Fun and/or useful links and additional materials:
Documentaries:
Monarchy
Narrated and written by Professor David Starkey
ASIN: B003AND1SM
Available on Netflix and Amazon Instant Video
A History of Britain
Narrated and written by Simon Schama
ASIN: B003K025Z0
Available on Netflix and Amazon Instant Video
Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor
Includes accompanying hardcover text, edited by Randy J. Holland
Link: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/magna-carta-muse-and-mentor/magna-carta-inculture.html
King John and Magna Carta in Popular Culture
Link: http://www.magnacartacanada.ca/king-john-and-magna-carta-in-popular-culture/
Essays:
Joshua Rozenberg: Magna Carts in the Modern Age, The British Library
Link: http://magnacarta800th.com/articles/magna-carta-in-the-modern-age/
Carolyn Harris, King John and Magna Carta in Popular Culture
Link: http://www.royalhistorian.com/king-john-and-magna-carta-in-popular-culture/
Modern America and Magna Carta
And a few other interesting texts (focusing on Magna Carta in mass and/or popular
culture and contemporary politics):
Magna Carta and its Modern Legacy
Robert Hazell and James Melton
Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781107533103
Link to Cambridge University Press:
http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/law/constitutional-and-administrativelaw/magna-carta-and-its-modern-legacy?format=PB
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
Samuel P. Huntington
Simon and Schuster
ISBN-13: 978-1451628975
Link to Simon and Schuster:
http://books.simonandschuster.com/The-Clash-of-Civilizations-and-the-Remaking-ofO/Samuel-P-Huntington/9781416561248
Cinematic Adaptations and Historical Novels (a selection … there are many!):
The adored and spirited daughter of England's greatest knight, Mahelt Marshal lives a
privileged life. But when her beloved father falls foul of the volatile and dangerous King
John, her world is shattered. The king takes her brothers hostage and Mahelt's planned
marriage to Hugh Bigod, son of the Earl of Norfolk, takes place sooner than she expected.
Mahelt and Hugh come to care for each other deeply, but Hugh's strict father clashes with
the rebellious Mahelt. When more harsh demands from King John threaten to tear the
couple's lives apart, Mahelt finds herself facing her worst fears alone, not knowing if she-or
her marriage-will survive.
A brilliant story of a vibrant woman in a tyrant's world, To Defy a King is another
impeccably researched masterpiece from a beloved author.
The story of Henry VIII, his battles with the church, and with his own brilliant chancellor,
Thomas Beckett.
The tale of Henry II and his battles with his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the church, his sons,
and the barons. Starring Peter O’toole and Katherine Hepburn. Based on the play by James
Goldman.
In 13th-century England, a small group of Knights Templar fight to defend Rochester Castle
against the tyrannical King John. (This one got panned.)
Some preliminary comments:
What is the West’s legacy to the world? What is the West’s legacy to Magna Carta? Consider
Samuel Huntington’s 1996 essay in Foreign Affairs, certainly the most venerable
international relations and foreign policy magazine of the post WW-II era:
“In recent years Westerners have reassured themselves and irritated others by
expounding the notion that the culture of the West is and ought to be the culture of the
world. This conceit takes two forms. One is the Coca-colonization thesis. Its proponents
claim that Western, and more specifically American, popular culture is enveloping the
world: American food, clothing, pop music, movies, and consumer goods are more and more
enthusiastically embraced by people on every continent. The other has to do with
modernization. It claims not only that the West has led the world to modern society, but
that as people in other civilizations modernize they also westernize, abandoning their
traditional values, institutions, and customs and adopting those that prevail in the West.
Both theses project the image of an emerging homogeneous, universally Western world –
and both art to varying degrees misguided, arrogant, false, and dangerous.”
Huntington made these points in 1996, which seems as distant a world today as
were, say, the worlds of 1936 and 1948 – the former historical moment immersed in
revolution, threats of fascist ascendancy, and economic misery, the latter a world decimated
by 6 years of war and shadowed by nuclear weapons. But Huntington’s point – or his
question – still rings true: What does the West offer to world?
His answer? Pop culture, consumer culture, fashion trends, and all such ephemera
are by nature just that – ephemeral. What is at the core of the West’s legacy? Huntington is
explicit: “The essence of Western culture is the Magna Carta, not the Magna Mac.”
I start here because Huntington makes an argument that may be lost amidst the
trend towards relativism and multiculturalism (things that should not be thrown out with
the bathwater, to be sure); that is, he pares down the West’s defining features and finds
them embedded in, of all things, Magna Carta. His list includes such things as the Classical
legacy (including Roman law and Greek philosophy) and European languages (the
multiplicity of European languages is a virtue, he tells us). But he adds the following telling
things:





