Category: History

Kate Sheppard and $10

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn History, People

I want to talk about Kate Sheppard and in particular, a $10NZ banknote. Why? Because in New Zealand, Kate and her allies, did something that can still bring a smug smile and a wink to any New Zealander.1 She remains to this day, an important figure and icon in New Zealand; but in my humble opinion, to the world as well.

Before I rant on about this, I realise that all of the following information can be found on the internet and in books, so the information is easy to access, if you want it. The reason I’m writing this, is because I think she was an arse kicker and to me, that’s awesome.

Kate Sheppard National Memorial, Christchurch, New Zealand

Image by Christchurch City Libraries

Alright, let’s back the trailer up and try to explain what this is all about. Catherine Wilson Malcolm was born in Liverpool, England on the 10th March 1847/48.2 As she grew up, Kate revealed that she preferred the spelling of her name to be “Katherine” or just “Kate.” Kate’s family emigrated to Christchurch, New Zealand in 1868, after the death of her father. The family joined a church once they were settled in Christchurch and she later married Walter Sheppard in 1871.

From there, Kate became more involved in many different committees and organisations around Christchurch, as well as giving birth and raising their son, Douglas. One of the groups that she joined was the women’s suffrage movement.

Kate Sheppard in 1905

Image by H. H. Clifford from Wikipedia

At the time, the women’s suffrage movement was established in various countries around the world, with New Zealand being one of them. Their quest was for women to be treated and seen as equal, and to be able to vote in democratic elections.

The right for women to vote is taken for granted in many countries today, but in reality, you don’t have to go back in time that far, to a period when no countries allowed it. That was going to change, because this was something that lit a fire in Kate and her future in activism.

Kate joined the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of New Zealand (WCTUNZ) and started campaigning for some employment and alcohol reforms, by creating petitions for the public to sign, then promoting them to Parliament.

These petitions failed in Parliament, so Kate and her allies came to the conclusion, until women were given the vote, Parliament would just keep ignoring their petitions. To be taken seriously, they would need to be seen as equals first. At the time, every single member of Parliament was male and little did they know, a storm was gathering and it was headed straight towards them.

Over the next few years, the women’s suffrage movement became the rallying cry for change in New Zealand. Kate and her allies began holding more conferences, writing to newspapers, running community meetings and lobbying Parliamentary members for their support of women’s suffrage; by travelling up and down the country.

Kate was becoming a powerful orator and writer on women’s suffrage, to the effect that she wrote many articles for newspapers, as well writing and sending a leaflet to every single member of the House of Representatives; titled Ten Reasons Why the Women of New Zealand Should Vote. To me, that’s so bad arse, but brilliant at the same time.

After a new bill in 1888, reinforced the exclusion of women to vote, Kate and her allies decided to, well…dial it up to 11. The women campaigned harder, connecting and reaching more citizens with their message of election equity. It was in this phrase of the movement that the national petitions were created.

Two national petitions were signed by women, for the right for them to vote. The first petition gained 10,085 signatures in 1890; and in 1892, the second petition had 20,274 signatures. Both petitions failed at Parliament. Not defeated by this, Kate and her relentless allies organised yet another petition!

In 1893, the third petition was the largest to ever to be presented to the New Zealand Parliament, at the time. By the end, the petition was 270m long and held 31,872 women’s signatures. The thing is, 31,872 does not seem a huge number by today’s standards; however the estimated population of New Zealand, at the time was around 698,500. Nearly 4.5% of the population signed the third petition!

The first page of the third Women’s Suffrage Petition, 1893.

Image by Archives New Zealand via Wikipedia

That was enough for the subject of women’s suffrage, to be not just discussed in newspapers and town halls, but now over the dinner table. Grandmothers, mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, granddaughters and nieces, were asking their grandfathers, fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, grandsons and nephews, what their stance was on the right for women to vote.

