MAGNA CARTA - LAW LIBERTY, LEGACY

Описание: MAGNA CARTA - LAW LIBERTY, LEGACY

CLAIRE BREAY & JULIAN HARRISON    Book Number: 81447    Product format: Paperback

Accompanying the British Library's superb 800th centenary Magna Carta exhibition in 2015, this book is both a catalogue and a collection of articles tracing the Charter's significance through the centuries. In our own era, Tony Blair's Prevention of Terrorism Bill of 2005 was widely criticised as undermining the civil liberties enshrined in the Charter, and a Times cartoon shows Blair holding a revised bill of rights entitled "Mini Carta". During the War the British government considered giving the US one of Britain's four precious copies of the original Charter in order to encourage them to enter the War, and in 1915 the Suffragette movement celebrated the 700th anniversary by demonstrations for women's rights. In actual fact, when Magna Carta was drawn up in 1215 it was by no means clear that it was a world-changing document. King John's Barons demanded what they regarded as their ancestral rights and privileges, but because John had placed the country under papal overlordship the Runnymede agreement was annulled by Pope Innocent III only months later. High quality reproductions bring the different copies of the Charter up close, and there is also a page from a 13th century manuscript depicting the alleged poisoning of King John, showing a monk of Swineshead Abbey offering him a cup, watched with gleeful interest by his brethren. The death of Charles I and the Reform Act are just two major milestones in the Charter's history, and another exhibition highlight is a comic poem by the author of "The Lion and Albert". 272pp, softback, numerous colour illustrations.
Published price: £25
Bibliophile price: £11.00