David Carpenter, who recently published a new translation of the Magna Carta, reflects on its 800th anniversary:
In 1215 Magna Carta was an elitist document, yet by the end of the 13th century it had become known across society,
and all sections of society, legitimately or not, were laying claim to its benefits. … Already in 1215 itself the Charter had been translated from Latin into French, the vernacular language of the nobility. By the end of the 13th century the Charter was being proclaimed in English, the language of everyone else.
In around 1300, the peasants of Bocking in Essex … appealed to Magna Carta in a struggle against their lord’s bailiff. In the 1350s, legislation defined the “no free man” as “no man of whatever condition”. The Charter seemed increasingly to have a universal application. It had established the base from which it would go around the world…
View original post 236 more words
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments