Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Magna Carta (Encore)

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

In the early 13th century, England suffered through the worst monarch it would have in its history: King John. John and his arbitrary policies and high taxation angered the nobility, the church, and the common people.  However, out of his disastrous reign came something good. An uprising against his rule forced him to sign a document establishing fundamental principles of limited government, the rule of law, and individual rights, marking a crucial milestone in developing constitutional and legal frameworks. Learn more about the Magna Carta, how it came about, and its significance on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Sign up at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to get chicken breast, salmon or ground beef FREE in every order for a year plus $20 off your first order! Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Ben Long & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily. In the early 13th century, England suffered through the worst monarch it would see in its history, King John. John, in his arbitrary policies and high taxation, angered the nobility, the church, and the common people. However, out of his disastrous reign came something good. An uprising against his rule forced him to sign a document, establishing fundamental principles of limited government, the rule of law, and individual rights, marking a crucial milestone in the development of constitutional and legal theory. Learn more about the Megna Carta, how it came about and its significance on this episode

of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast. from NPR.

Before we get into what the Magna Carta is and its significance, it's important to understand why the Magna Carta was written in the first place and what the events were that brought it about. So let's go back to the very beginning in the year 1066. William, the Duke of Normandy, successfully invaded England, became the king of England known as William the Conqueror. He was succeeded by his two sons, William II and Henry I. After the death of Henry, it ushered in a period of civil strife known as the

Anarchy, which I've covered in a previous episode. King Stephen nominally ruled during this period, and after years of chaos, Henry II was agreed to by both sides as the heir to Stephen. Henry II was probably one of the greatest kings in the history of England. He was the first king of what became known as the Angevan Empire. Henry died in 1189 and was succeeded by his son Richard, better known as Richard the Lionheart. Richard was gone for much of his reign, having joined the Crusades. And while he was away, there was a rebellion against his rule by his brother, John. When Richard returned, he forgave John and appointed him as his heir. In 1199, Richard died from an infection caused by getting hit by a crossbow bolt in the shoulder. And after the death of

Richard, John became king. John was not the king that his brother and his father were. He was not a capable administrator, and he wasn't a great warrior. His claim to the throne was immediately challenged by his nephew, Arthur, who was the son of his deceased brother Jeffrey. Arthur was supported by the French king Philip II. It should be noted that at this time, the kings of England were really French nobles with extensive French land holdings, who also just so happened to be the kings of England. He managed to fend off the claim to the English throne, but within the first five years of his rule, John had lost much of the land that he held claim to in France, and this included almost all of Normandy and Brittany. Moreover, many of the nobles in England

also lost land that they had owned in France as well. John made it his mission to recapture the lands that he lost in France, and to do this he had to raise an army, which meant increasing taxes. The loss of land and the subsequent increase in taxes made him very unpopular with both the common folk and the nobility. On top of his problems with pretty much everybody in England, 1205 also saw the development of problems between him and the church. The Archbishop of Canterbury died in 1205, and John selected one of his allies as the new Archbishop.

The monks at Canterbury didn't want John's selection and elected their own Archbishop. The Pope, Innocent III, stepped in and invalidated the appointments made by the King and the monks and appointed his own man as Archbishop, Stephen Langdon. This angered John, so he banned Stephen from entering England and then proceeded to confiscate all of the assets of the Archbishopric of Canterbury. This raised the ire of members of the clergy in England, and when they complained, John seized their property too. In 1208, after further attempts by the Pope at trying to get John to recognize Langdon as the Archbishop failed,

Innocent III put a ban on church services in England, a ban that lasted six years. In 1209, the Pope then took the step of excommunicated King John, removing him from the Catholic Church. This had been done to other European rulers without much impact, but those rulers weren't as unpopular as John was. Over the next few years, John had limited success getting back land in Northumbria from Scotland and putting down a revolt by Irish nobles. However, the barons back in England were still never satisfied. This came to a head in 1213. He tried to get his barons on board to attack France, but they used

the excuse of his excommunication to just ignore him. As he was no longer part of the church, they claimed they had no legal or moral right to listen to him. So to rectify the problem, he went back to the Pope. He cut a date. deal where the Pope would remove the excommunication, and in exchange, John turned all of England into a papal fiefdom which he would run. Technically, he gave away the entire country to the Pope. He would provide the Pope an annual payment of 1,000 marks or 666 pounds, which covered both England and Ireland. This also provided compensation for all the lands and property that he had previously taken from the Church. With the issues of the Pope resolved, he created an alliance with the Holy

Roman Empire, attacked France, and lost at the Battle of Bouvene in 1214. The defeat to France emboldened many of the rebellious English barons, especially those in the north and east of England who owed John money. When John returned from France in 1215, the barons were an open rebellion. By May, many of them openly dissolved their allegiance to King John and marched on London and other major English cities. They captured London, Lincoln, and Exeter, which forced John to come to the negotiating table. An uprising of aristocratic landowners against their king was something that could have occurred in any part of the world.

