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Magna Carta
For its 800th anniversary, a new edition of one of democracy’s founding legal documents, with extensive new commentary
Wrested by rebellious barons from a very reluctant King John, Magna Carta set out a series of rights and duties that have been appealed to, ignored, suppressed, and argued about ever since. Here, David Carpenter’s forceful new translation is accompanied by extensive commentary that sheds new light on this illustrious legal document.
Wrested by rebellious barons from a very reluctant King John, Magna Carta set out a series of rights and duties that have been appealed to, ignored, suppressed, and argued about ever since. Here, David Carpenter’s forceful new translation is accompanied by extensive commentary that sheds new light on this illustrious legal document.
624 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1215
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* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
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August 9, 2024i love writing whole presentations on one single page of laws
August 13, 2021
Although the Magna Carta itself is an interesting text worthy of historical analysis that I am glad to have read, the rest and indeed, the majority of the Penguin Classics edition edited by David Carpenter, is not. It is honestly a miracle that I finished this book which is largely repetitive phrases about the Magna Carta. I thought about DNFing it several times. Grammatically speaking, there was nothing wrong with the text. Just because a book has no spelling errors, however, does not make it fun to read.
This edition of the Magna Carta is useless to anyone not studying it at a high academic level. There were some interesting facts, but mostly David Carpenter's Magna Carta is twice the length it needs to be and one of the dryest texts I have ever read. The editor tries to fix this by adding informal jokes and quips. They just come across as snobby more than endearing, however. Someone who thinks it is appropriate to compare medieval knights to Nazis clearly needs to rethink the focus of their book!
Overall, although I am glad to have gained a deeper understanding of this influential national text, I could not recommend this edition to anyone.
This edition of the Magna Carta is useless to anyone not studying it at a high academic level. There were some interesting facts, but mostly David Carpenter's Magna Carta is twice the length it needs to be and one of the dryest texts I have ever read. The editor tries to fix this by adding informal jokes and quips. They just come across as snobby more than endearing, however. Someone who thinks it is appropriate to compare medieval knights to Nazis clearly needs to rethink the focus of their book!
Overall, although I am glad to have gained a deeper understanding of this influential national text, I could not recommend this edition to anyone.
October 22, 2015
Great, I imagine, if you have Magna Carta memorized, but otherwise more a reference book than a book. It's entirely possible that every factoid about Magna Carta has been recorded here, by David Carpenter, somewhere. Unfortunately, factoids strung together are not interesting to read.
That said, Carpenter organizes his work clearly enough that the book is eminently skimmable, and I know more about Magna Carta now than I did before I started (which was, admittedly, nothing). But considering how well he writes, and how interesting the story itself is, this is some dry-as-dust stuff.
That said, Carpenter organizes his work clearly enough that the book is eminently skimmable, and I know more about Magna Carta now than I did before I started (which was, admittedly, nothing). But considering how well he writes, and how interesting the story itself is, this is some dry-as-dust stuff.
January 24, 2015
Essential reading if you are one ofDavid Carpener's students and woe betide ye who do not do so. For the general reader this is undigestible. Yes, there are some fascinating facts but there is too much "also true but dull" to wade through. David is clearly highly well informed but also rather self important. Don't read this unless you have to do so.
August 23, 2022
Charter of English liberties granted by King John on June 15, 1215, under threat of civil war and reissued, with alterations, in 1216, 1217, and 1225. By declaring the sovereign to be subject to the rule of law and documenting the liberties held by “free men,” the Magna Carta provided the foundation for individual rights in Anglo-American jurisprudence.
With his conquest of England in 1066, William I secured for himself and his immediate successors a position of unprecedented power. He was able to dominate not only the country but also the barons who had helped him win it and the ecclesiastics who served the English church. He forced Pope Alexander II to be content with indirect control over the church in a land that the papacy hitherto had regarded as bound by the closest ties to Rome. William’s son Henry I—whose accession (1100) was challenged by his eldest brother, Robert, duke of Normandy—was compelled to make concessions to the nobles and clergy in the Charter of Liberties, a royal edict issued upon his coronation. His successor, Stephen (1135), whose hold on the throne was threatened by Henry I’s daughter Matilda, again issued a solemn charter (1136) with even more generous promises of good government in church and state. Matilda’s son Henry II also began his reign (1154) by issuing a solemn charter promising to restore and confirm the liberties and free customs that King Henry, his grandfather, had granted “to God and holy church and all his earls, barons and all his men.” There developed, in fact, through the 12th century a continuous tradition that the king’s coronation oath should be strengthened by written promises stamped with the king’s seal.
