This week, Roy and I decided that we should visit somewhere which would commemorate a very important event whose anniversary fell in the last week. Last Tuesday, the 15th of June was the anniversary of the signing of a letter called the Magna Carta, a letter which is the basis of much of our law and government. To commemorate this occasion, Roy and I decided to visit the Magna Carta Place and the Magna Carta Monument in Canberra, just outside the Old Government House Rose Gardens.
The Magna Carta is a very important part of our history, even though it was signed nearly eight hundred years ago, in 1215. It set out lots of rules which the King (or Queen) and government had to follow, and although we don't use many of these laws today, the ideals of the Magna Carta remain very strong in our legal systems and human rights laws. The most important thing which the Magna Carta gave the people was protection from the King or Government doing something which was wrong and this gave people greater security and freedom. As you can see from the pictures, Roy was enjoying this freedom when we visited the monument, and decided to make a floral crown to commemorate the occasion! He will teach you to make one later in the year when daisies are back in season.
The most famous of the laws which is still used today is called Habeas Corpus and prevents people being arrested or held in secret by the government or the King or Queen. This means that whereas before the Magna Carta was signed people sometimes just disappeared having been kidnapped by the rulers, that can't be done in countries like Australia, England and America.
So, why did we need the Magna Carta in the first place? Since the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the Kings of England had been assuming more and more power, which was not a bad thing at all, as long as the kings were good and kind. In 1199 though, King Richard died and was replaced by his brother, King John. John wasn't such a good king, loosing the English land in France and making land owners pay extra taxes. He even fought with the Pope about who should control the Catholic Church in England and the fight was so bad that the Pope excommunicated him!You might know a little about King John (and King Richard) from the legend of Robin Hood.
Soon enough the wealthy, powerful men in England decided that they wanted to control a little more of the Kings power. The wrote a letter, the Magna Carta (Latin for Great Charter) that said that everybody had certain rights which the King could not take away and that the king had to obey the law. The letter set out many 'laws' and King John was forced to sign it at Runnymede. The Lords then formed what was called the Council of the King which helped to curb some of the kings power. This council could prevent the King from doing things which they thought were wrong and even remove him from ruling if he broke the law. If you would like to learn more about the Magna Carta, or what the Magna Carta said, click here, here or here.