The question of the women’s vote, was not something the Boys’ club could ignore anymore. Members of Parliament were being questioned by female family members. To me and quite possibly only me, I call this the Storm of 1893 and you can’t hold back a storm; not even Parliament could.

In 1893, the Electoral Bill was passed and on 19th September 1893, it became law. Although other states and territories had already done this around the world, New Zealand had become the first self governing nation in the world, to give the vote to all adult females. Even after 128 years, it still gives the nation a huge amount of pride.

There were many different women that campaigned for women’s suffrage in New Zealand. They included Ada Wells; Mary Müller; Lily Atkinson; Meri Mangakāhia; Annie Jane Schnackenberg; and many other courageous women. However, after this victory, Kate was seen as the leader of the New Zealand women’s suffrage movement.

Kate went on to became a pioneer journalist and editor of the White Ribbon-the first newspaper, in New Zealand to be published, managed and owned by women; remarry after her first husband’s death; continued her activism in politics; as well as leading several groups and organisations. Kate also met with different leaders of the women’s suffrage movement in the United Kingdom and United States of America.

Kate passed away on 13th July 1934 in Christchurch, New Zealand. She left no living descendants and was buried with her mother and brother. There has been quite a few commemorations to Kate over the years from memorials; busts; streets; football cups; pedestrian lights; plays; as well as making into several top 5 lists, for the greatest New Zealanders of all time.

A Kate Sheppard pedestrian light in Wellington, New Zealand.

Image by PARLIAMENT.NZ

So, we have now arrived at the question; what has Kate Sheppard got to do with $10? The answer to that is quite simple; she’s on it. Previously, the NZ$10 featured Queen Elizabeth II, but during the 1990’s, all of the banknotes were redesigned.

In 1993, the NZ$10 was released to pay tribute to the centennial of women winning the vote in New Zealand. Kate Sheppard was displayed on the front of the note, with one of her most famous and iconic photographs.

Image by Reserve Bank of New Zealand

To me, I think it’s fantastic that she’s on it, because her image serves as a constant reminder to the people of Aotearoa that doing the right thing, isn’t difficult; you just have to persevere and be brave enough to do it.

The poet Jessie Mackay, once described Kate as “…the woman whose life and personality made the deepest mark upon New Zealand’s history.” There have been many truly amazing women over the years, who have all made a hugely positive impact on New Zealand, whether it’s through science, arts, race relations, sports or politics. Kate Sheppard has more than earnt her place among these inspirational women.

Anyway, thanks for reading and see you next week!

1 I know we don’t mean to do it, but as a nation, we’re pretty proud of this.

2 This sounds strange, but there are two different years attributed to her birth year. One account says her birthdate was 10th March 1847, while another states 10th March 1848.

Ukraine and Russia: What’s old is new again

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Geography, History

I want to talk about Ukraine and Russia. Why? Because both countries have been making the news for the wrong reasons. Tensions still exist between these neighbouring countries, so I thought it would be a nice time to relax and try unravel the inter-connected histories of Ukraine and Russia. It’s time for a geo-political lesson!

Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe and it shares borders with Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova and of course, Russia. Ukraine also borders the Black Sea to the south, though we will come back to that later. It also has the Dniper River running through the country from north to south.

Image by Kratochvil from PublicDomianPictures

Ukraine has a population of 43.5 million people1; Ukrainian is the official language; the capital city is Kyiv 2; and this is quite important, the major ethnic group is Ukrainians at 77.8% and the minor ethnic group is Russians at 17.3% These last two figures are from the 2001 Ukrainian census, however there was a 2020 census planned, but it was postponed to 2023, because of…you guessed it, COVID-19. It’s also a gateway between Europe and Asia.

Now with Russia, it’s the largest country in the world. It actually spans across Europe and Asia! It’s so large, it has 11 time zones. Seriously, 11. And I thought adjusting to Daylight Savings was difficult! Anyway, Russia shares borders with sixteen other countries, but also with the Black Sea and Caspian Sea among other bodies of water.

