If, as is likely, you have used Google today, you may have noticed a peculiar Google Doodle just above that search field on the website homepage. It looks like an animated cartoon about history, with a king and… who are those people surrounding him? Allow us to enlighten you: it’s all marking the 800th anniversary of a crucial historical document called the Magna Carta.
On June 15, 1215, near the River Thames in Runneymede in England, King John stamped his seal on the Magna Carta – that word means ‘Great Charter’ in Latin – under pressure from barons disgruntled with his tyrannical rule. The document set out many terms that today remain cornerstones of the British constitution, including limits to representation-free taxation and legal entitlement to a fair trial.
The Magna Carta has genuinely international significance, as its principles have become commonly cited in many other countries around the world. For example, the document inspired the American colonists who fought for independence, ironically from the British, and was also referred to during the writing up of the US constitution.
