Magna Carta and America

In the summer of 1776 delegates from Britain's 13 North American colonies met in Philadelphia to consider the direction their burgeoning rebellion would take.  Would they be satisfied with remaining British subjects, providing that their rights and liberties as they saw them were respected.  Or, did they want full and complete independence.  Full and complete independence was decided upon and a committee of three men, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, were designated to draw up a declaration setting forth the colonies' official reasons for declaring independence, including a list of abuses of British officials, including taxation without representation, billeting troops and the like.  Though a "decent respect for the opinions of mankind" read-potential allies among European nations, compelled them to draw up a formal declaration, Jefferson and the others were drawing on centuries of British precedent.

Reel back to 1215, to a meadow along the Thames River not far from Windsor Castle.  King John had bumbled from one disaster to another during his reign.  He'd lost most of the Plantagenet possessions in France and was intent on pursuing with his war with age-old enemy and person arch-rival Phillip II.  His barons, or leading nobles, were in open revolt.  In January, 1215, John had called a counsel at Windsor to demand more money and men and most of them refused to show up, levying their armies for battle against their sovereign.  The only thing that might force some of these men, who were oftentimes as powerful, as wealthy and in command of as many men as the King himself to come to reason was the threat from the Pope to excommunicate everybody if they didn't work out an agreement.  Enter Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury.  He met with the barons, who were at Runnymede not to parley with the King, but to start a war if he didn't give in.  By June 15, 1215, Langton had formalized a list of the barons' worst grievance and mutual demands.  John consented to meet them at Runnymede and accept the charter. 

Over the centuries, Magna Carta has been blown up to be a first blast of the trumpet in forming England into a primitive parliamentary democracy.  No.  Nor was it a means of protecting ancient Saxon liberties, or the rights of the common man.  The barons were addressing their own concerns and it was specifically in regard to grievances they'd experienced under Henry II, Richard I, and John, who had encroached on baronial authority with courts of law, regular parliamentary meetings to demand taxes, and other feudal dues for wars and crusades.  The barons wanted their power back.  Among the demands were a reduction in feudal dues and fees, preservation of justice throughout the realm, trial of barons by barons (trial of your peers), reduction in royal domain land claimed by the king, no new taxes for war without consent of a counsel of the barons, no new royal decrees without consent of a counsel of the barons and preservation of Church authority.

John promised to ratify the agreement in 40 days, which he didn't.  Despite this, the barons considered the document binding.  Several copies were made, of which four survive.  John's son, Henry III, reissued the Magna Carta in 1216, and again in 1217.  The basic list of baronial demands turned baronial rights was reissued several times during successive Plantagenet reigns, give or take a few clauses.  The constant feuding between monarch and barons, later monarch and Parliament, not to mention monarch and members of the Royal Family, who were often barons in their own right, shows just how much attention the Kings of England paid to it.  It would take centuries and much more legal and constitutional reform before England became anything like the realm the Founding Fathers looked to for inspiration in 1776.

So what did the Magna Carta do?  It's important enough in our history that a replica is in the National Archives, stored in the same glass case that holds an original of the Declaration and the Constitution.  Magna Carta Libertatum, the Great Charter of Liberties was a list of demands to form the basis for a peace treaty, not a declaration of anyone's independence, but it did set a precedent in English custom.  By enforcing their rights, the barons were enforcing, at least for themselves, the right of legal process as it stood in England at the time.  Henry II had already started the process of legal writs, by which legal cases were pursued and judgments given.  Magna Carta started the precedent of charters.  Nothing was legal, be it a royal decree or the judgment of court or parliament, unless it was written down and the duties and obligations of all those bound by it were enumerated.

The Founding Fathers would have been aware of this tradition.  It began in 1620, with the Mayflower Compact, which bound both the Pilgrims and those traveling with them as servants, sailors and one mercenary to formally draw up a charter of laws at a future date.  Each colony had a charter, many of them setting forth what by that time were considered basic common law rights such as suffrage, even if partial and gendered, rights to trial by jury and the like.  By 1776, the idea of drawing up a charter to both formulate demands and catalogue reasons for taking a legal and binding action was well-ingrained.  The barons at least gave us that much.

King: John of England, 1166-1216

There's one in every family, the obnoxious sibling or cousin who doesn't think they've gotten their fair share and tries to make everyone else feel it, too.  The Plantagenet family's biggest royal misfit, and thus one of history's much-maligned monarch is John.  Such is his reputation that, with few exceptions, English princes were named anything else and he has no regnal number because he is the first and the last.  Novels and movies haven't been too kind to him, either.  He's the anti-hero to his brother Richard and to Robin Hood, the tyrannical king who had to be forced by his barons to acknowledge their rights.  He's the perpetually jealous, conniving, whiny, not-too-bright kill-joy of the family with a talent for scheming and getting himself in real trouble, then having to scheme and connive his way out of the hole he dug. 