Russia has a population of 146.7 million people, including the Crimea in 2020; funnily enough, Russian is the official language; the capital city is Moscow or Moskva if you prefer; and to contrast with Ukraine, the major ethnic group is Russians with 80.9%, with Ukrainians making up 1.4% of the population.

So, we now know the layout of the two countries…but what is the issue between them? That’s a good question, but a difficult one to answer. I’ll do my best, but I’m sorry if I leave anything important out or get anything wrong. Alright, let’s do it.

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Ukraine has a long, beautiful and proud history, so I don’t want to skip this; but in context of this blog and for time’s sake, I have to. We need to jump into our TARDIS and travel back to the Crimea War of 1853-1856.

This was a pointless war involving Russia against a British/French/Ottoman coalition. Among other things the war was fought over, one was access to the Black Sea and surprise, surprise, the conflict was fought on the Crimean Peninsula. This brought the geo-political importance of Crimea to the world’s attention.

We can now move onto 1917, at the start of the Ukrainian War of Independence from the Russian Empire. This was kicked off from the start of the Russian Civil War, which was preceded by the Russian Revolution.

The Ukrainian People’s Republic struggled from 1917-1921 against the might of Russia, which was going through political and social unrest. The consequence of this, was that Ukraine failed to gain independence and was absorbed into the new formed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR.

Under control of the Soviet Union and through Joseph Stalin’s agricultural policies, 3.5 million Ukrainians died of starvation during 1932-1933, known as the Great Famine or as the Holodomor. Later on through World War II, involving the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941; and also the Holocaust, over 5 million Ukrainians were killed. I also need to state that the Soviet Union lost over 20 million people in World War II.

Stalin also did two things that are key to the problems of today. First he authorised the deportation of the Ethnic Tatar people out of Crimea and into Central Asia. The other key point is that Stalin replaced these people with ethnic Russians, back into the Crimean Peninsula.

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic; as Ukraine was known as, recovered over the years to become a leader in grain, industry and production. On 24th April 1986, a reactor exploded at a nuclear power plant, near the city of Chernobyl. The accident was the worst nuclear disaster in human history and the result I’m mentioning this, is because the accident occurred in Northern Ukraine. Yes, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster actually happened in Ukraine.

Fast forward to 1990, where the Ukrainian government voted to break away from the USSR, with over 90% of the vote, from an independence referendum; which the USSR then dissolved in 1991. The USSR was then reorganised back into the Russia Federation, or the country simply known as Russia.

Now, I don’t mean to skip over some events here, but I need to focus and keep going, other wise I will never finish!

In 2004, Ukraine went through the Orange Revolution, which produced large civil unrest and claims of Russian inference. This brings us to late 2013 to early 2014, and a low point in Ukrainian-Russian relations. To set the stage for this, two things need to be understood.

The first thing is the demographic of the Ukrainian population. Western and Central Ukraine is mainly populated by ethnic Ukrainians, so this is where the Ukrainian language is mainly spoken. As you move east and south from the centre, you start to see more Russian culture in these regions, along with the Russian language. This is highlighted within…surprise, surprise, the Crimean Peninsula.

The second point is our old friend, politics. You see, there are was a growing movement in Ukraine to create stronger ties with the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO); basically Pro-EU supporters. However, to keep things balanced, there was a counter movement to strengthen ties to Russia and it’s influence; basically Pro-Russian supporters.

Ok, this is where it goes off the rails. In November 2013, the Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych; who was a Pro-Russian supporter, backed away from an agreement that would bring Ukraine closer to the EU and strengthen their ties, with financial and political support. Now hold on to your seat, but Yanukovych wanted to go with financial and political support from Russia instead. To say this reversal of policy, did not go down well, was like when Eddie Brock was fired from the Daily Bugle; and named Peter Parker as the reason.

There were large protests against Yanukovych, by the Pro-European movement. This of course led to the Pro-Russian movement taking to the streets in support of Yanukovych. Having massive demonstrations to remove Yanukovych and support him at the same time, created civil unrest, which brought about violence and death. This became known as the Euromaiden Revolution and not a death metal band from Austria.

