The
Magna Carta of 1215 was a significant document not only to England but to the
rest of world as well. In legal circles,
it is always used as a model in drafting related like documents. What is Magna Carta? How did it come into being? What is the importance of this document? These are just some of the questions ordinary
people would like to know. Let us discover
the history of Magna Carta in order to find the answers to these questions.
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It was a volatile year for England
during the reign of King John in 1215.
The barons were restless and demanded for the king to be replaced. The state of chaos was brought upon by the
King engaging in losing wars, quarreling with the church, demanding heavy
taxation, and acting above the Church and common law. Some of the barons staged an uprising against
the king with the help of the Church and some royalty in Europe. The problem was that there was not a single
person who was qualified to succeed King John.
The barons changed their strategy. Instead
of demanding the King to remove himself from the throne, they drafted an oath which outlined the limit
of King John’s powers and insisted that the king agree to it. Initially, the King was adamant to cooperate
with the baron; there were negotiations and arbitration with the mediation of
Pope Innocent II. On June 15, 1215, the
barons made King John accept the document which was known in later years as the
“Article of the Barons.” However, King
John made a turn around and reneged on the agreement by offering his
recognition of the Pope’s authority. The Pope declared the document as null and
void.
As a result, the barons revolted and
England went into civil war. Since there
was no direct qualified descendant from the lineage of King John, the barons
offered the crown to King Louis of France despite the fact that England and
France were at war with each other. It
was only when King John died that the attention reverted back to the document
and prevented more wars. King John was
succeeded by his 9 year old son who became King Henry III. After which, Guala Bicchieri, a papal legate
at that time declared a holy war on the Barons and the King of France and he
issued the Charter of Liberties to pre-empt the rebels.
As a concession, the Charter of
Liberties was reissued and the barons made amendments and a separate charter
for Ireland. In order to differentiate
separate charters, the term Magna Carta Libertatum was used to different the
larger document from its complementary charters. When King Henry III reached the age of
maturity, he reissued a shorter version of Magna Carta and declared that
succeeding documents would bear his seal.
In 1237, the charters were approved.
Over the years, the Magna Carta was revised and amended.
Contributed by Alden I. Bula who maintains two blogs: www.aldenbula.wordpress.com and www.denal.wordpress.com.
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