A peace treaty more than a constitution
Magna Carta, Latin for “Great Charter,” was sealed by King John of England in June 1215, traditionally dated to the fifteenth, at Runnymede beside the Thames. It is now one of the most famous documents in English history, but when it was issued it was an emergency settlement in a quarrel between a king and a group of his barons. The text addressed grievances of that moment. Its fame as a statement of rights came later, which is discussed elsewhere on this site.
The background: a king in trouble
John became king in 1199 after the death of his brother Richard the Lionheart. Several problems built up during his reign.
Loss of lands in France. Around 1204, King Philip II of France captured Normandy and other territories that English kings held in France. Barons who held lands on both sides of the Channel lost estates, and John spent years trying to recover them. His campaign ended in failure after the allied defeat at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, where his allies fought against the French king.
Heavy financial demands. Warfare was expensive. John raised money in many ways, including scutage (a payment in place of military service), taxes on movable property, fines and the sale of favors. Barons complained that demands were arbitrary and heavy, and that debts to the crown were used to put pressure on them. The money-raising demands were a major part of the feudal obligations owed to a lord, and the barons said John pushed them beyond custom.
Disputes with the Church. John quarreled with Pope Innocent III over the choice of Archbishop of Canterbury. The pope placed England under an interdict in 1208, which restricted church services, and later excommunicated John. The dispute was settled around 1213, when John accepted the pope’s candidate, Stephen Langton, and made England a papal fief. Langton later played a role in the baronial negotiations.
Harsh treatment of individuals. Chroniclers recorded stories of John imprisoning or ruining nobles, and of his suspicious temper. Historians caution that the sources were often hostile, but the sense that the king was unpredictable is broadly agreed.
The road to rebellion
After the defeat in France, John returned to England in 1214 and tried to collect more money. In the spring of 1215, a group of barons, mostly from the north and east, renounced their homage, and then took London, a major prize. Negotiations followed, with churchmen including Langton acting as intermediaries. The barons produced a list of demands, sometimes associated with a document known as the Articles of the Barons, which formed a basis for the charter.
The king agreed to terms in mid-June 1215. The charter was issued as a royal grant, sealed by John. It was not signed in the modern sense, and it was a long Latin text, later divided by editors into numbered clauses, 63 in the usual modern numbering. The original had no numbers.
What it said
The charter covered many subjects, and much of it dealt with technical matters of feudal law.
- Reliefs and inheritance. Limits on the sums an heir had to pay to take over land from the king, so the crown could not demand arbitrary amounts.
- Widows and wards. Protection for widows, including the right not to be forced to remarry, and rules on the guardianship of heirs who were minors.
- Debts and the Jews. Provisions on debts owed to moneylenders, which touched on Jewish moneylending, as the crown benefited from such debts.
- Taxation. A clause stated that certain extra payments could not be imposed without the “common counsel of the realm,” meaning a council of leading men.
- Justice. Promises not to sell, deny or delay justice, and that no free man should be imprisoned or deprived of property except by lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. This has often been quoted since.
- The Church. The English Church was to be free, with its rights respected.
- London and merchants. Confirmation of the liberties of London and other towns, and protections for merchants.
- Royal forests. Limits on the extension of forest law, which was widely resented.
- Enforcement. A committee of twenty-five barons was authorized to monitor the king’s conduct and, if necessary, seize royal property to force compliance.
Notice who was addressed. Most provisions were aimed at the rights of barons, clergy and “free men,” who were a minority, and not the whole population. Many peasants were unfree and were not covered in the way free men were.
Why it failed at once
The settlement did not last. John had agreed under pressure and soon appealed to Pope Innocent III, who, as John’s feudal overlord, annulled the charter in August 1215, calling it extracted by force and damaging to the king’s rights. The barons, for their part, did not trust John, and the security committee was an extraordinary arrangement that no king would accept for long. Fighting resumed, in what is known as the First Barons’ War. Some rebels invited Prince Louis of France to take the English throne, and he landed with troops.
King John died in October 1216 while the war was still unresolved. His young son Henry III was crowned, and the regency government that ruled for the child reissued the charter in modified form to win back rebels. That is where the charter’s longer story begins, and it is covered in the article on its later versions.
What historians say
Scholars debate how far Magna Carta was new. Some of its terms repeat earlier promises, including a coronation charter issued by Henry I in 1100. Others argue its significance lay in the idea that a king himself was subject to law, and could be called to account by his subjects. Many agree that, in 1215, the charter was largely a failure as a peace deal and that its later influence grew out of repeated reissue and reinterpretation. That longer reputation, including how much of it is myth, is explored in the article on the later reissues.
Summary
The 1215 charter was the product of a king’s military failure, heavy financial pressure and a dispute with the pope. It tried to define limits on royal power in feudal terms, and it was annulled within weeks. Its later fame is a different story from its immediate effect.