Magna Carta, or “Great Charter,” is one of the most important documents in legal history. Originating in 1215 as a peace treaty between King John and a group of rebellious barons at Runnymede, it put into law the concept of individual liberty and transformed the role of the monarch toward the people. Magna Carta was subsequently revised and reissued throughout the thirteenth century, and the ideas it expressed have had a profound influence, including on the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Pocket Magna Carta reproduces the 1217 reissue of this landmark document, including both the original Latin text and a modern translation, as well as an accessible introduction that traces the background of Magna Carta’s signing and subsequent revisions throughout the centuries. It also explains how the text has become an enduring symbol of freedom in Britain and the wider world. A clear and concise introduction to one of the most important documents in legal history, Pocket Magna Carta will be welcomed by those with an interest in British history or the wider history of Britain in the world.

Bruce Barker-Benfield is a librarian in the Special Collections and Western Manuscripts Department at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.