Separation of spiritual and secular authority
Rule of law
Social pluralism and civil society
Representative bodies
Individualism, codified and embodied in individual rights and liberties
In some way, each of these can be traced to the Magna Carta.
Text: Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor (Randy Holland, published by Thomson Reuters and
the Library of Congress)

Preface by Chief Justice Roberts:
o
He starts as follows:

o
He adds:


“The north wall of the Courtroom at the Supreme Court of the United
States features a frieze of “Great Lawgivers” in an historic
procession. In the center stands King John holding the Magna Carta.
The king, forced to cede some of his power and submit to the rule of
law, appears forlorn. But those who cherish freedom have cause for
celebration.” (xi)
Whether King John and the barons knew it or not, the events at
Runnymede 800 years ago marked the commencement of a social
transformation…. Magna Carta laid a foundation for the ascent of
liberty and the rule of law. True, the barons sought to advance their
own narrow interests … [but] they bolstered their case with
statements of principle that spoke to broader issues of governance,
including due process, separation of powers, freedom from arbitrary
action, and the elements of a fair trial… the seeds of what we now
regard as essential liberties.
Why is this important?
The practical foundation:
The meeting at Runnymede (a swampy, marshy field outside of London, particularly
suitable for a negotiation because it was so unsuitable for battle) was intended to
provide a moment for negotiations that would end an outright revolt and civil war
by the barons against the king. Like the U. S. Declaration of Independence some 570
years later, in includes attention to very specific concerns, and enumerates a
number of grievances and remedies (in this regard, it is more of a governing
document than the Declaration, which is largely a list of grievances aimed at the king
and his policies). Some of Magna Carta’s provisions concern things as pedestrian
(though essential for everyday life) as fishing rights and practices on the Thames,
hunting rights in the forests, riparian claims, and more. The text gets very pragmatic
at times, dismissing specific individuals from office (among others, Gerard d’Athee
and his relations).
The political and philosophical aura or frame:

But in the midst of these very, very immediate concerns, the text never seems to
take its focus off of the larger issues that underpin its inscription: the relations of
royal authority to the baronage, to the church, and to the people (though “people”
was a narrow caste at this point). In short, what’s interesting here is the way in
which immediate, practical, even supremely urgent political concerns gave rise to
grander ruminations on the nature of liberty, due process, property rights, freedom
of religion, and more. What this suggests – or at least what I’d like to suggest – is
that even the most pedestrian interests are always embedded in the firmament of
political and philosophical understandings that often remain inexplicit, yet present.
Magna Carta takes steps, as it unfolds, in elaborating the foundational principles
behind particular rulings, enactments, and decisions. Consider, in this context,
philosopher John Rawls claims that, when all is said and done, “justice” should be
understood as a kind of “fairness.” What could be simpler? More elegant? More
exasperatingly pregnant with possibility?
In short, every legal act – from levying a jaywalking fine to placing limitations on
Presidential power over private communications – is infused with philosophical
attributes. All law, Magna Carta tells us in its own pragmatic way, is a kind of
philosophy of life, and a reflection on the good life (or at least the best we can do in
the polis). Grand ideas can come from immediate, pressing needs.
Some useful chronological elements:
Sequence of relevant kings (and others):
1154-89: Henry II (struggles with Becket and church)
Thomas Becket (1118-1170)
- Beckett was a commoner who rose to powerful status
- His competence leads to his recommendation by Theobald (Archbishop of
- Canterbury) to act as King Henry II’s chancellor, at which he excels.
- Henry II adores Becket
- Becket is appointed Archbishop in 1162 after death of Theobold
- Rift grows between Henry II and Becket over autonomy/authority of church
in relation to the crown (the secular/religious divide)
- Becket flees to France, lives in exile for 7 years
- Returns to England on basis of a compromise offered by Henry
- But … Henry (purportedly in an offhand manner) utters the phrase: “Who is
going to rid me of this troublesome priest?” (While the exact statement may
be apocryphal, the essence of Henry’s opinion and its impact it quite true.)
- A group of Knights attack Becket on the altar at Canterbury, where he dies.
- Henry is (apparently) truly dismayed. For a year he offers a public penance,
including being flogged.
1189-99: Richard I (the Lionheart) (son of Henry II, brother of John)
- Richard spends almost all of his reign on Crusades in the Mideast.
1199-1216: John (dies of dysentery during campaign to restore authority against
Barons, after his royal treasury was lost in a quicksand field in “the Wash,” between
Lincolnshire and Norfolk)
1216-70: Henry III (son of John)
- Henry III is particular important for reissuing (many times, with
amendments), Magna Carta.
- Most definitive final version of Magna Carta is issued in 1225, and is the most
commonly referenced afterwards.
What areas of law seem most pragmatically pertinent to the creation of MC?
 Laws of succession
 Taxing authority
 Trusts and Estates (inheritance)
 Property law
 Jurisdictional matters (separation of church and state)
 Criminal law (trial by peers; elementary rules of criminal procedure)
Magna Carta and the Church:





