Description
Book SynopsisFor its 800th anniversary, a new edition of one of democracy’s founding legal documents, with extensive new commentaryWrested by rebellious barons from a very reluctant King John,
Magna Carta set out a series of rights and duties that have been appealed to, ignored, suppressed, and argued about ever since. Here, David Carpenter’s forceful new translation is accompanied by extensive commentary that sheds new light on this illustrious legal document.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Trade ReviewLively and detailed, Carpenter's elucidations confirm the commonly held view of King John ("mockery...cruelty...arrogance...fearful suspicions"), while probing the background to Runnymede. From June 1215, Magna Carta "asserted the rule of law" and laid the basis for the tax-based parliamentary state. Yet it also buttressed existing hierarchy - not good news for women or unfree peasants -- Christopher Hirst * The Independent *
Of all the books that commemorated the octingentenary of the signing of Magna Carta, the one that stands out for me is David Carpenter's new Penguin Classics edition. Not only does Carpenter vividly re-create the vicious civil war that precipitated the intense drama at Runnymede, he reminds us of the equally vicious civil war that followed, leading to the extraordinary invitation from the rebel barons to Prince Louis of France to replace John on the throne. No less important, Carpenter settles the Great Charter into the social and economic life of a growing nation in which the feudal structures were beginning to erode and a country of free citizens was soon to emerge.
David Carpenter deserves to replace Sir James Holt as the standard authority, and an unfailingly readable one too. -- Ferdinand Mount * TLS *
