János király és a Magna Carta
King John and Magna Carta

Summary/Abstract: King John of England (1199–1216) has his 'own' historical mythology, known almost worldwide. It is therefore difficult to see his rule unbiased. In the traditional narrative he has every characteristic of a 'bad monarch'. In English medieval history he is an archetype of the immoral and unprincipled ruler with immense ambition. It seems predestined that the barons would oppose the 'evil king' and implement the Magna Carta in 1215 at Runnymede. For a long time, research has not really looked beyond the surface, did not examine in depth how the king governed, contenting itself with the fact that he destroyed the work of his father, the great Plantagenet, Henry II. All we knew was what the Magna Carta implied: he levied taxes in violation of the law. His reign is so overshadowed by the great charter of liberties as if nothing else had happened. There are objective factors that may shed a different light on John’s reign. For decades, Henry II had been building up his own Plantagenet government, a strict system of power that could have been the subject of discontent much earlier. Magna Carta was the result of a longer process. The grievances of the barons can be traced back to the 1170s, and while they cannot be separated from John’s rule, they must be examined in the context of the whole Plantagenet regime. John did nothing but continued his father's methods, but he was now seen as a 'despot'. It is clear that the crisis was not entirely rooted in the king's 'twisted' personality, or his 'diabolical' character. The political and social situation was full of tensions that none of the Plantagenets could have found a remedy for.

• Details
• Contents