Published in Windlesora 31 (2015)
© WLHG
This year Windsor and much of the rest of the world celebrated the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. Why is Magna Carta so important to us today? After all, the original document sealed by King John at Runnymede or Ankerwycke in June 1215 was almost immediately annulled by Pope Innocent III, and declared null and void.
King John had made himself unpopular by raising more and more taxes to finance his unsuccessful wars in France, finally losing Normandy where many of his barons held land. He was also said to be tyrannical and unjust. Matthew Paris, a 13th century chronicler wrote:
Foul as it is, hell itself is made fouler by the presence of King John.
Eventually, 26 barons rebelled and declared war on King John. After taking London, crown they invited the King to a series of meetings at Runnymede and Ankerwycke, and compelled him to put his seal to a document, which limited his authority, but gave greater rights to the barons. Some of the clauses are still valid today, but now apply to every man and woman in the land, not just the ruling elite:
Clause 12: No tax shall be levied except by common consent.
Clause 39: No free man is to be arrested or imprisoned, or outlawed or exiled, or in any other way ruined, nor will we go against him, except by the legal judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
Clause 40: To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay, right or justice.
After John got the Pope to annul the document, the barons again took up arms against him. They invited Prince Louis, the son of the King of France to take over the crown, and attacked Windsor Castle, while the King went north to stifle rebellion there. However, on 19 October 1216 he did the decent thing and died.
The barons immediately abandoned Prince Louis; they rallied around Prince Henry, John’s nine-year-old son, and had him crowned as Henry III. William Marshall served as protector to the young king, and under his influence, Magna Carta was re-erected, shortened and acquired its present name.
Dr. Brigitte Mitchell
Magna Carta Celebrated
Sheila Wallace, the Headmistress of Upton House School Windsor from 1965 to 1987, believed in the old Chinese saying:
I hear, I forget
I See, remember
I do and I understand
So it was, that Sheila took the pupils on many visits and involved them in numerous projects in and around Windsor.
History came alive for the 6th Form pupils when, dressed in tabard and hose, the pupils were taken by car to Runnymede.
Parents had been invited to meet them there for a picnic, and were highly amused and entertained by the girls in costume, re-enacting the ’signing’ of the Magna Carta.
I have no doubt that all the girls who took part would always remember the Great Charter, a formal agreement between the Barons and King John.
Windsor Local History Group 