Magna Carta

After Richard I returned to England, he was soon at war again. This time it was in France. King Philip of France was trying to take back the land in France which belonged to the king of England.

Richard died in 1199, and his brother John became king. But the war in France went on. By 1204, Philip had conquered all of Normandy. King John was not the only loser. Many barons had owned land in France as well as England. When Philip drove John out, they lost their French land too.

John kept trying to win Normandy back. He ordered his barons to serve in his army, or send him money instead. He made the people pay heavy taxes. Men found guilty of crimes were given big fines in court. John spent the money he raised on hiring soldiers to fight in France.

In the end, some of the barons rebelled. John gave in and met their leaders in June 1215 at Runnymede, a meadow near Windsor. The king agreed to put his seal to Magna Carta (Latin for 'the great charter').

Magna Carta said that all free men had rights. The law of England would protect them. And the king had to obey the law. He could not take free men's money or put free men in prison just as he liked. (This was all right for free men, but most people were peasants, and not free.)

Walter Robson: Medieval Britain; Oxford University Press, 1991/2000, page 30 f.