So, how much of this is deserved?  John, 1166-1216, was the youngest of Henry II and Eleanor's brood of eight.  He was born in Beaumont Palace, Oxford and almost from the time he was born, his parents were perplexed about what to do with him or for him.  Not long after he was born, Henry and Eleanor's marriage was on the rocks.  By 1173, when he was about 7, his older brothers would be in open revolt against their father and his mother would be a prisoner of her husband.  The issues were power and land.  Henry the Young King, John's oldest brother, had already been crowned junior king and was assured in his inheritance of England, Normandy, and the traditional Plantagenet patrimony of Anjou and Maine.  Richard, the warrior poet of the family, would get Eleanor's vast dominions of Aquitaine and Poitou, though he also wanted everything else and Young Henry would've been hard put to it to hold Richard off had Henry lived.  Meanwhile, Geoffrey had been married to a woman who was Duchess of Brittany in her own right, but he, too, hoped to end up with everything some day.  That left John. 

John loved to read and listen to music, but not to play it.  He enjoyed board games such as backgammon.  He liked to hunt and, as befitted a son of Henry II, he had some promise as a capable administrator and commander.  He was short, about 5'8", with red hair, though not ugly as sometimes portrayed.  He could be charming, but he could also given in to fits of rage.  It was this touchiness that kept others, including members of his own family, at arm's length.  John was shopped around to various heiresses, particular the heiress of the Duke of Savoy.  Nothing came of it.  After the rebellion of his brothers, John spent most of his time in Henry II's custody and was considered his father's favorite.  Henry arranged a marriage of John with an English heiress, Isabel of Gloucester, but forgot one important detail.  Both John and Isabel were descendants of Henry I, the last Norman king of England.  They were related and required Papal dispensation to marry.  Henry wasn't big on Church authority and Thomas Becket's replacement as Archbishop of Canterbury wasn't into being lenient.  He handed Henry and John the ultimate conundrum.  John could marry Isabel, but couldn't physically relate to her on pain of excommunication.  Not deterred in the least, John would go on to have plenty of off-the-record relationships and biological children and numerous descents.

But for the time being, he still had no land and no sure inheritance.  He was known as John Lackland even in his own lifetime and certainly felt the sting.  Henry II had John proclaimed Lord of Ireland in 1177 and wanted John to be crowned King of Ireland, but the Pope wasn't going for that, either.  John invaded Ireland in 1185 and tried to cobble together his own kingdom but without success.  Like the Romans centuries before, and the British ever since, he soon came to understand that conquering Ireland was an expensive and bloody undertaking.  Henry II died in 1189 and Richard became King of England.  He soon departed on Crusade in 1191 and John saw his chance.  Through Eleanor's urging, Richard had allowed John to return to England, but didn't give him any position during Richard's absence.  Richard's Justiciar, William Longchamp, became unpopular, leaving John to fill the void as an alternate ruler in his brother's absence.  He opened negotiations with Phillip II of France, hoping to receive aid in conquering at least Normandy and Anjou, if not England itself. 

Then, the unthinkable happened.  Richard showed up back in England and John had some explaining to do.  Richard stripped John of his few possession, except for Ireland, and sent him to the Continent.  There, he showed some skill keeping Phillip from invading Normandy.  Richard died in 1199, but John's way to the English throne was barred by Geoffrey's son, Arthur of Brittany.  Arthur made a feeble attempt to claim his inheritance, but was captured by John, and never seen alive again.  John was acclaimed King of England.  He had his marriage to Isabel of Gloucester annulled and married a French princess, Isabella of Angouleme.  The couple would have five children, including the future Henry III.  John was King of England, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, but he would have a hard time hold on to all of it.  He decided to pay Phillip off by doing homage to him for the family lands in France, a move which earned him another disparaging nickname, John Soft-Sword. 

Relations between John and Phillip would continue to deteriorate to the point that, after two years of war, 1202-1204, John lost the Duchy of Normandy in its entirety.  Meanwhile, his barons were already becoming restless.  John believed that he ruled by divine right, with or without their support.  His policy of rule by force and divisiveness began to take its toll.  The barons believed they had the right to serve as the king's counselors.  John intended to rule on his own.  Although John kept the legal and administrative machinery his father had put in place, and proved a capable administrator on the local level, the powerful lords weren't satisfied.  Like all kings, John had to have money to finance his wars and his taxes made him increasingly unpopular with all levels of society.  His continued war with France didn't help in this regard.  John was responsible for beefing up England's land and sea defenses, which he continued to do, at the cost of more money.  A vicious cycle was developing.  He managed to keep Scotland and Wales at bay, and drew resources from Ireland to focus on France. 

