with weights.
- Article fourteen
- That no sheriff shall concern himself with pleas pertaining to the crown without coroners; and that counties and hundreds be at the old rents without any additional payment, except the king's demesne manors.
- Article twenty-one
- That neither the king nor his bailiff shall take another man's timber for castles or other works of his, except with the agreement of him whose timber it is.
- Article thirty four
- If anyone who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, dies before it is repaid, the debt shall not bear interest as long as the heir is under age, of whomsoever he holds; and if the debt falls into the hand of the king, the king shall not taken anything except the principal which is mentioned in the bond.
- Article thirty nine
- No free man shall be arrested or imprisoned or outlawed or exiled or victimised in any other way, neither will we attack him or send anyone to attack him, except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land.
- Article forty one
- And that the king remove foreign knights, mercenaries, cross-bowmen, routiers and sergeants, who come with horses and arms to the detriment of the kingdom.
- Article forty two
- That the king make justices, constables, sheriffs and bailiffs of such as know the law of the land and means to observe it well.
- Article forty-nine
- This is the form of security for the observance of the peace and liberties between the king and the kingdom.
 
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| 1199 | John I becomes King of England
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| 1200 | John marries Isabel of Angouleme
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| 1203 | Arthur of Brittany is murdered
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| 1204 | John loses French territories to Philip Augustus of France
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| 1207 | John refuses to accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of
Canterbury
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| 1207 | Papal interdict is imposed on England
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| 1213 | John offers the Pope England as a fiefdom
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| 1214 | Alexander II, king of Scots
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| 1215 | Barons force John to accept Magna Carta
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| 1216 | John dies
Henry III becomes king of England
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