Week 8
From Henry II to John I, The Plantagenets
The reign of King John
The Rights of Englishmen.
June 1215.
Crisis of the political order.
The most important document in all of Western Civilization.
The origins of all legal protections of the individual in Western Civilization.
England, America, Canada, Australia etc. and human rights.
RECOMMENDED READING:
The best edition of the Magna Carta comes from A. E. Dick Howard of the University of Virginia. Professor Howard has produced an excellent small economical edition with the whole text of the Magna Carta along with excellent analysis.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOK
The best book that we have now on the Magna Carta is a new book from Dan Jones, the expert on the Plantagenets. Jones has given us the perfect overall study of the Plantagenet family Henry II, Richard, John, and all the relationships that contributed to the situation in England in 1215. And also he gives us an account of the social and political context of the great document. It is good history and as always with Dan Jones, a good read.
Reviews:
"Lively and excellent."
—The New York Times
"By putting the Magna Carta in its proper historical context, the brilliant young historian Dan Jones triumphantly answers the questions he poses in his Introduction, about how it came to be granted, what it meant at the time, and what it should mean to us today."
—Andrew Roberts, New York Times bestselling author of Napoleon
"Excellent and very well-crafted."
—The New York Review of Books
"Dan Jones has an enviable gift for telling a dramatic story while at the same time inviting us to consider serious topics like liberty and the seeds of representative government."
—Antonia Frasier