MC was a product of rebellion of Barons, but many high churchmen were
Barons too. They were part of the English landholding system.
Church had national and international “spiritual” authority, creating tension
between King (domestic sphere) and Pope (international sphere)
Churchmen in England (around 870s, under Alfred, which was relatively
centralized compared to the Continental nations) were useful, largely
because of their literacy and administrative skills. The state and Church were
not really in competition for jurisdiction.
William of Normandy (Battle of Hastings, 1066) attempts to extend secular
control over higher church personnel (themselves landholders in large part)
Split:
o Secular courts apply Anglo-Saxon customary law (local custom rules)
o Church courts apply canon law







o Result? A bit of competition between the two types of jurisdiction
A big issue in the debate was whether clergy (clerks) would be subject to
secular or canonical law.
Henry II (1154-89) assumes power, and in 1163 Thomas Becket is elected as
Archbishop of Canterbury.
Becket refuses authority of royal courts (secular authority) in relation to
clergy.
Becket flees in exile for France (1165), then returns in 1170, with no
resolution of clergy/secular legal authority issue.
Becket is assassinated before his altar, ostensibly with Henry II’s consent
(though he did not plan the killing). Becket is canonized, and as a result the
English clergy gain freedom from criminal jurisdiction of common law until
the nineteenth century (!) – a serious defeat for royal control of church.
Coronation Charter of Henry I becomes blueprint for Magna Carta, which
includes a large concession to the authority of the Church
NB: Coronation Charter of Henry is model for Magna Carta
Magna Carta and the Towns:



Towns were semi-autonomous entities for whom the Magna Carta was a
greatly useful document.
As towns grew, inter-town trade grew, resulting in more income for
merchants.
Merchants were constantly in need of reliable rules for taxation and
privileges from king (thus Magna Carta was important)
Magna Carta and the Barons:


Magna Carta codifies the uniquely English feudal system
Succession is an almost constant issue in early English history
(not too much of interest here, other than fact that Barons were in almost constant
tension with John)
Magna Carta and the Common Law:


MC is not directly related to the growth of English common law, but it does
contrast with renewed interest and development of Roman law on the
continent.
Norman England (1066-?): Law is a merger of Old English law with Norman
law. This coincides with a steadily increasing division between civil and
criminal jurisdiction.

