magna carta & the first barons' war

• on 15th june 1215, at runnymede, just outside windsor, king john put his seal to the most famous agreement every made between an english king and his subjects
• the agreement made between john and the barons was written up as a great charter, or 'magna carta' and was distributed in the shires of england
• due to the magna carta, for the first time ever, the king's authority was clearly limited by the law
• john returned from the continent in 1214 to find his barons in a rebellious mood, as john's failure in normandy angered the barons who had paid for the war
• in his absence, john's justiciar, peter de roches, had further alienated the barons, in particular he had demanded that the barons who had not joined john on campaign should pay the scutage
• de roches' demand was strongly resisted by the barons in yorkshire and, by the time john returned, a distinctive group of rebels had emerged led by eustace de vesci, along with william de mowbray and roger de montbegon, who were both heavily in debt to john
• angry barons gathered in november 1214 at bury st edmunds, with the aim to force john to confirm the coronation charter of his great grandfather, henry I, in which the king promised good government and to respect the customs of the realm
• if john refused to confirm the coronation charter, the barons present at the meeting swore to rebel against him
• coronation charter


  issued by henry I in 1100 at his coronation - in the charter he swore an oath to abolish evil customs and restore good government to england. the 'charter of liberties', as it was called, guaranteed the rights of free englishmen
• customs of the realm

  the rules of local justice that had existed since anglo-saxon times. these rules, or 'customs' had not been written down when they were created and had changed over time, which was a problem because the king and his subjects did not always agree on what the customs were
• john attempted to play for time, so in january 1215, he met his barons at a council meeting in london
• at the council meeting, the barons expected john to confirm the coronation charter, but he refused, saying he would give them a decision on 26th april
• john strengthened his position when he took crusader vows on 4th march, which placed him under the special protection of the church, and meaning his barons were obliged to avoid any actions that would prevent john from going on crusade
• overall, the crusader vows meant john did not have to settle his barons grievances, and they, in turn, were not allowed to rebel
• to stall the barons further, john sent william marshal and stephen langton to negotiate with them, however no agreements were reached and the barons ran out of patience
• a rebel army gathered in northamptonshire in april, and about 39 of john's barons and 1,400 knights were in open rebellion against him
• although the rebellion represented a significant uprising of john's feudal lords, the rebels were still in the minority, as there were 165 barons in england and 6,500 knights
• john could not rely on the support of all his barons and knights because many of them refused to take a side
• the rebels in northamptonshire made further demands on john but, once again, john did not feel under pressure to give in, and the letters of support from the papacy that john received in april gave him the confidence to continue to refuse the rebels' demands
• on 5th may, the rebels took more drastic steps as they renounced their oaths of fealty to john and selected robert fitz walter as their leader
• the rebels attempted to seize the castle at northampton, but failed as it was well-defended by royal forces, before moving onto london, which they captured successfully on 17th may with the help of the londoners
• the threat to john had grown considerably now that the rebels held the capital city
• john had attempted to win the favour of the londoners a month earlier by granting them the right to choose their own mayor, but it had not been enough to secure their loyalty
• the loss of london meant the loss of finances and this would make it difficult for john to end the war quickly
• although chroniclers of the period refer to the rebels as 'the northerners', it is reasonable to suggest that their motivations for rebellion reflected the general discontent amongst the barons and knights class in england
• about half the barons who revolted were not from the north at all, they were barons who held lands in western shires, east anglia, essex, and other places
• the reasons for the baron's rebellion can be defined by the 4Fs: favourites, finance, france and fairness
• money was one of the main reasons for the barons rebellion, which can be seen by the high taxation in the 1214 scutage which especially caused great anger, and john's aggressive pursuit of his feudal rights, with high fines demanded for inheritance, wardship and the property of widows
• power was one of the main reasons for the barons rebellion, which can be seen by the declining role of the barons in government, as they were replaced by 'new men' who were appointed by the king, which reduced the barons' power
• treatment was one of the main reasons for the barons rebellion, which can be seen through john's use of arbitrary powers which denied justice to knights and barons, accusations that john seduced wives and daughters of some barons, and the treatment of the da braose family
• it seems that, even though they had renounced their oath of fealty, the barons were not keen to fight a civil war as john outnumbered them in terms of men and castles, and already was buying support by offering the lands of rebel barons to those who would back him
• john also had the support of the most important baron in england, william marshall
• rather than war, the rebel barons wanted to limit john's power over them
• stephen langton was sent by john to negotiate with the rebels, but may well have been sympathetic to them as, according to roger of wendover, even as early as august 1213, langton was discussing limitations to the king's powers with the barons
• in the final agreement presented to john, the demand for the freedom of the church is emphasised and may be evidence that langton was not an impartial negotiator
• negotiations between the rebels and john took place from 27th may, after a truce had been called
• a document known as the 'articles of the barons' was drawn up and, on 10th june, john agreed that this was the basis for a settlement
• on 15th june, john rode to runnymede in surrey to seal the agreement
• modern images of the event usually show an angry john being forced to agree to the document, however some historians argue that john was eager to affix his seal to the document because he feared that, if he delayed, he might have been presented with terms that placed greater restrictions on him
• once the charter had been sealed, the barons renewed their oaths of fealty and it appeared that the great crisis of john's reign had been resolved