Magna Carta

[Music] the century of Norman rule in England beginning in 1066 with William the Conqueror was a period of conflict between the Norman Kings and their Barons the Kings attempted to Center absolute power in the crown the Barons jealously guarded their ancient feudal rights and local Customs at last in the year 1199 [Music] Richard the lionart was dead but now his brother John came over into England where Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury placed the crown upon his head at his coronation this same King John bound himself by a triple oath namely to love the holy church and its ordained [Music] priests to do away with the bad laws of the Old Kings and to see Justice rightly administered throughout England but of all the kings of England John was to be judged the most harshly by his sub the Judgment of contemporaries we must remember is apt to be faulty we know however that from the first John lived in his native England like a conqueror in the midst of a hostile race taking hostages from the baron families and keeping them prisoner to answer for attempts at revolt no no the almighty God show Mercy to his soul and Grant him the Forgiveness of his sins a cold heart and bloody hand now rules the English land whether King John was in fact the cruel Tyrant painted by his contemporaries is open to question but he was a most unlucky Monarch as the 13th century historian Roger Wendover continues now the French King laid Siege to several castles in Normandy belonging to the king of England and many castles fell but that Noble and warlike Englishman the conable of Ester still defended the entrance against the French he preferred to die in battle to being starved on which he and his Knights armed themselves flew to horse and SED from the castle he [Applause] but at last all kind of Defense failed in those provinces and the whole of Normandy T and Oru fell to the Dominion of the king of the French and Messengers then came to King John with the news saying the king of the French has entered your territory is as an enemy has taken such and such castles carried off the governors of them ignominiously bound to their H's taals and when the king had read this news he said let him do so whatever he now seizes on I will one day recover but the Earls and barons when they learned of John's incorrigible idleness returned home and so left him with only a few soldiers on the 13th of July in the year 125 Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury died Hubert's death was a great Delight light to the king for he had suspected him of being too familiar with the king of the French the appointment of a new Archbishop however led the king to a quarrel with the Great and Powerful Roman Pope Innocent the third Christ Our Lord left to St Peter the governance not of the church only but of the whole world and this quarrel was readily taken up by the Pope's Ally philli King of France behold the most potent King of the French is ready to come down upon you and your kingdom and to expel you from it by force as an enemy of the Lord and his Holiness the pope and so John hastily made his peace with r John by the grace of God King of England Etc to all faithful subjects we wish it to be be known to you that we have in many things offended God and our mother the holy church after this matter was settled then Pope Innocent sent letters to the king of England earnestly asking him to receive with kindness Master Steven Langton as the Archbishop of Canterbury the king now in the year 1214 invaded the Lost provinces in France calling upon his Barons to send Knights to support him as was the ancient custom but many of his Barons refused to send a saying they did not owe the king military service for Foreign Wars [Music] oh [Music] [Music] The Fortunes of War favored the English Invaders at first only to ruin them completely in the end when at length the news of these hard defeats came to the knowledge of John's Barons in England who had opposed his cly War these same Barons determined to act about this time then the Earls and Barons assembled at St Edmund's as if for religious duties after they had discoursed together secretly for a time there was placed before them the charter of King Henry the which Charter contained certain Liberties and laws granted to the holy church as well as to the Nobles of the Kingdom all therefore swore on the great altar that if the king refused to Grant these Liberties they would withdraw from their allegiance to him and make war and word of these matters was brought to John who had taken up his Abode once again in London from the time of his defeats in France John's condition had become worse and worse indeed in so little respect was the power of the English crown held that few could be found who would pay taxes to the king or obey him in anything why amongst these unjust demands did not the Barons ask for my kingdom also I will never grant them Liberties which will make me a slave ever but when John learned at length that he was deserted by almost all John was much alarmed and sent word to the Barons to appoint A fitting day and place to meet [Music] hence the Barons in their great joy appointed the 15th day of June for the king to meet them at runny me a field lying between stains and Windor accordingly the king and Nobles came to the appointed conference and at length King John seeing that he was inferior in strength to the Barons granted his Charter as follows we will sell to no man we will not deny to any man either Justice or right no free man shall be taken or imprisoned or in any way destroyed unless by the verdict of his peers or the law of the land wherefore it is our will and we firmly enjoin that the English church shall be free thus on a June day more than 700 years ago an English king met with his nobleman to discuss a charter of Liberties to the common people of the time it is true the provisions of the charter meant little yet although John's Barons had for the most part selfish aim Magna cartter limited the powers of the king the Barons brought the king in other words under the law thus no matter what the baron aims Magna Carta established forever a Timeless idea the idea that government whether Royal or otherwise is limited by the written law of the land and hence as the centuries passed the charter was to prove the Forerunner of the Declaration of Parliament and the English Bill of Rights of the American Declaration of Independence and the Constitution it was to be recognized as one of the great documents of freedom [Music]