On todays episode of Modern Notion Daily, our guest is David Starkey, author of Magna Carta: The Medieval Roots of Modern Politics (Quercus, September 2015). Starkey was less interested in exploring the principles of the Magna Carta, and more interested in the process it took to get the document just right. In the year 1215, when the Magna Carta was first signed (or sealed, depending on who you ask), the document was quite extreme. But over the course of a decade, the parties involved negotiated the terms and arrived at what we think of as the bedrock for American and British politics today.

Music this hour:

“Forgiven Not Forgotten” by Jahzzar, from the album Kuddelmuddel

“The Presidents March” by The United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, from the album Celebrating 50 Years

“Soldiertype (militarised)” by Ketsa, from the album What’s Without’s Within