Magna Carta limits the English crown
- Date
- 15 June 1215
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- England
- Era
- Post-Classical / Medieval
- Significance
In 1215, rebellious English barons confronted the unpopular King John over heavy taxation, arbitrary justice and the abuses of royal power that had followed his military failures in France.
Meeting at Runnymede, a meadow on the Thames, the king set his great seal to a charter of liberties on 15 June 1215, with the final text agreed days later. Magna Carta ('Great Charter') guaranteed the rights of the Church, protected 'free men' from unlawful imprisonment and dispossession except by lawful judgement, and asserted that even the king was subject to the law of the land. Though John repudiated it within weeks and Pope Innocent III annulled it, the charter was reissued by John's successors and entered English law. Its core principle — that royal authority is limited and accountable — became foundational. Clauses on due process and judgement by peers were later read as the seed of habeas corpus and trial by jury, and Magna Carta became a touchstone for constitutional government, individual liberty and the rule of law across the English-speaking world.
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Empires active in 15 June 1215
- Jurchen Jin Dynasty1115 CE – 1234 CE
- Mongol Empire1206 CE – 1368 CE
- Kanem-Bornu Empire700 CE – 1900 CE
- Song Dynasty960 CE – 1279 CE
- Abbasid Caliphate750 CE – 1258 CE
- Byzantine Empire330 CE – 1453 CE
Related politics & governance events
- Temüjin proclaimed Genghis Khan, uniting the Mongols1206 CE
- Kublai Khan founds the Yuan dynasty and conquers Song China1271 CE (conquest completed 1279)
- Founding of the Delhi Sultanate under Qutb al-Din Aibak1206 CE
- Founding of Tenochtitlan by the Mexica1325 CE
- Founding of the Iroquois Confederacy and the Great Law of Peacec. 1450 (scholarly estimate; oral tradition as early as 1142)
- Foundation of the Vijayanagara Empire1336 CE
Further reading
The wider story
Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire
Vivid, thematic popular history by a top Byzantinist.
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