If there is a document that is the fount of constitutionalism, it is the Magna Carta, or Great Charter, signed by King John of England and his barons at Runnymede, near Windsor Castle. Together with American Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta became the inspiration for the idea of citizen rights and (eventually) constitutional government.
The original Magna Carta, the one containing the seal of King John affixed in 1215, no longer exists. What happened to it is a mystery. Four original copies were made at the time of the signing. Two of those copies, one of which was badly burned, are held by the British Library. The remaining two are at Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. Some 200 others, copied off and on during the Middle Ages, also exist.
For the 800th anniversary of the signing of the document, Oxford’s Bodleian Library commissioned Nicholas Vincent, professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia, to write a history of the document – what led to it, what happened as a result, its tumultuous history, and its influence and legacy. The result is Magna Carta: Origins and Legacy.
Nicholas Vincent
The book is a well-illustrated, well-written account of the document. It’s a traditional historical account, but it’s also filled with facts and stories that don’t quit make the textbooks. Like how the Lincoln Cathedral original was loaned (after extensive lobbying) to the United States for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City, not long before World War II broke out, and spent the war years under the protection of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. (it was returned after the war).
Magna Carta is divided into two roughly equal parts. The first is the history and legacy. The second is the “Archival and Documentary Evidences,” reminding the reader that the volume is both a highly readable history and a research publication. Vincent also traces where all of the 200 copies now reside.
Vincent has published some 25 books and 150 academic papers in English and European history of the 12th and 13thcenturies. In addition to the Magna Carta and general medieval history, his areas of expertise include the Plantagenet kingship, Thomas Becket, and medieval relics. He’s taught at Oxford, Cambridge, the University of Poitiers and the Ecole des Chartres in Paris. Vincent is also a Fellow of the British Academy and a Corresponding Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America. He’s taught at East Anglia since 2003.
Magna Carta tells a fascinating story of how feudal lords’ rebellious dissatisfaction with a profligate king would eventually influence and shape constitutional governments across the globe.
Some Monday Readings
The paint was still wet: A closer look at three Van Gogh paintings heading to the Rijksmuseum – Martin Bailey at The Art Newspaper.
Fallen – poem and artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher.
The Work of Spring – Hadden Turner at Heart and Field.
The Biggest Threat to America’s Liberty – Douglas Murray at The Free Press on a speech by Abraham Lincoln.
Stone Cold Love – Brian Miller at A South Roane Agrarian.
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