The Real Magna Carta

The Magna Carta of 1215 is celebrated globally as the foundation of modern liberties and rights for its stipulation of equality before the law and its placing of monarchs and rulers under it. However, significant as the 1215 charter is, the document sealed in June of that year between King John and his rebellious barons was a prototype, far from the final version set out in law. That came ten years later in 1225.

The 1215 text was not even named Magna Carta, but the Articles of the Barons. Its 63 clauses agreed between John and the barons arrayed against him did not survive much beyond two months, as the opposing forces were soon back at war with each other. Capitalising on the civil war in England a French invasion followed. John's death in October 1216 did not end the conflict, though a revised Articles of the Barons - with one-third of the original causes dropped - was issued in Bristol in November by the new king, Henry III, then only nine years old. It was only after the defeat of the barons and the expulsion of their French allies a year later that we arrive at 'Magna Carta', the 'Great Charter', when in November 1217 a further four clauses related to forest laws and rights were transferred to a new Charter of Forest Liberties. What was left, the larger part, became the Great Charter, marking the peace settlement at the end of the civil war. But Magna Carta still had one more stage in its evolution before achieving its final form. That came on 11 February 1225....<<<Read More>>>...