Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader actually started to write a post. Actually there are, he sees, three draft posts in the hopper. If he can bring himself to finish them it will be a startling output for this blog given his recent posting habits.
Before today was out, June 15, 2015, he did want to make note (in passing) of today being the 800th Anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta. Much hay is being made today about Magna Carta and what it does or doesn’t mean in the grand scheme of history and the Anglo-American legal/constitutional system. You have pedants who declaim that we, today, put much more value on the document than it was granted from 1215 to the 19th Century. Others say that Magna Carta is one in a long line of charters that all form the basis of the British Constitution. Still others say it is the bedrock upon which all of the British Constitution rests.
As with most claims of this sort, there is a kernel of truth to them all. Your Maximum Leader, personally, likes to think of Magna Carta as the first significant step towards our modern concept of liberty. Although only three clauses of Magna Carta still hold sway in Britain (chief among them the “right” of habeas corpus - a right for which all of us in the west should be thankful), it was the process of reissuing the charter over the reigns of monarchs after King John and the slow expansion of rights that are what we are celebrating today.
In case you want to read more here are some links for ye:
The Economist has a short piece for you.
Here is a piece on the “myths” of Magna Carta.
This is another great piece in The Economist on Magna Carta and William Marshall. (Don’t know who William Marshall is? You can click here to find out about one of Medieval England’s greatest Lords from Wikipedia or (even better) Badass of the Week.)
Take a moment today to lift a glass (of wine, beer - your choice) and toast the Great Charter.
Oh yes… And if you care to know… Today is also your Maximum Leader’s 46th birthday. He mentions this because when he was dating Mrs Villain (years ago) she asked what his birthday was. He wouldn’t tell her. She asked for a clue. He responded that his birthday was on the same date as Magna Carta being sealed in 1215. She was quite cross when she had to find a history book and look up the date when he wouldn’t relent and just tell her.
Carry on.