Then, like his father before him, John got into a dispute with the Papacy.  Innocent III was one of the more powerful popes of the Medieval era, keen on consolidating the authority of the Church throughout Europe.  John was just as keen on royal authority within his domains.  He asserted the right to appoint bishops, including the next Archbishop of Canterbury, selecting men who would be beholden to him.  John refused the Pope's candidate, Stephen Langton and barred him from entering England to take up his duties.  Innocent put England under an interdict.  John responded by seizing the lands and arresting any clergy who refused to perform religious services.  By 1209, Innocent excommunicate John, who wasn't deterred in the slightest.  John continued to seize lands and appropriate any money due to the Church from England into his own coffers.  By 1213, with the situation deteriorating among his barons, John had to negotiate with the Pope, offering him feudal homage for England and Ireland. 

But the reversals just kept on.  He lost most of the family's vast French inheritance in 1214 at the Battle of Bouvines, including Normandy and Anjou.  The barons, fed up, were ready to revolt.  Fixated on retrieving the family patrimony in France, John agreed to the Magna Carta on June 15, 1215, but he had no intention of keeping his word.  The Charter guaranteed Church rights, protection from illegal imprisonment, access to justice, taxation only with baronial consent and limitation on feudal dues and duties.  It was soon apparent to the barons that the only means of securing these rights was open warfare, leading to the First Barons' War, 1215-1217.  Like his father before him, John would die on campaign, trying to stamp out a revolt.  He died of food poisoning at Newark Castle, Newark on Trent on October 19, 1216.  William Marshal, who remained one of his few supporters among the barons, was appointed protector for John's son, 9-year-old Henry.  John was buried in Worcester Cathedral, where his effigy still remains.   Isabella returned to the Continent, marrying Hugh of Lusignan and leaving Henry in Marshal's care.  Through Marshal's steady influence, the Barons' War would be brought to a close, for now.  John's five children lived to grow up and most had descendants of their own.  His biological daughter, Joan, married Llewellyn the Great of Wales.  Meanwhile, the pros and cons of John's reign, policies and personal qualities remain a matter of debate. 

Conflict: The First Barons' War, 1215-1217

The English are proud of the fact that the Isle of Britain hasn't been invaded since 1066, though such powerful enemies as Napoleon and Hitler almost tried it.  However, they forget one little detail.  England was invaded, more properly infiltrated for several months, by a French occupation force.  This wasn't one of the more shining episodes in Plantagenet history, but it must be told nonetheless.

The Magna Carta finally received the Great Seal on June 15, 1215.  The barons, or England's largest landowners whether they were technically barons or not, renewed their fealty to King John.  John, for his part had no intention of keeping any of the provisions of the Charter and he soon made this apparent.  Part of the Charter was Clause 61, which allowed a force or 25 or more barons to oppose the King, by force of arms if necessary, if he violated their feudal rights.  This was known as right of distraint, similar to overriding a Presidential veto today.  By 1215, there were enough barons angry at John that they were willing to use their weapons to enforce the terms of Magna Carta.

But the barons needed allies and turned to a Plantagenet family enemy, Phillip II and his heir Louis.  Louis was married to Blanche of Castile, daughter of Eleanor of Castile, daughter of Henry II and Eleanor.  So it was basically turning part of the Plantagenet family in on itself.  Though Phillip II didn't approve of the idea, he allowed his son to cross the channel with a party of knights as a sort of peace-keeping force.  The peacekeeping force rapidly turned into an invasion fleet that landed on the coast of Kent.  John fled to Winchester and Louis lost no time in taking London, where he quickly found the support of the townspeople and most of the warring barons.  Then, King Alexander II of Scotland got into the act, throwing his support behind Louis and doing homage to him for lands Alexander claimed in England. 

Louis besieged Dover, but had to call a truce and return to London.  Windsor also held out against the French.  John's forces besieged and took Rochester by force.  Then, in 1216, John died of dysentery.  There were three options, his 9-year-old son, Henry, his adult niece, Eleanor of Brittany, and Louis of France, still very much in London.  Pierre des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, hurried to have Henry crowned in Gloucester Abbey with a makeshift crown fashioned from a necklace.  William Marshal, yes that William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, was appointed Regent of the Kingdom.  He affirmed the royal assent to Magna Carta with some of the provisions revoked, including the nuclear option in Clause 61.  Marshal appealed to the barons to rally around young Henry and resist a takeover by the French.  The Pope got into the act by excommunicating Louis. 

Though Louis gained some victories, he eventually had to return to France for reinforcements.  The English weren't about to let him back in.  Working town by town and castle by castle, Marshal's forces slowly made gains against the French.  Louis was forced to sign the Treaty of Lambeth on September 11, 1217, accepting a sum of money to go away and stay away.