On 21st February 2014, Yanukovych fled the country, with the Ukrainian parliament voting to remove him from office, on the 22nd. So tensions are very high in Ukraine at this point. They were about to get a lot worse.

When Yanukovych had fled, the Russian President Vladimir Putin, began discussing invading South East Ukraine, especially the region of Crimea. This was because of three reasons: to protect the large number of ethnic Russians living there3; to protect the Russian Naval Fleet docked at the Crimean city of Sevastopol’s Naval Base; and to resist the new Ukrainian government, because to the Russians, the Ukrainians had ousted the legal head of state in Yanukovych, so the new government was “illegal”.

The Russian military entered the Crimean Peninsula and took over Ukrainian bases, while also seizing control of the region. Unmarked Russian troops started creating checkpoints across the region, as well as supporting Pro-Russian militia within Crimea. Because of this, the autonomous Crimean government, issued the 2014 Crimean status referendum; which basically asked if the Crimean people would like to join Russia.4

The result was that over 95% of the vote, agreed to joining Russia, which led to Russia annexing the Crimean Peninsula.

Annexing. In the 21st century, the annexation of another sovereign nation is still happening. How is that possible?!

Image by Channel 4 News

Anyway, because of this insanity, armed conflict had began between Ukrainian and Russian forces, with militia groups being involved. The fighting has mainly been in Crimea and Donbas (Eastern Ukraine) regions. The conflict soon grabbed international attention went Pro-Russian troops shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on 17th July 2014, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members.

Ukraine blamed Russia for shooting down the plane, while Russia blamed Ukraine for allowing civilian flights into the area. 143 victims were from the Netherlands and in 2020, the Dutch government took Russia to the European Court of Human Rights, because of this incident.

What has been dubbed the Russo-Ukrainian War, is still active today. Over 13,000 people have been killed and over 29,000 people have been wounded. In late 2014, fighting increased and in 2018, there was the Kerch Strait incident involving the Russian and Ukrainian navies.

In March-April 2021, Russia began a massive build up of troops, weapons and vehicles; along the Ukrainian border. The Russian government said the build up was just a training exercise, with thousands of troops been sent home. However, many thousands of Russian troops are still stationed along the border.

There has been international criticism of Russia’s involvement in Ukraine, with NATO condemning the invasion and various economic sanctions have been placed on Russia; whom have been imposing their own counter sanctions.

After seven years of fighting, there appears to be no end in sight. To me, it just seems a like lose-lose situation for everybody involved; especially for the dispossessed and homeless. I have no idea what it would take to end the conflict, I am not smart enough to see it.

However, I honestly hope there can be a peaceful and quick resolution to this insanity, otherwise other countries could be dragged into the war to stop it; which may or may not make it worse.

What I do know is that we, as a collective society, can not allow the annexation of another sovereign nation to continue in the 21st century. I feel that part of our global history, must remain in the past, if we have any chance of moving forward and working together as a species. Annexation is wrong and does not work, but diplomacy does.

Anyway, that’s it. I’ll get off my soap box now. In a lighter note, we are currently slowly marching towards the cold, dark maw of winter, so working on this blog will keep me entertained during the long nights. Winter is coming, so hopefully House Stark would approve.

Thank you so much for reading and see you in a fortnight!

1 The official population is closer to 41.5 million people, not including the Russian annexed areas of Crimea and Sevastopol.

2 There are two ways to write Kyiv. One is the Russian based “Kiev”, while the other is the Ukrainian based “Kyiv”. I have obviously selected to promote Kyiv.