o Introduction of concept of felony (under authority of “Kings’ peace”)
Felon: c. 1300, "one who deceives or commits treason; one who is wicked
or evil; evil-doer," used of Lucifer and Herod, from Old French felon "evildoer, scoundrel, traitor, rebel, oath-breaker, the Devil" (9c.), from
Medieval Latin fellonem (nominative fello) "evil-doer," which is of
uncertain origin, perhaps from Frankish *fillo, *filljo "person who whips
or beats, scourger" (source of Old High German fillen "to whip"); or from
Latin fel "gall, poison," on the notion of "one full of bitterness." Celtic
origins also have been proposed.
Another theory (advanced by Professor R. Atkinson of Dublin) traces it to
Latin fellare "to suck" (see fecund), which had an obscene secondary
meaning in classical Latin (well-known to readers of Martial and Catullus),
which would make a felon etymologically a "cock-sucker." OED inclines
toward the "gall" explanation, but finds Atkinson's "most plausible" of the
others.
Also by c. 1300 in English in a general legal sense "criminal; one who has
committed a felony," however that was defined. Century Dictionary notes,
"the term is not applicable after legal punishment has been completed." In
Middle English it also was an adjective, "traitorous, wicked, malignant."
Australian official James Mudie (1837), coined felonry "as the appellative
of an order or class of persons in New South Wales,--an order which
happily exists in no other country in the world."

Two kinds of jury at time of MC:
o Presentment jury: Based on inquest (probably brought to England
by the Normans)
 Basically an info-gathering procedure (a bit like a grand jury?)
 Used to inquire about property holdings (assembled in
Domesday Book)
 Under oath, people must tell King’s representatives about their
property holdings (and those of others)
 A bit like a census
o Use of “presentment” jury allowed a community to take action against
criminals, whereas in earlier times the injured party or his family had
to bring an “appeal” (accusation) against one who had injured him.
The poor or weak man was thus at a decided disadvantage against a
richer or more powerful man. Then, if convincing, the jury would
“present” the offender – i.e., indict him. A trial by ordeal (hot irons,
etc.) would follow.
o Recognition Jury: Used in disputes about property and property
rights (used only in a royal court)
 Injured party purchases a writ from a royal chancery


Four types of writs:
 Utrum: Used in disputes as to whether a piece of
property was held for the service of prayer only, in
which case it came under church jurisdiction.
 Disseisin: Purchased to claim recent dispossession of
property.
 Mort d’ancestor: Purchased to claim an inheritance if
one was heir to a property owner at the time of owner’s
death.
 Darrein Presnetment (last presentment): Purchased in
disputes about who had the right to name a priest or
other churchman when a vacancy occurred.
This method was very popular … One might compare it to
federal jurisdiction today (greater objectivity, perhaps?)

Important point about MC here:
o Provisions about law and legal process expands from John’s need to
be concerned with narrow Baronial interests to a document that
covered all free men in the land, some of whom were of a very modest
status. (46 Drew)
o MC extends law’s protection to “all free men of our kingdom,”
including “all the liberties written below.” (NB)

Charter of the Forest (1217):
o Added to MC to cover issues about use, ownership, etc., of forest. From
1217 on, MC and CF are issued together (as if one document). A bit
like an amendment that becomes an essential part of the original
document.
Magna Carta and Parliament:





The notion that MC led to the growth of Parliament as we know it today is a
myth: Those writing the MC had no concept of an institution like the English
Parliament.
Indeed, their “right” in relation to an unjust king was the preservation of a
“right” of rebellion.
Baronial attempts to limit the power of the king in the 13th, 14th, an 15th
centuries all relied on replacing the king with a group of barons. No such
effort succeeded. (50 Drew)
“Parliaments” as we know them today started to crop up in Edward I’s realm
(1272-1307), largely related to baronial/monarchical disputes.
Edward III (1327-77) sees composition of an assembly roughly akin to
today’s Parliament … though still inchoate.

