The Magna Carta

The Magna Carta, (which literally means Great Paper), was created by the English barons in 1215. It was intended to help limit and restrict the power that the Kings of England had over the people. Specifically Prince John at the time of its creation. Though it didn't exactly accomplish what the people of England desired, it has influenced the government of many countries, and even attributed to United States Constitution. 

Prince John was crowned in the early 13th century. Soon afterwards problems started arising. When John's father Richard, died, he held a lot of the Anjou territory. Yet John had to get approval from Philip Augustus, King of France, to get it. John might have succeeded, except that he married one of his vassal's fianc. His vassal appealed to Philip, who after hearing this, announced Arthur, John's brother, the rightful King of England. Philip then started taking back the French territories. This lost John the approval of his French barons, and also made his subjects back in England mad by losing one of their main sources of income. 

King John needed money if he was going to start a war and win back the French territories. However, because John had lost much of the French land, he would have to higher taxes on his already unhappy barons. 

Then the next incident that happened involved the church. The country was still trying to figure out how to elect the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Usually it would be the King who would pick the monarch, with the approval of the monks. Yet this time the bishops wanted a say. They picked a man, but Prince John didn't like him and picked a different one. Pope Innocent the III didn't like either of these choices and picked Stephen Lagton as his choice. Yet John refused, and had all the monks banished. However, after the Pope excommunicated John, then encouraged Philip to invade England, John backed down and agreed to the Popes choice, and also brought back all the monks. 

Yet by this time the barons were tired of John and his poorly run Kingdom and they decided to do something about it. On June 10 1215 the barons marched into the city, and forced John to agree to the "Articles of the Barons", which his seal was placed upon in the meadow of Runnymede. It was then sent out to all the sheriffs and royal bishops throughout England. This document was the original Magna Carta with 41 articles. There was a very important clause for the barons among these 41 articles. It was clause number 61. It stated that a committee of 25 barons could meet at any time and over rule the Kings will. It also said that the King had to take an oath of loyalty to the committee. This one clause basically striped John of any power he had as King. It made him King in name only. However the Pope did not approve of the document and a few months later released John from his oath to the committee. 

The next year in 1216 Prince John died and his son Henry the III became King. Henry's regentis reissued Magna Carta in November of that same year, taking out some clauses like number 61. It was reissued again in 1217, then once again in 1225 after Henry Turned 18. He had edited it, and made shorter with only 37 articles. When Henry III died in 1272, Magna Carta had become a solid part of the English legal precedent. Later Henry's son Edward I's Parliament reissued Magna Carta for the final time in 1297. 
 
 

Most people think that Magna Carta is a single document, the one of 1215. However different amended versions were issued throughout the middle ages. The one reissued in 1297 is the version, which is on the statute books of England and Wales. Though the document didn't limit the Kings of England very much in the Middle Ages, by the time the English Civil War rolled around, it had become an important symbol to those who wished to show the King that he as well as they, were bound by the law. Since then Magna Carta has contributed to the creation of many constituitions and laws. It has helped in the development of governments all over. It is amazing to think that so much good can come out of something that was intended to only prohibit a reckless King from whittling the country down to nothing at all. How appropriate that Magna Carta means "Great Paper" Yet it was more than just a "great paper." It was a great paper, filled with miraculous words that have helped to shape English nation and the world.