On June 15th 1215 one of the most important ever produced in English history, came into being in a meadow near Windsor Castle. Effectively a peace treaty, the document which came to be known as 'Magna Carta' got the Royal Seal from King John. The document was doomed, or so it should have been, being annulled almost immediately. So how come we know about it now? How is it still so important? In this week's episode, I take you to Runnymede to introduce you to the events of 1215, then we look at the document itself and how Magna Carta has been used at various times in history, including on both sides of the argument to abolish slavery.  Finally, we discuss the enduring myth around what Magna Carta actually is and how that differs from our collective understanding of it and ask the question, does that discrepancy actually matter?

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tdn66799-T8

⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️  Suggested Further Reading and Watching 

Books: Magna Carta: The True Story Behind the Charter - David Starkey Magna Carta: The Making and Legacy of the Great Charter - Dan Jones Magna Carta (Penguin Classics) by David Carpenter  

The Clauses: https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/the-clauses-of-magna-carta  

The Magna Carta over Time: https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/magna-carta-in-the-modern-age https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/why-magna-carta-still-matters-today  Canterbury Magna Carta https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/heritage/collections/a-history-of-canterbury-cathedral-in-20-documents/canterbury-cathedral-and-magna-carta-the-pine-magna-carta/  

Slavery and Magna Carta. Below are a number of really useful and informative: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britains-colonial-shame-slave-owners-given-huge-payouts-after-abolition-8508358.html https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs//  

This article is about a, since deleted, tweet casually sent out by the UK Treasury in 2015. The tweet took on a congratulatory tone, cheerfully telling the taxpaying population that they have now paid off the debt created at the abolition of slavery to compensation slave owners and therefore have helped contribute to the end of slavery. https://www.rt.com/uk/418814-slave-compensation-bristol-taxpayer/  BBC Series https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b062nqpd/britains-forgotten-slave-owners-1-profit-and-loss  

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