What makes this event known as the first Barons War notable is that they weren't necessarily trying to kill or replace the king. What they sought were concessions from the king and limits placed on his power. King John had been painted into a corner. He ordered the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was sympathetic to the Barons, to arrange a meeting. On June 10th, 1215, John met with the Barons using Archbishop. Bishop Langdon is a moderator. They met in a marshy place called Runnymede, which was located approximately halfway between the Royal Forces and the Forces of the Barons. John was presented a list of demands which were called the Articles of the Barons. Over the course of several days, both sides negotiated,

and on June 15th, John signed the charter. The document primarily outlined the rights of free men, which at that time really just meant landowning nobility. The document primarily deals with taxes, inheritance, rights to a fair trial, the independence of the church, and limits on royal authority. It also created a council of 25 barons to monitor the conduct of King John and confiscate his property in the event that he broke the agreement. The document was supposed to act as a peace treaty between the two sides, and in that respect, it failed miserably. John had no intention of honoring the agreement. When Pope Innocent III found out about it, he declared it to be invalid and annulled it. Within three months, the two sides were at war again.

However, the reign of King John was to be short-lived. In 1216, he contracted dysentery and died on October 19th. The end of King John, however, was not the end of the document that he signed in 1215. John was succeeded by Henry III, who was only nine years old. His regent was the great knight William Marshall, on whom I've done a previous episode. Marshall also happened to be one of the more loyal supporters of King John, but also signed the document of the Barons. In order to placate the Barons, Henry, but in reality, William, issued a new version of the

charter eliminating a few of the clauses in the original. Another charter was issued in 1217, based on the 1215 Charter with some changes, and an associated charter which was known as the Charter of the Forest was issued, which dealt with offenses in Royal Forest. It was in 1225 that the 1215 Charter became known for the first time as the Magna Carta. or the Great Charter. The big question now was if Henry III was going to honor the charter once he became of age. Many royal supporters believed the charter to be invalid because King John had been forced to sign it.

However, Henry agreed to honor the charter. He reissued the charter in 1253 as a concession to raise taxes from his barons. And likewise, in 1297, Edward I first reissued the charter of 1225, also in return for a new tax. This was the last time that the Magna Carta was reissued, and by the reign of Edward I, it had become established law. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Magna Carta was appealed to and cited in courts as established law. The importance of the Magna Carta isn't in the actual document, and the rights it spelled out for English nobility. It was the fact that it was a written document that placed limits on the power of a monarch, who up until that time had powers that were

considered to be pretty much absolute. It was the first written constitution in European history that established rights of any kind, even if they were mostly for the rights of the nobility. The Magna Carta of 1215, and the Council of Barron served as a precursor for the English Parliament, which was to be established soon after. What most people don't realize is that the Magna Carta of 1225, the final version of the charter, written in Latin, is still technically part of British law. However, over the years, almost all of the clauses in the Magna Carta have been superseded by subsequent legislation. Yet there are three clauses in the Magna Carta, which are still valid law. However, those three clauses are so vaguely worded as that they have

no real standing. The relevant clauses still in effect are the first, ninth, and the 29th. For example, the first clause establishes the independence of the Church of England, which means something completely different today than it did back when it was written in 1215. The Magna Carta was used as inspiration for subsequent political documents, including the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. Elements of it can also be found in the founding documents of other former British territories such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. There were 13 physical copies of the Magna Carta which were issued in 1215. Seven were released in June and six more later in the year. Currently, there are only four surviving

copies of the 1215 Magna Carta. Two copies are held by the British Library, one at Salisbury Cathedral, and the fourth one is on display at Lincoln Castle, on permanent loan from Lincoln Cathedral. The Lincoln Cathedral copy was actually on display at the 1939 World's Fair in New York and at the Library of Congress. Winston Churchill considered giving it to the United States as a gift to help bring them into World War II, but the Lincoln Cathedral refused to give it up. These are not the only copies of the Magna Carta that exists, however. There is one copy of the 1216 version which can be found at the Durham Cathedral. There are four copies of the 1225 Magna Carta. They're held by Durham Cathedral, the British Library, the British National Archives, and Oxford University. There are only two copies

of the Magna Carta which are outside of England. Both copies are from the 1297 issue of the charter. One is in Australia on display at the Parliament House in Canberra. The other copy was held by the Brudanel family in England for years, who held the earldom of Cardigan. They sold the document to the Perot Foundation in 1984, who then sold it to U.S. businessman David Rubinstein in 2007 for $21.3 million. That version is currently on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The Magnicarta is unquestionably one of the most important political documents in history, even if it didn't seem like it at the time. Many of the clauses in the document probably wouldn't, past modern scrutiny.

Nonetheless, the Magna Carta set the stage for the idea of a written constitution, which is an idea that changed the world. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Benji Long and Cameron Kiever. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon, including the show's producers. Your support helps me put out a show every single day. And also, Patreon is currently the only place where Everything Everywhere Daily merchandise

is available to the top tier of supporters. If you'd like to talk to other listeners of the show and members of the Completionist Club, you can join the Everything Everywhere Daily Facebook group or Discord server. Links to everything are in the show notes.