3 Thanks, Stalin.

4 This referendum was illegal under the Ukrainian and Crimean constitutions.

ANZAC Day and children

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Children, History

I want to talk about war. Why? Because our national remembrance day is coming up and I’d like for UMC1 and UMC2 to attend an event. Now before I start waffling on with my little lecture about that, I do need to discuss our remembrance day and it’s history. I am going to try to do this without glorifying war, but also acknowledging the true horror or war. I’m also writing this from a country that is not at war currently or suffering through a civil war. With that said, here we go…

Our remembrance day is known as ANZAC Day and it’s observed on 25th April. It is marked in New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, Turkey, Canada, France, Malta and many, many other countries. It stems from the disastrous Gallipoli campaign in the First World War.

In a nutshell, the Gallipoli campaign was about the Allied Forces invading the Gallipoli peninsula, in Turkey. The idea was to weaken and knock the Ottoman Empire1out of the war, because they were supporting the Central Powers of the German and Austria-Hungary Empires. The Allies believed if they could take control of the Turkish Straits, they could also control the flow of supplies through the Suez Canal. They did this through naval bombardment and amphibious landings; though after 10 brutal months, they came to the conclusion, that it was never going to work and retreated.

Among the several Allied countries involved in the campaign, was a division of troops comprised of Australian and New Zealand forces, which became known as the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps; or also known as ANZAC. They landed on the shores of Gallipoli on 25th April 1915, which eventually became known as ANZAC Day.

The purpose of ANZAC Day and I can imagine for various different remembrance ceremonies around the world, is to honour the men and women whom gave their lives, in the defence of their own country or the protection of others.

I am not going to speak for every New Zealander, because I don’t know that many people, but also I won’t. Reflecting on ANZAC Day to me, has always been mixed with pride and sadness. I was taught at school a long time ago, that these people “…gave up their tomorrows, for our today.” In addition to this, ANZAC Day is strange for me, because it was also my grandfather’s birthday; so it’s a day of reflecting upon death and sacrifice, but also of life and heritage.

Through the large cities, big towns and small communities of this country, there are statues, cenotaphs, plaques and war memorials everywhere. For the majority of the year, I think people see them as part of the landscape or in the background of the country; like rivers, trees, rugby fields and beaches. However, for a small period of the year, we actually see them and give them the respect they deserve.

Over the years, ANZAC Day has come to commemorate not only World War I soldiers, but military personnel from all armed conflicts and peace keeping missions.

With the exception of 2020, ANZAC day starts with a dawn service at 6am. People wear poppies, speeches are given, prayers and hymns are spoken and wreaths are laid at different war memorial sites around the country. The Last Post 2 and the Rouse are played, two minutes of silence is observed; along with the reading of the fourth verse of Laurence Binyon’s ‘For the fallen’ and the singing of the national anthem. Some services also have fly overs and gun salutes.

Later in the day, in the various communities up and down the country, parades are held. These can involve the Army, Army Reserve, Air Force, Navy, Scouts, Air Cadets, Sea Cadets and possibly anybody else I have forgotten, so I’m sorry about that.

There is also the parade that everybody is there to see: the Diggers aka the Veterans. Surviving members of the armed forces that have served over the years, they put on their finest clothes, display their medals and march (walk or get wheeled) down the road; to hundreds, if not thousands of people applauding for them.

As the old soldiers march, you can see various emotions on their faces, like pride and happiness; but also a lot of sadness. To me, it’s like survivors guilt, as in they made it home, but their mates did not. There are a lot smiles at an ANZAC Day service and parade, but also a large number of tears.

Descendants of the soldiers also walk in place of their family member, whom has passed away or simply unable to be there. These people can also wear medals awarded to the family member and young children have been seen wearing them, marching with the veterans.

I have never been fortunate to experience ANZAC Day in Australia, but I understand it is very similar to New Zealand, in the way it’s commemorated.

This leads us to UMC1 and UMC2. For many millions of children all over the world, war is a daily event, so their knowledge of it, sadly is through experience. For others, war is an alien concept, that is very far removed from their lives.

This year, my wife and I have decided to take the boys to one of the services; either the dawn service or the parade. They are usually up causing carnage well before 6am. However having them fully dressed, fed and waiting in the early morning darkness, could be a step too far! Maybe the 10am service, possibly.

