Preserving the Magna Carta myth

'No freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned... except by the lawful judgement of his peers and by the law of the land’

Magna Carta - Clause 39

MYTHS generally exist for the sole purpose of being debunked - but there are certain myths which deserve to endure the test of time simply because of their undeniable symbolic importance.

The Magna Carta - which today celebrated its 800th anniversary - is one such example.

Still now seen as a symbol of the foundation of liberty and modern day democracy, the 1215 Magna Carta was effectively just a peace treaty between unpopular King John and a bunch of rebellious barons.

It did include the clause - 'No freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned... except by the lawful judgement of his peers and by the law of the land’ - which remains in English law today.

But, at first, it was actually a terrible failure. Within months, Pope Innocent III annulled the Charter at King John's request - and, in October 1216, John became ill and died.

Consequently, Henry III inherited the throne - a nine-year-old boy who, under the instructions of John, came under the guardianship of William Marshal, an important knight.

Marshal was also a skilled politician and, under renewed pressure from the barons, thought it best to renegotiate a settlement in 1216.

It was only really at that point that it became clear the Magna Carta was here to stay - and it remained for many years a living document which was frequently updated until its issue under Edward I in 1297.

Even then, of course, it still only served the purposes of a few nobles and barons, and not the people at large - but, as the centuries rolled by, it remained in the public consciousness.

Indeed, in the 17th century specifically, the Magna Carta became an important starting point for those arguing against the absolute authority of the English monarchy.

The arguments between the Crown and the politicians rumbled on and England slipped into an inevitable Civil War.

The seven-year conflict ended with the execution of Charles I - and England briefly became a republic under Oliver Cromwell.

Cromwell's death led to the Restoration of the House of Stuart in 1660 - but absolute monarchy lasted a mere 28 years more.

For, in 1688, William and Mary were invited by Parliament to overthrow (the last) Catholic monarch James II in the Glorious Revolution before enacting the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights finally brought to an end absolute monarchy and recognised the supremacy of Parliament - and yet, it still left huge swathes of the country disenfranchised.

Catholics were particularly hard-done by, and the working man - and woman - remained without the vote, something which would effectively become another major social struggle, lasting until the last century.

Over the Atlantic Ocean, meanwhile, revolutionaries in the United States explicitly referenced the Magna Carta when forming their Constitution - and so, its iconic symbolic status was nonetheless reconfirmed.

Again, in 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - and Eleanor Roosevelt expressed her hope that it would become “the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere”.

And so, this brings us up to the present day, and the hard-fought freedoms to which Frank Turner refers in his song 'Sons of Liberty'.

Certainly, in many ways, the British Isles feel socially more liberal than ever before. For example, more people from poorer backgrounds attend Higher Education than ever before, despite the high-profile increase in tuition fees.

Elsewhere, the hitherto conservative Irish last month legalised gay marriage by a comfortable 62-38 margin.

But the 21st century has also provided clear evidence of the limits of people power. Millions marched against the Iraq war in 2003 and yet the war still went ahead.

Meanwhile, Wikileaks and Edward Snowden confirmed the suspicion that our governments were spying on us - something which the current majority Conservative administration seems to revel in, if revived plans for a snoopers' charter are anything to go by.

Last month's general election was also an instance of public disenfranchisement. The antiquated first past the post system resulted in UKIP (3.8m) and the Green Party (1.1m) polling nearly 5m votes for the grand total of one seat each.

Moreover, the Liberal Democrats, with 2.4m votes, were reduced to a rump of eight seats - while the Scottish National Party won 56 from 1.4m ballots.

George Dangerfield famously wrote a book in 1935 titled The Strange Death of Liberal England about the decline of the Liberal Party in the inter-war years.

And, if he were still alive today, he could certainly now write a second edition about the Lib Dems.

Yes, sadly, big 'L' liberalism did lose its way somewhat in the coalition. True, they moderated some of the Conservatives' right-wing tendencies but they also voted through too many things they never should have.

Nevertheless, small 'l' liberalism will always have a place in British politics and society - the mythical status of the Magna Carta will see to that.

This blog post was based on Magna Carta and the Changing Face of Revolt, an exhibition at Palace Green Library in Durham from 1 June-31 August which features the only surviving 1216 issue of the Charter. Tickets available here.

So if ever a man should ask you for your business or your name,
Tell him to go and fuck himself, tell his friends to do the same
Because a man who'd trade his liberty for a safe and dreamless sleep
Doesn't deserve the both of them and neither shall he keep

Frank Turner - Sons of Liberty - Poetry of the Deed (2009)