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Article: Spreading the News.(record keeping, and the Magna Carta, in King John's England)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Calliope
- Article date:
- April 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In the centuries before the Magna Carta, agreements were made and kept verbally. This policy began to change in the 1100s and 1200s. There were now more university-trained clerks and more scribes, professional writers who worked for the state. As a result, the written word became increasingly important.
When the barons met with King John, they wanted a record in writing of the rights agreed to by the king. On June 19th, when the king and the barons swore an oath of peace to signal their agreement, the final terms of the document had to be written out in proper legal language.
Because the Magna Carta helped seal the peace accord between King John and the ...