Magna Carta

Hello, I'm Katie and today I will be interviewing King John about the Magna Carta.

Katie: King John, can you explain what the magna carta is?

King John: The Magna Carta is and English legal document written in 1215 which had a huge influence on the developing legal system of England. The proper name for the Magna Carta is the Magna Carta Libertatum, the Great Charter of Freedoms. The document is usually abbreviated as the Magna Carta, or Great Charter. It could be considered a bill of rights for medievel England, although it was not heavily enforced for several centuries. But more importantly, it set a precedent which changed the face of England forever, by establishing that the I was not above the law.

Katie: Why did you sign the Magna Carta?

King John: I signed the Magna Carta after an immense amount of pressure from the Church and my barons. I often lived above the law, violating both feudal and common law. I was also heavily criticized for my foreign policy actions within England.

Katie: What happened after this?

King John: Well, the Barons, with the support of the Church, pressured me to spell out a list of their rights and guarantee that those rights would be enforced. Then they provided a draft, and after some negotiation, I put my seal to the Magna Carta in Runnymede in June of 1215.

Katie: What happened after the signing of the Magna Carta?

King John: Later I abadoned the Magna Carta, triggering a war which lasted until my death in 1216. My son, Henry III, took the throne, and reissued the Magna Carta in 1225.