By the time of the Stuart monarchy, Parliament was rather well established
and powerful.
o Parliamentarians, led by Edward Coke, successfully argued that MC
guaranteed such English rights as:
o (1) trial by jury,
o (2) habeas corpus,
o (3) equality before the law,
o (4) freedom from arbitrary arrest,
o (5) parliamentary control of taxation.
“Magna Carta in America”
(Susan Reyburn, Publishing Office, Library of Congress)
Backdrop:





1215: Bishop Hugh of Wells returns to Lincoln Cathedral with one of the four
surviving original copies of Magna Carta
Stored in the archival room, it shares quarters for a time with the Vicar’s
pigeons
Later it is moved to Christopher Wren’s neoclassical library in the gothic
cloister
For 700 years, it remains there, suffering the English Civil War, rough
treatment by caretakers and gawkers, dampness, and threats of
dismemberment (for sale of a letter or two of the “original”)
In late 19th century, Lincoln’s Magna Carta (as it came to be known) was
displayed in the cathedral library
Threat and “exile”:



In April 1939 the document (roughly 17 by 17 inches) was “placed in a
customized, waterproof, burglar proof, fireproof, and bullet proof case of
wood, bronze, and glass held together by invisible screws.” (9)
Though priceless, the document was insured for £ 100,000 and sent aboard
the Queen Mary for New York City, where it was to be displayed at the 1939
World’s Fair (at a former ash dump in Queens, invoking images of the grey
nether zone between Manhattan and Long Island in Fitzgerald’s The Great
Gatsby).
Fair was intended to mark 150th anniversary of George Washington’s
inauguration (and the British delegation placed alongside a genealogy of
Washington himself, who was depicted as having descended from King John).


A fun irony: Magna Carta was displayed in a room with a view of Frank,
“Bring ‘em Back Alive” Buck’s Jungle Land, the Flying turns bobsled run, and
a 74 foot tall revolving cash register. (10)
Magna Carta Hall was one of the Fair’s centerpieces, a gesture of closer ties
between England (at war with Nazi Germany and others) and the U.S.
The exhibit itself:


Curated by Archibald MacLeish, Librarian of Congress
Link to the Poetry Foundation page on MacLeish:
o http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/archibald-macleish
And probably his most famous poem:
Ars Poetica
A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit,
Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb,
Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown—
A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.
*
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs,
Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,
Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind—
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs.
*
A poem should be equal to:
Not true.
For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf.
For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea—
A poem should not mean
But be.
And a letter from FDR endorsing the Magna Carta exhibit (note FDR’s very,
very wry wit):

In particular, note FDR’s self-deprecating and humorous reference as the
“King John” of modern days, and that he’ll keep his paws off of it, since it will
be in the hands of the Library of Congress, an institution ruled by the barons
and commoners.

War commences while the second and final season of the World’s Fair is
opening in New York. Magna Carta returns. Obviously, the tenor of the
exhibition is quite different, and quite a few countries are missing.

On July 4 a small canvas suitcase that had been left in the main pavilion of the
British exhibit is noted to be “ticking” by two pavilion officers. In the words
of Susan Reyburn:
“Incredibly, the two men then took it to Magna Carta Hall, where they
showed it to another official. After some discussion, the case was
taken outside to a nearly deserted area near the Polish pavilion. Two
New York City bomb squad members arrived, examined it, and were
instantly killed when the dynamite-filled bag exploded …” (15)
And, ironically, given the nature of the document on display, a number of
“agitators,” German illegal aliens, and others were arrested, only to be
released. Habeas Corpus, so fundamental to Magna Carta, seemed to prevail.





Magna Carta returns to Washington and the Library of Congress when the
exhibit ended, but its return to England was a concern, given the dangers of
the cross-Atlantic passage and the blitzkrieg in London.
In addition, fears rose about the safety of the copies of the Constitution, the
Declaration of Independence, Lincoln’s handwritten drafts of the Gettysburg
Address, and other documents. All were shipped off to Fort Knox, in
Kentucky, where they remained for the rest of the war.
When it was returned to English hands, in 1946, Dr. Luther Evans, MacLeish’s
assistant and new librarian, told the British officials: “We are returning to
you a document, but we retain a doctrine.” (23)
The Lincoln Magna Carta is loaded on the Queen Elizabeth, but it’s too large
for any of the ship’s safes; it “made the voyage home stowed under the
commodore’s bed.” (24)
Finally, consider Archibald MacLeish’s commentary about all the attention
the document summoned, and about the document itself, which echoes his
claims (if any poem can be said to make a “claim”) in Ars Poetica:
“It is natural that men should value the original documents which guarantee their
rights. The great constitutions and charters are not mere records of something already
accomplished. They are themselves its accomplishment.”