The Great Charter
by cricketjeff on June 15, 2015. © Jeff Green, All rights reserved
Eight hundred years ago the Magna Carta
Was sealed at Runnymede to end a war,
The barons and the King agreed to barter
Unwritten rules for dignity and law.
No longer should the mighty walk unhindered
Across the rights all men were born to hold.
The courts could see that flashpoints stayed untindered
And freedoms earned could not be bought for gold.
Though Kings and Lords have tried to steer around it
Its simple words still give us dignity
In darkest times the least of us have found it
And many times it’s set enslaved men free
The worst of kings by murdering his knights
Began the march to universal rights.
Author notes
Not a great sonnet, and not for judging of course!
There isn’t really one Magna Carta, the important document that still one
cornerstone of English (and therefore American) common law evolved over the
next few years, but 1215 saw the start of Kings not only promising to uphold
the law at their coronations and then doing whatever the hell they liked, but
being held to those promises. A council of barons, clergymen and others were
put in place to see that agreements were kept.
English