Anyway, the point is that if they are going to an ANZAC Day service, they would need to what it’s about; hence talking about war to them. UMC2 is nearly three, so we have decided to give him a simpler version of what his older brother received. UMC1 is nearly six, so we needed to explain the meaning of ANZAC Day, but also discussing the concept of war.

We discuss a vast array of subjects in our house, these usually pop up naturally when the children see or hear something and they come to us with questions. But war has never come up naturally, a fact that I’m very grateful for. We didn’t know exactly what to say to him, war is such an abstract concept when you are 6 years old and living in peacetime. So we sat and wrote down some key points we wanted to discuss with him. This was difficult, because how do you talk of war when all your parenting strategies revolve around talking things out and using compromise to find solutions to your problems?

Below are the key points we discussed with UMC1, so he could comprehend the concept. Please feel free to use these points with your children; if it helps of course, but you can always change, alter or adapt them to suit your family, culture or country.

  • ANZAC Day is a solemn, remembrance day and not a holiday to celebrate.
  • What ANZAC means is Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. It is our two countries working as a team, standing together.
  • Every 25th April, we remember the people that fought for our country and also the people that died.
  • Sometimes leaders of countries make “silly choices” and try to take over other countries. Sometimes they treat their people extremely badly.
  • The United Nations (UN) is an organisation, made up of different representatives from countries around the world. It is their job to talk to these countries and try to find peaceful solutions to these problems, but sometimes this does not work and a war can start.
  • War is when two or more groups or countries, fight about something in a physical way. This means trying to stop, hurt or kill the members of the other country or group.
  • Our defence force is made up of men and women in the Army, Navy and Air Force. Their job is to protect you from danger from outside of the country, but also to step in to help when other countries need support. They can do this by building new infrastructure like roads, schools and hospitals. They can also help the injured; support with resettlement and housing; and also supplying people with food. Not just fighting.
  • The Army has soldiers that work on land, the Navy has sailors that work on ships, while the Air Force has people that work on and fly aircraft.

I have made a small resource list to help children understand ANZAC Day/Remembrance Day, as well as the concept of war.

Books:

A Day to Remember by Jackie French and Mark Wilson.

ANZAC Ted by Belinda Landsberry.

Dawn Parade by Philippa Werry and Jennifer Cooper.

Grandad’s Medals by Tracy Duncan and Bruce Potter.

Lest We Forget by Feana Tu’akoi and Elspeth Alix Batt.

Lest We Forget by Kerry Brown, Isobel Knowles and Benjamin Portas.

My Grandad Marches On ANZAC Day by Catriona Hoy and Ben Wood Johnson.

Simpson and his Donkey by Mark Greenwood and Frané Lessac.

The ANZAC Puppy by Peter Millett and Trish Bowles.

The Last ANZAC by Gordon Winch and Harriet Bailey.

Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rapkYgnXxWA

Thanks for reading and see you in a fortnight!

1 Currently known as the Republic of Turkey.

2 In military terms, the Last Post is a bugle call that signals the end of the day. It is also used at commemorative ceremonies like Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day.

The Magna Carta: Still kicking arse after 805 years

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn History

I want to talk about the Magna Carta. Why? Because when I told my wife what I was going to write about, she asked if the Magna Carta was a Harry Potter spell. No, it’s not.

So…what is the Magna Carta? It’s one of the famous and most important documents in the world. However to me, and only to me; it’s an amazing piece of legislation that is still relevant in 2020, as it was when it was created in 1215. 1 To understand what the Magna Carta aka the Great Charter, truly is and it’s importance, we need to jump inside our TARDIS and travel back to the High Middle Ages; in particular, England.

So, let’s set the scene shall we? At that time, different countries around the world were using the feudal system. Feudalism was a way that land ownership and duties were administered and exchanged. For an example, in England, the king would own all of the land in the kingdom. Now, owning all of the land sounds great…but it’s not really practical. I meant being the landlord of the country; think of the paperwork!

