Magna Carta Libertatum,commonly called Magna Carta or sometimes Magna Charta,is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede,near Windsor,on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury,Cardinal Stephen Langton,to make peace between the unpopular king and a group of rebel barons,it promised the protection of church rights,protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment,access to swift and impartial justice,and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown,to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. Neither side stood by their commitments,and the charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III,leading to the First Barons' War.
Henry de Bohun,1st Earl of Hereford of Pleshey Castle in Essex,was an Anglo-Norman nobleman who became Hereditary Constable of England from 1199.
Gilbert de Clare,4th Earl of Hertford,5th Earl of Gloucester,1st Lord of Glamorgan,7th Lord of Clare was the son of Richard de Clare,3rd Earl of Hertford (c. 1153–1217),from whom he inherited the Clare estates. He also inherited from his mother,Amice Fitz William,the estates of Gloucester and the honour of St. Hilary,and from Rohese,an ancestor,the moiety of the Giffard estates. In June 1202,he was entrusted with the lands of Harfleur and Montrevillers.
Hugh Bigod was a member of the powerful early Norman Bigod family and was for a short time the 3rd Earl of Norfolk.
The First Barons' War (1215–1217) was a civil war in the Kingdom of England in which a group of rebellious major landowners led by Robert Fitzwalter waged war against King John of England. The conflict resulted from King John's disastrous wars against King Philip II of France,which led to the collapse of the Angevin Empire,and John's subsequent refusal to accept and abide by Magna Carta,which John had sealed on 15 June 1215.
Richard de Clare,3rd Earl of Hertford,feudal baron of Clare in Suffolk,and lord of Tonbridge in Kent and of Cardigan in Wales,was a powerful Anglo-Norman nobleman with vast landholdings in England and Wales.
Joan Beaufort was Queen of Scotland from 1424 to 1437 as the spouse of King James I of Scotland. During part of the minority of her son James II,she served as the regent of Scotland.
William Marshal,2nd Earl of Pembroke was a medieval English nobleman and was one of the sureties of Magna Carta. He fought during the First Barons' War and was present at the Battle of Lincoln (1217) alongside his father William Marshal,1st Earl of Pembroke,who led the English troops in that battle. He commissioned the first biography of a medieval knight to be written,called L'Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal, in honour of his father.
William d'Aubigny or D'Aubeney or d'Albini,Lord of Belvoir was a prominent member of the baronial rebellions against King John of England. He was one of the signatories of Magna Carta.
William of Huntingfield was a medieval English baron,Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk and one of the sureties of Magna Carta.
Roger de Montbegon was a landowner in northern England,baron of Hornby,and one of the sureties of Magna Carta.
Eustace de Vesci (1169–1216) was an English lord of Alnwick Castle,and a Magna Carta surety. He also held lands in Sprouston,Roxburghshire,Scotland as brother in-law to King Alexander II of Scotland. Eustace was a leader during the Barons' War in 1215 and was killed while undertaking a siege of Barnard Castle in 1216.
Richard de Montfichet was a Magna Carta surety. He was a landowner in Essex.
John FitzRobert is listed as one of the Surety Barons for Magna Carta (1215),although it seems not previously noted as a rebel. He was the son of Robert fitzRoger and Margaret Chesney.
A bill of rights,sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights,is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and private citizens.
1215:The Year of Magna Carta is a historical documentation of life in Medieval England written by author and journalist Danny Danziger and emeritus professor of history at the London School of Economics John Gillingham. It was originally published in 2003 by Hodder &Stoughton,a division of Hodder Headline. In 2004,it was published in the United States by Touchstone. This book is a sequel to Danziger's previous work,The Year 1000,which he co-authored with author Robert Lacey.
The Marshal of the Army of God and the Holy Church was the title displayed from 1215 by Robert Fitzwalter,the leader of the baronial opposition against John,King of England and one of the twenty-five sureties of Magna Carta. He was feudal baron of Little Dunmow,Essex and constable of Baynard's Castle,in London,to which was annexed the hereditary office of castellain and chief banneret of the City of London. He was elected by his fellow barons,and held the title at least from when the rebels armed themselves in Lincolnshire and formally defied King John. He retained the title at least until he received back the custody of Hertford castle in June. He died on 9 December 1235,and is buried in the Priory Church in Little Dunmow.
Thomas Brooke,8th Baron Cobham,lord of the Manor of Cobham,Kent,was an English peer.
Matthew FitzHerbert,Lord of Erlestoke and Stokenham,was an English nobleman and Sheriff of Sussex. FitzHerbert was one of the Counsellors named in Magna Carta in 1215. He was the son of Herbert FitzHerbert and Lucy de Hereford. His elder brother was Peter FitzHerbert.
