Magna Carta

by Ralph V. Turner

This new history is the first to tell the story of Magna Carta ‘through the ages’. No other general work traces its continuing importance in England’s political consciousness. Many books have examined the circumstances surrounding King John’s grant of Magna Carta in 1215. Very few trace the Charter’s legacy to subsequent centuries and even fewer look at the fate of the physical document. Turner also underlines its great influence outside the United Kingdom, especially in North America. Today, the Charter enjoys greater prestige in the United States, the land of lawyers, than in Britain. U.S. citizens claim Magna Carta as a source of their liberties, guaranteeing ‘due process of law’ and condemning ‘executive privilege’.

Genres: History

282 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2003

About the author

A specialist on the Angevin kings and their government, Ralph V. Turner is is Distinguished Research Professor of History (emeritus) at Florida State University. He earned a BA and an MA in history at the University of Arkansas, and after spending an academic year at Poitiers, France, as a Fulbright Scholar he attended the Johns Hopkins University, where he completed his doctorate in history in 1962.