Although the volume of common law increased during that period, in particular during Henry II’s reign (which ended in 1189), no converse definition had been secured in regard to the financial liabilities of the baronage to the crown. The baronage also had no definition of the rights of justice that they held over their own subjects. As the Angevin administration became ever more firmly established with learned judges, able financiers, and trained clerks in its service, the baronage as a whole became ever more conscious of the weakness of its position in the face of the agents of the crown. Compounding discontent among the nobility were tax increases during Richard I’s reign (1189–99), which resulted from his Crusade, his ransom, and his war with France. John was confronted with those myriad challenges upon his rise to the throne in 1199. His position, already precarious, was made even weaker because of the rival claim of his nephew Arthur of Brittany and the determination of Philip II of France to end the English hold on Normandy.
Unlike his predecessors, John did not issue a general charter to his barons at the beginning of his reign. At Northampton, however, Archbishop of Canterbury Hubert Walter, royal adviser William Marshal, and justiciar Geoffrey Fitzpeter summoned the nobility and promised, on behalf of the king (who was still in France), that he would render to each his rights if they would keep faith and peace with him. As early as 1201, however, the earls were refusing to cross the English Channel in the king’s service unless he first promised them “their rights.” In 1205, in the face of a threat of invasion from France, the king was compelled to swear that he would preserve the rights of the kingdom unharmed. After the loss of Normandy in 1204, John was forced to rely on English resources alone, and the crown began to feel a new urgency in the matter of revenue collection. Royal demands for scutage (money paid in lieu of military service) became more frequent. The quarrel with Pope Innocent III over the election of Stephen Langton to the see of Canterbury resulted in a papal interdict (1208–13) and left the English church defenseless in the face of John’s financial demands. The excommunication of the king in 1209 deprived him of some of his ablest administrators. It is not surprising then that when peace with the church was made and Langton became archbishop of Canterbury, he emerged as a central figure in the baronial unrest. Indeed, it was Langton who advised that the demand for a solemn grant of liberties from the king be founded on the coronation charter of Henry I.
On June 15, 1215, the document known as the Articles of the Barons was at last agreed upon, and to it the king’s great seal was set. It became the text from which the draft of the charter was hammered out in the discussions at Runnymede, and the final version of the Magna Carta was accepted by the king and the barons on June 19. The charter was a compromise, but it also contained important clauses designed to bring about reforms in judicial and local administration.
With his conquest of England in 1066, William I secured for himself and his immediate successors a position of unprecedented power. He was able to dominate not only the country but also the barons who had helped him win it and the ecclesiastics who served the English church. He forced Pope Alexander II to be content with indirect control over the church in a land that the papacy hitherto had regarded as bound by the closest ties to Rome. William’s son Henry I—whose accession (1100) was challenged by his eldest brother, Robert, duke of Normandy—was compelled to make concessions to the nobles and clergy in the Charter of Liberties, a royal edict issued upon his coronation. His successor, Stephen (1135), whose hold on the throne was threatened by Henry I’s daughter Matilda, again issued a solemn charter (1136) with even more generous promises of good government in church and state. Matilda’s son Henry II also began his reign (1154) by issuing a solemn charter promising to restore and confirm the liberties and free customs that King Henry, his grandfather, had granted “to God and holy church and all his earls, barons and all his men.” There developed, in fact, through the 12th century a continuous tradition that the king’s coronation oath should be strengthened by written promises stamped with the king’s seal.
Although the volume of common law increased during that period, in particular during Henry II’s reign (which ended in 1189), no converse definition had been secured in regard to the financial liabilities of the baronage to the crown. The baronage also had no definition of the rights of justice that they held over their own subjects. As the Angevin administration became ever more firmly established with learned judges, able financiers, and trained clerks in its service, the baronage as a whole became ever more conscious of the weakness of its position in the face of the agents of the crown. Compounding discontent among the nobility were tax increases during Richard I’s reign (1189–99), which resulted from his Crusade, his ransom, and his war with France. John was confronted with those myriad challenges upon his rise to the throne in 1199. His position, already precarious, was made even weaker because of the rival claim of his nephew Arthur of Brittany and the determination of Philip II of France to end the English hold on Normandy.
