In light of the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede in June 1215, historian David Starkey looks back at the Great Charter and its prominence in history in this BBC documentary.
In this hour-long programme, David Starkey will reveal how the Magna Carta outlined the law of the land, which everyone – even the monarch – would be required to abide by.
Starkey discovers how, with the drafting of the Articles of the Barons and a papal bull affirming the Great Charter null, the Charter was threatened to not be implemented only two months after its sealing at Runnymede.
Starkey will continue his research and discuss how this English document was later transferred across the pond to North America. The Magna Carta later became the base to the US constitution.
Since its establishment in 1215, the Magna Carta has become a widespread symbol of freedom against state autocracy.
The Charter was first drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury in order to establish peace between King John and the agitated barons in England in the thirteenth century. This draft promised a number of rights, including to protect the rights of the Church, implement justice, and protect against unlawful imprisonment. Neither the King nor the barons accepted the terms of this draft, and it was later annulled by the Papacy, which led to the First Barons’ War (1215 – 1217).
After King John’s death in 1216, the regency government of Henry III rewrote and outstripped a number of elements of the Charter in an attempt to gain support for the barons’ cause. After the end of the war in 1217, the Charter became part of a peace treaty granted at the Archbishop of Canterbury’s residence at Lambeth, signed by Prince Louis of France and Henry III’s regents.
Read more about the Magna Carta on Royal Central here.
David Starkey’s Magna Carta will be broadcast on Monday 26th January at 9pm on BBC Two.
This programme is presented by David Starkey, directed and produced by Christopher Spencer, and executively produced by Nicolas Kent and Susan Jones.
Photo credit: BBC/Oxford Film & Television/John Owen
