Click2History - The Magna Carta: Source of Civil Rights, Cross Purposes at Runnymede, Chapter 4

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>THE <i>MAGNA CARTA</i></p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 4 - CROSS PURPOSES AT RUNNYMEDE</font></p> </font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">In order to appease his nobles, John agreed to <a href="http://www.paulb.com/kjohn5.htm" target="_blank"><b>meet</b></a> at <a href="http://www.surreytourism.org.uk/historic/" target="_blank"><b>Runnymede</b></a> (a field near <a href="http://www.vivastudy.com/windsor4.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Windsor Castle</b></a>) on June 15, 1215. Even as he agreed to meet, however, John did not intend to keep his word.</p> <p>Presented with the <i>Magna Carta</i>, <a href="http://unllib.unl.edu/brs/arch/slides/lawriee.html" target="_blank"><b>he agreed</b></a> to its <a href="http://www.bl.uk/diglib/magna-carta/magna-carta-text.html" target="_blank"><b>terms</b></a> for one purpose only: to buy time. A contemporary chronicler, <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13116c.htm" target="_blank"><b>Roger of Wendover</b></a> (a monk who worked at <a href="http://www.newgreens.demon.co.uk/sta2.jpg" target="_blank"><b>St. Albans Abbey</b></a>), tells us what <a href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/wendover1215.html" target="_blank"><b>happened</b></a>:</p> <blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>King John, when he saw that he was deserted by almost all, so that out of his regal superabundance of followers he scarcely retained seven knights, was much alarmed lest the barons would attack his castles and reduce them without difficulty, as they would find no obstacle to their so doing; and he deceitfully pretended to make peace for a time with the aforesaid barons...</b></i></font></blockquote> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">As the king and his nobles met, John continued to recognize he was in no position to bargain. Roger of Wendover <a href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/wendover1215.html" target="_blank"><b>continues</b></a>:</p> <blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>...At length, after various points on both sides had been discussed, king John, seeing that he was inferior in strength to the barons, without raising any difficulty, granted the underwritten laws and liberties, and confirmed them by his charter...</b></i></font></blockquote> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">King John granted rights because he perceived he had no other choice. But another powerful man - <a href="http://www.unf.edu/classes/freshmancore/core1images/InnocentIIIsubiaco.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Pope Innocent III</b></a> - had a different reaction to the barons’ demands.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="magna_carta_ch3.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="magna_carta_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="magna_carta_ch5.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>