“Magna Carta”. King John the Landless


Henry II left his heirs strong royal power. But right after his death they faced serious challenges. The war with France, England, in the end, lost. The scapegoats for this and other setbacks were made by the barons of John the Landless, the youngest son of Henry II. This king, as luck would have, quarreled with Pope Innocent III. The pope excommunicated him and forbade divine services throughout England. The king had to obey the pope and pay him a lot of money every year. The barons of this could not stand it and in 1215 rebelled. Londoners, who have always been on the side of the king, this time opened the barons of the gates of the capital. John the Landless was forced to sign the “Magna Carta” – a baron-made document that limited the royal power. But of course, he did not intend to adhere to his conditions.

The “Magna Carta” limited the royal self-will, defended the rights and property of the subjects, not only the upper classes, but also the

lower classes. She forbade the king to commit harm to his subjects or deprive them of their property without a court verdict, for the first time in medieval Europe, formulated the principle of inviolability of the person. This principle is still today, almost eight centuries later, the pivotal one in the field of human rights protection.

In the “Magna Carta”, the king assumed the obligation not to overburden the feudal lords with taxes, not to deprive the church of its privileges, to defend law and order, to fight bureaucratic abuses, to encourage trade. The “Magna Carta” defended even serfs. Thus, although she most of all defended the big barons, nevertheless she protected other sections of the population from bureaucratic arbitrariness.

1215. From the “Magna Carta”

39. No free man will be arrested and imprisoned or deprived of property, outlawed, expelled or otherwise disadvantaged, and we will not go to him and send him to him otherwise than by a lawful verdict of equals to this person…

61. Let the barons choose twenty-five barons from the kingdom whom

they wish, and they will be watching with all their might and will force them to observe the peace and liberties that we granted them… And if we do not correct violations for forty days… those twenty five barons together with other citizens will coerce us and press on us… by capturing castles, lands, possessions and all other means available to them until they are corrected according to their decision…

John the Landless did not really reckon with the “Magna Carta”, especially since the pope urged the barons to obey the king. However, he soon died, and the guardians of the young King Henry III confirmed the validity of the charter.

When Henry III grew up, he quickly turned against the barons. The king took his wife a Frenchwoman, with whom many Frenchmen arrived in England. To these outsiders, he was distributing posts and estates, which irritated English nobles. There were also dissatisfied knights and townspeople, from whom they levied tax on annual payments to the pope. When Henry III demanded money from the subjects for the Sicilian crown for the young prince, the patience came to an end even for the most patient. The armed barons appeared in the royal palace and demanded that the king expel the French and stop the arbitrariness of officials.

In 1258 the barons gathered in Oxford for their congress. They created a commission to combat bribery of officials. But the knights soon realized that the barons’ commission defended only the interests of the big lords, and demanded that their interests be taken into account. The demand of the knights was supported by the townspeople and part of the barons under the leadership of Count Simon de Montfort. Knowing split into two parts: those who supported the king, and supporters of Simon de Montfort.


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“Magna Carta”. King John the Landless