Introduction


King John of England, whose tyrannical rule led to the creation of the Magana Carta (© Corbis).
King John of England is known for his greed, his wickedness, and his persecution of the legendary Robin Hood. Paradoxically, he is also directly responsible for one of the most revolutionary documents ever published: the Magna Carta. As a result of King John’s despotic rule, the English barons revolted, forcing him to guarantee a number of personal rights and privileges. John signed the document only under duress and never intended to follow it. The Magna Carta articulated for the first time many of the liberties that democratic nations hold to be sacrosanct today. It stipulated that the king himself was beholden to the law, and no longer could free men be arrested and punished without cause. Much of the thought of the Magna Carta lives on in the U.S. Constitution.

Essential Facts

  1. The Magna Carta was sealed by King John on June 15, 1215. However, the clauses that made up the document were reissued with changes many times throughout the later Middle Ages and into modern times.
  2. The original Magna Carta contained 63 clauses, many of which are not relevant today, but clause 39 still resonates loudly: “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement [sic] of his equals or by the law of the land.”
  3. While today the term “free men” would be considered to refer to most of the men (and women) of the land, in 1215 the term referred to only one-quarter of the population. The rest were neither free nor male.
  4. Clause 12 stated that no “scutage,” or tax, should be levied without the general consent of the population. This appears in the U.S. Constitution as the concept of “no taxation without representation.”
  5. King John did not even allow the wax to grow cold on his seal before writing to the Pope asking him to be absolved of his promises. Soon after, John died and his son, Henry III, was made king. The Magna Carta was confirmed in his name.