Magna Carta: Celebrating 800 Years Of Not Being Free

Magna CartaSimon Black – In the history of post-Norman monarchs in the UK there have been nine Henrys. Eight Edwards. Four Williams. Four Georges. And three Richards.

Yet there was only one John.

In fact, in nearly 1,000 years since William the Conqueror took England in 1066, John was the only King to never have his name repeated.

And with reason. He wasn’t exactly a popular guy, widely despised by his people and nobles alike.

John constantly taxed and plundered his subjects to finance pointless wars abroad. He extorted them with ever-increasing fines and imprisoned people for absurd, victimless crimes.

He used his local police (sheriffs) to confiscate private property under threat of violence, building them into the most feared and powerful force in the kingdom.

According to Harry Buffardi’s book “The History of the Office of the Sheriff”, King John deliberately selected “men of harsh demeanor for the post”.

(Does any of this sound familiar?)

The historical evidence suggests that John was so hated that he was assassinated by poison; Shakespeare dramatizes this episode in his little known play King John, which contains the most wonderful death line “[N]ow my soul hath elbow-room. . .”

Before he departed this earth, however, King John was forced to make certain concessions to the nobles who had waged all-out rebellion against him.

After taking London, the rebel barons met John to formalize these concessions at a picturesque riverside meadow called Runnymede, not far from Heathrow airport.

The contract they hammered out on June 15, 1215 (which is actually June 22nd in our modern calendar) contained a list of rights and privileges that eventually became known as Magna Carta.

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