Magna carta - 800 years of adaptation to the new, or how it has been used by the defenders of freedoms. On the book "Magna carta: history, context and influence"

The book “Magna Carta: History, Context and Influence” contains eight essays by prominent British historians, read as reports at Peking University (PKU) in Beijing at a great conference held on 10-11 September 2015 and entitled ‘Retrospect and prospect: the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta’. The book describes the destiny and legacy of Magna Carta, which was a peace treaty between the royal power and rebellious barons, and the dramatic reception life of the document. The authors of the book convince there was nothing new in the ideas behind the document. It was similar to the Hungarian, Spanish and South French agreements. The English case was distinguished by the fact that Magna Carta imposed more radical and detailed restrictions on the ruler. Despite the efforts of the monarchy and thanks to the concerns of the church, which members constantly read out the text of the document, it was not forgotten in the 13th century. The revival of Magna Carta and its new meanings took place in pre-revolutionary and revolutionary England (1640-1660), when its provisions were extrapolated to the entire people of the country. Clauses of the document were used to point out the policy of royal power, as an arbitrary, violating the provisions of the law, encroaching on the freedom and property of subjects. The document was actualized, reinterpreted and modernized in the 17th century, and then, in the 18th and 19th centuries it attracted American colonists, British radicals and even conservatives as a source of arguments and justifications. Magna Carta obtained global significance but was rarely read by those who used it and thus became ritual and symbolic.