EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
The Magna Carta and its Legacy
Nigel Saul, University of London
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E Magna Carta and the Medieval World Notes taken on January 14, 2015 by Edward Tanguay |
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England 800 years ago when the Magna Carta was signed
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differences
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communication much slower
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society was much more localized
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much less crowded, 3 million compared to today's 60 million
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the landscape peppered with villages
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surrounded by wide open fields
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tilled by the peasantry
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a small proportion were free
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not slaves, but tied to the land
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worked on the land
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produced a surplus most of which was turned over to those who ruled England
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the aristocracy
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land owners
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dwellings
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kings lived in castles
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knights lived in manor houses
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cathedrals
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Salisbury Cathedral
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begun in 1220 just after the Magna Carta
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built in 38 years
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economy
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economically less developed than more advanced areas of continental Europe where the cloth industry flourished
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Flanders
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Northern Italy
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England had a cloth industry but less industrialized
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but England had sheep
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exported wool to Flanders
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wool was like oil is today
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England had it
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Flanders wanted it
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because of wool, England was a wealthy country
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governed by a powerful monarchy
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a rural society
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the fruits of wealth were the fruits of the soil
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London
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today: 9 million
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13th century: 40,000 people
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people could fit in a small sports stadium
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Magna Carta
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the product of
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relatively wealthy society
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mainly because of wool exports to Flanders
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country where the monarchy was a dynamic force
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England was well-governed and politically advanced compared to its European counterparts
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a "much governed country"
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King John
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known for signing the Magna Carta in 1215 which promised
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the protection of church rights
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protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment
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access to swift justice
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limitations on feudal payments to the Crown
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England's administration in 1200
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divided into shires, or counties, which describe the same thing
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chief office of the king in each county was the sheriff
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in charge of local tax collection
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the reason he was so bitterly unpopular
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like the Sheriff of Nottingham in the Robin Hood legends
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densely forested
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a third to a quarter of England was covered by forest
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it had its own law
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law was oppressive
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if you were caught hunting the king's game
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imprisonment
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mutilation
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this explains phrases in the Magna Carta limiting the forest's boundaries