"I have deliberately taken the title of this talk from the spoof History of England which was written in 1930. This charming book celebrates the total history in England of 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings, and 2 Genuine Dates. One of the really bad Kings was King John. He was not only a Bad King, but he had begun as a Bad Prince. But of particular interest to this Society he attempted to answer the Irish Question by pulling the beards of the aged Irish Chiefs. This was a Bad Thing – and the wrong answer. I shall come to King John in a minute. According to this history the barons compelled John to sign the Magna Carta, or Charter as the writers describes it, which said that
"No one was to be put to death, save for some reason – (except the Common People) That everyone should be free – (except the Common People) and That the Barons should not be tried except by a special jury of other Barons". That would be because they would understand. Somehow from this the writers deduced, for no logical reason that I can see, that Magna Carta was therefore the chief cause of Democracy. And they are on to something. Professor Sir James Holt is probably the greatest living expert on Magna Carta. He explains:
"Individual liberty, trial by jury, freedom of trade, the supremacy of the law, the separation of justice from politics, all these ideas and others have been read in, and sometimes into "Magna Carta".
