EBOOK Magna Carta: A Very Short Introduction

The Magna Carta has long been considered the foundation stone of the British        Constitution, yet few people today understand either its contents or its context.          This Very Short Introduction introduces the document to a modern audience,        explaining its origins in the troubled reign of King John, and tracing the        significance of the role that it played thereafter as a totemic symbol of the        subject's right to protection against the raw and absolute authority of the        sovereign.Drawing upon the great advances that have been made in the past two        decades in our understanding of thirteenth-century English history, Nicholas Vincent        demonstrates why the Magna Carta continues to be of enormous popular        interest.