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In 1215, King John sealed MagnaCarta by the Thames at Runnymede in Surrey, a charter between the monarch and hisBarons placing limits on his power over freeborn men in the kingdom. Magna Cartaenshrined the principle that all people should be bound by the rule of law,including the monarch, and that the processes of justice must be applied toall. Many political thinkers have celebrated Magna Carta as the first exampleof a bill of rights, an ancient constitution.
This introductory course, based on a new level 5course Commemorating the Past thatwill be offered for the first time in 2015-16, examines the historical rolesthat Magna Carta has played, and the importance of Magna Carta today. Membersof the History Department at Royal Holloway, a college of the University ofLondon, will deliver the course. In addition to the lectures with an explicithistorical focus, the lectures in week fours and five will explore the continuinginternational significance of Magna Carta, and of Runnymede, through video segments produced by lecturers in the Geography Department and the Politics and InternationalRelations Department.
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Week 1
Magna Carta, Parliament and the Law 1215-1300 (Lecturers: Nigel Saul and Jonathan Phillips)
Learning outcome: to set the scene for studying Magna Carta; to show how Magna Carta became embedded in practice in England
Week 2
The reinvention of Magna Carta, 1508-1642 (Lecturer: Justin Champion)
Learning outcomes: to understand how the significance of the Magna Carta was reinvented in the context of the conflict between monarchy and parliament; to explore the use of Magna Carta in political cartoons
Week 3
The Whig Ancient Constitution, 1642-1776 (Lecturer: Justin Champion)
Learning Outcomes: to understand, and examine, how the ‘idea’ rather tha he ‘event’ of Magna Carta became used by conservative and radical political groups; to understand the export of the tradition of Magna Carta into the American colonies
Week 4
Magna Carta and the wider world: constitution making (Lecturer: Emm Johnstone with others)
Learning outcomes include: to understand the significance of Magna Carta and its ideals in the establishme of constitutions and bills of human rights over the past two centuries
Week 5
Public history: memorialisation and memorials (Lecturer: Graham Smith and others)
Learning outcomes include examining the purposes of commemoration in modern society.
Week 6
Magna Carta: A History of an Argument c.1800-2015 (Lecturer: Graham Smith)
Learning outcomes include: to appreciate the complex and contested uses of Magna Carta in contemporary debates about human rights and the rule of law.