Because of this, the king would parcel out land to lords, barons and nobles in exchange for service and soldiers. These lords would be called vassals, which they in turn would parcel out smaller sections of land to lesser lords, local lords and to the peasants.

Now King John was the ruler of England in 1215 and he wasn’t exactly popular. Because of this, he is remembered as being one of the worst kings in English history. He had been king for 16 years and in that time, he had lost various wars with France; gained an annulment for his first marriage; was accused of murdering his own nephew; starved 22 knights to death; implemented heavy taxes to fund his foreign wars; excommunicated by the Church and sleeping with some of the wives and children of his barons. Also he was supposedly an enemy, of one green cladded archer that lived in Nottingham Forest. 2

Anyway, the barons and lords of England were very tired of his shenanigans. If they refused to pay the taxes, King John would confiscate their properties or punish them severely. They needed to stop the never ending and increasing taxes, so they could avoid losing their lands.

The barons wanted everybody in the kingdom to obey the laws of the land. To them, nobody was above the law, not even the king. Because of this, the barons; led by Robert Fitzwalter in 1213, took their concerns to Stephen Langton, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

After a meeting with the barons aka the rebels, 3 Langton went to see King John, to remind of the Charter of Liberties. This was a set of rules, laid down by Henry I in 1100, for a king to be bound by, to safeguard certain rights for their subjects. Langton wanted King John to honour that charter, but in a surprise to nobody, King John did not share the same ideas as the Archbishop or the rebels.

WASHINGTON – MARCH 03: A copy of a 1297 version of Magna Carta is on display during a press viewing at the National Archives March 3, 2008 in Washington, DC.

Photo by Alex Wong via UK Human Rights Blog

King John looked to Pope Innocent III for support and protection from the rebels and their allies. However, after two years of negotiating and stalling, the rebels were sick of the situation; they decided to create a solution. In May 1215, the rebels met, broke their allegiances to the king and started a military campaign against him. They captured London in the same month, which forced King John back to the negotiating table.

On 10th June 1215, King John met with the barons at Runnymeade, to discuss reforms and they did this with a document. After some editing and discussions, the Great Charter was signed on 15th June 1215, by King John, the barons and various other people. 4

Magna Carta has been annulled, reinstated and had many revisions over the years, but what is so special about it? I mean, it was created over 800 years ago, how is it relevant to governments and their citizens in 2020? The answer is all about legacy.

There are many clauses in Magna Carta, but the two most famous ones are about liberty and rights:

“No free man shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded against, except by the lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land.

“To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.”

This is profound because of the changes Magna Carta would bring, not just to England, but to the world, throughout the centuries. The Great Charter helped in creating the first Parliament of England; it was used in creating the Petition of Rights in 1628, to challenge King Charles I and was used at his trial; the United States of America’s Declaration of Independence of 1776, was based on Magna Carta; it led a movement in England for all men to have the vote, which in turn became a movement for women to have the vote, years later.

The importance of Magna Carta had also gained strength internationally, because subjects of the British Empire, began to demand the same rights granted to British citizens, under Magna Carta; many leaders around the world, fighting for freedom, were citing Magna Carta for their rights; and 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created, based on Magna Carta, to promote the rights of people all over the world.

Over the years, Magna Carta has become a beacon for justice, liberty, freedom and rights the world over. Not bad for a document that is 805 years old. Though to be fair to Magna Carta, the world and Judge Dredd, the greatest piece of legacy the Great Charter has given us is quite simply this: That everybody must obey the law and that nobody is above the law; not even a king.

Thanks for reading and see you in a fortnight!

1 I’m not an expert, but I think Judge Dredd would have approved of the Magna Carta.

2 Does the name Robin Hood ring any bells?

3 The answer is no. The rebels did not have X-Wings nor did King John have a Death Star.

4 Even though King John did sign the charter, he actually didn’t believe in it or follow it.