Unlike his predecessors, John did not issue a general charter to his barons at the beginning of his reign. At Northampton, however, Archbishop of Canterbury Hubert Walter, royal adviser William Marshal, and justiciar Geoffrey Fitzpeter summoned the nobility and promised, on behalf of the king (who was still in France), that he would render to each his rights if they would keep faith and peace with him. As early as 1201, however, the earls were refusing to cross the English Channel in the king’s service unless he first promised them “their rights.” In 1205, in the face of a threat of invasion from France, the king was compelled to swear that he would preserve the rights of the kingdom unharmed. After the loss of Normandy in 1204, John was forced to rely on English resources alone, and the crown began to feel a new urgency in the matter of revenue collection. Royal demands for scutage (money paid in lieu of military service) became more frequent. The quarrel with Pope Innocent III over the election of Stephen Langton to the see of Canterbury resulted in a papal interdict (1208–13) and left the English church defenseless in the face of John’s financial demands. The excommunication of the king in 1209 deprived him of some of his ablest administrators. It is not surprising then that when peace with the church was made and Langton became archbishop of Canterbury, he emerged as a central figure in the baronial unrest. Indeed, it was Langton who advised that the demand for a solemn grant of liberties from the king be founded on the coronation charter of Henry I.
On June 15, 1215, the document known as the Articles of the Barons was at last agreed upon, and to it the king’s great seal was set. It became the text from which the draft of the charter was hammered out in the discussions at Runnymede, and the final version of the Magna Carta was accepted by the king and the barons on June 19. The charter was a compromise, but it also contained important clauses designed to bring about reforms in judicial and local administration.
December 29, 2023
The king is now subject to law.
A check is placed upon arbitrary and tyrannical rule and the whole social order begins to shift towards a tax-based parliamentary system.
But how to conceptualise an ideal standard and subordinate the royal will to a higher principle? The popularity of the Arthurian legends certainly helped, as did the Bible passages on Saul and works by Augustine, Gregory the Great and Isidore of Seville; wording also played a crucial role, 'kingdom' was replaced by broader terms like 'land' or 'England'.
Sealed by King John on the meadows of Runnymede on the 15th of June 1215, the most striking section of the Charter is perhaps its security clause: a permanent commune of 25 men were charged with bringing the King to heel - Magna Carta was not a lofty and philosophical pledge but a gritty and practical tool, a curtailment rather than a liberation.
This book also gives an in-depth discussion into the circumstances under which the Charter was signed as well as an assessment of John himself... not a particularly pleasant individual but not entirely without redeeming qualities.
A quick mention should also be given to the Archbishop of Langton who was instrumental in saving the spirit of the Charter during the ensuing civil war!
A check is placed upon arbitrary and tyrannical rule and the whole social order begins to shift towards a tax-based parliamentary system.
But how to conceptualise an ideal standard and subordinate the royal will to a higher principle? The popularity of the Arthurian legends certainly helped, as did the Bible passages on Saul and works by Augustine, Gregory the Great and Isidore of Seville; wording also played a crucial role, 'kingdom' was replaced by broader terms like 'land' or 'England'.
Sealed by King John on the meadows of Runnymede on the 15th of June 1215, the most striking section of the Charter is perhaps its security clause: a permanent commune of 25 men were charged with bringing the King to heel - Magna Carta was not a lofty and philosophical pledge but a gritty and practical tool, a curtailment rather than a liberation.
This book also gives an in-depth discussion into the circumstances under which the Charter was signed as well as an assessment of John himself... not a particularly pleasant individual but not entirely without redeeming qualities.
A quick mention should also be given to the Archbishop of Langton who was instrumental in saving the spirit of the Charter during the ensuing civil war!
November 4, 2023
Many have heard of the "Magna Carta," but have never read it. It is a difficult, slow read, best digested in small portions. It is useful background for understanding English common law. If you are interested in working in the legal field, give it a try. If you can make it through this, you should have no problem tackling case law.
July 27, 2020
This isn't a book you read for pure entertainment, but rather for educational purposes. Since the Magna Carta was such a foundational document in the history of political science and the inevitable push toward humanism, this is a must read for people interested in political history.
September 13, 2024
The Magna Carta is fascinating both for its history and as a legal document. Carpenter has done a great service in providing a critical and historical commentary on this Great Charter. The one negative review by Matthew Gurteen should be ignored. He probably just has attention span issues.
April 24, 2018
Insightful.
January 19, 2021
I mean, it's Magna Carta.
Read
September 21, 2023Latin w/ English test and extensive commentary. You won't need much more than this for the Magna Carta.
August 4, 2015
An in-depth but readable look at how the (1215) Magna Carta came to be, and how the provisions in the charter affected different members of Angevin society. I only briefly skimmed the chapters on later reissues and later interpretations and effects of the charter, since it's not relevant to my research interests.
June 19, 2015
Extremely well written, though dense.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews