King John and Magna Carta

King John and Magna Carta

1. About the Charter

   • Latin for 'great charter', smaller charter about forests issued around the same time, this distinguished between the two.
     • Greatness is retrospective.
   • 63 clauses, some of which are still around today.
   • A legal document that acted as a peace treaty and intended to place the king under a degree of legal restraint.
     • Civil war broke out again three months later.
   • 1st written constitution in European history.
   • Copies sent out to all English counties, 4 still remain.
   • No royal signature but is sealed with royal seal.
   • Gillingham: the famous document in English history.
   • King could no longer impose new taxes without a degree of consent.
     • Could no longer arbitrarily arrest subjects.
   • Product of rebellion, John had lost London, so was forced to negotiate.

2. How did Magna Carta come into existence?

   • John was hated for his failures and regarded as a criminal.
   • in 1204 he lost all Plantagenet lands in France to Philip Augustus and failed to recapture them
     • Military defeat was unkingly as it was his duty to protect England. It was interpreted that god had lost favour for the king.
   • Disappearance of his nephew, Arthur of Brittany.
     • Was captured after rebelling against John, disappeared and was murdered.
     • Tainted reputation, he was regarded with distrust and distaste.
   • John had abandoned his first wife and married Isabelle of Anglouleme- Scandal.
   • Drove hard bargains, went after enemies.
   • Wanted to restore the good old laws of Henry I.
   • Dispute with papacy and excommunication.

3. Aftermath

   • Controversial as it gave power to barons if the charter was violated: PROVISIONS OF OXFORD.
     • John died the next year.
   • Gillingham: "Highly successful total failure."
   • August 1215: Condemned by the Papacy.
     • Reissued in the early years of Henry's reign, this time it worked as it was a manifesto of good rule rather than a forced treaty of peace.
       • Was voluntary this time.
     • Papal legate did sign reissues in Henry's reign.