June 15 1215 King John signs Magna Carta at Runnymede, England

Avalon Project ^

[TomServo]

Bump!!!

[sauropod]

Ping for read.

[sauropod]

"Tell me again, Sir Bedevere, how you make ship sails out of lambs bladders."

[Oztrich Boy]

No "thees' and "thous"?

As it was originally written in Latin, it would be silly to translate it into faux Ye Olde Englishe.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Parliment repealed the last provisions of the Great Charter" circa the 1970's.

[68skylark]

marking for later reading

[strela]

BUMP! for one of the seminal documents of the ages, rivaling for its own time and in its own way our own Constitution. Considering the time in which they were conceived, the concepts contained therein are analogous to discovering a Rolex Oyster watch in a sealed Egyptian tomb. Not a shabby feat for a treatise originally designed only to quiet rebellious nobles.

(And, thanks for the great translation. The eye tires quickly trying to read all those "thous.")

[calvin sun]

So the Magna Carta was signed 1215? I assume that's England time. Oh no!!! I missed it by three hours....

[strela]

Of course, there are clunkers like this one contained therein:

54. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than her husband.

Nobody's perfect ...

[DoctorMichael]

Bump!!!!!!!!!!

Along with THE DECLARATION OF INDEPEDENCE the MAGNA CARTA is one of the most important documents of Western Civilization.

My understanding is that there are only 4 copies known to exist, one of which was bought by Ross Perot and donated to the US. It was on display (under sealed glass and an inert gas) along with The Declaration the last time I was in DC.

[strela]

Don't you just hate it when that happens? ;)

[msdrby]

ping

[Carry_Okie]

Thanks for the ping. I've never read it.

[Valin]

Because you a apparently a purist
http://www.bl.uk/diglib/magna-carta/magna_main.html

You do of course realise that it's written in latin.

[hottomale]

We can't read this enough.

[solzhenitsyn]

No "thees' and "thous"? Is this the NIV version of the Magna Carta?

There would have been no place for "thees" and "thous" in the Magna Carta. "Thee" and "thou" were singular and familiar; "ye" and "you" were the plural or formal and respectful forms. "Thee" was used to address family and close friends, children, and persons of inferior social position. To address anyone else as "thee" was an insult.

Re the custom of addressing God as "thee" when praying (as my dear grandfather did), I assume the original intent not specifically to show respect (or "ye" might have been used), but rather, close kinship and endearment.

[solzhenitsyn]

Valin, thank you for posting this magnificent document. It's the first time I've read it in full. How wonderful is our inheritance!