Monday, June 15, 2015

800th Birthday of the Magna Carta

King John* reluctantly signing (actually it was sealed not signed) the Magna Carta Libertatum**



* The same King (Prince) John from Robin Hood.

** Magna Carta Libertatum:
The Great Charter of Liberty. I'm happy to say Mr Cameron's Commonwealth cousins across the Atlantic in Ottawa are more on top of things: One of the modestly heartening innovations of Stephen Harper's ministry is that, when immigrants to Canada take the oath of citizenship, they're now given among other things a copy of Magna Carta. 
Why? Because everything flows therefrom - from England's Glorious Revolution to the US Constitution and beyond. It's part of the reason why the English-speaking world, in contrast to Continental Europe, has managed to sustain its freedoms across the generations.

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3 comments:

  1. edutcherJune 15, 2015 at 4:50 AM

    Yes, but was he as cool as Claude Rains?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mike aka ProofJune 15, 2015 at 11:58 AM

      Didn't Anthony Hopkins play him in Lion in Winter?

      Delete
    2. Mike aka ProofJune 15, 2015 at 12:00 PM

      No, he was Richard, but kind of whiny. Nigel Terry played John

      Delete

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