Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty

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There are two maps: one showing England in John's time and the other detailing the whole of the Plantagenet empire in what is now France, both at its height in 1189 and then after John lost several territories by 1215.

This excessive taxation further alienated his barons (and contributed to his portrayal as the villain in the tales of Robin Hood). In the 17th century, Charles I would eventually lose his head over his perverse attempts to revive a feudal monarchy, to arbitrarily imprison his enemies, and rule by tyranny and extortion. A book about a legal document of any kind, no matter how significant, should have been bound to be yawn-inducing, but Jones's talent for writing page-turning narrative history accompanied by rigorous scholarship makes this book an absolute delight. Definitely a good primer for the subject if you are vaguely interested in the history of this document- as a student of law, history, etc. Linebaugh sends an important message to a world that increasingly believes that private ownership of our resources can make us more prosperous.

It failed to keep the peace and to bind the King to the letter of the law and England was soon in civil war. It revealed the layers of significance that this historic document holds, leaving me with a deepened understanding on how this document gained the image we have of it today. At the battle of Lincoln, the seventy-year-old William Marshal led his men to a victory that would secure the future of his nation. Clauses 39 and 40 (see end of review) are cited as the foundation stones of western democracy and the author states that clause 61 is equally important as that was the security clause. The fact is, the English monarch, John, broke his end of the bargain before the ink of the royal seal was dry.

In the Disney version of Robin Hood, there’s a ditty that goes like this: “Too late to be known as John the first, he’s sure to be known as John the worst. No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.From those records, it is clear that King John had already realized that he would have to grant free election to ecclesiastical offices and meet the barons’ general demands.