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Except that there's something rather different about this rural corner of England. These riverside fields at Runnymede are reputed to be the setting for one of the most significant moments in UK democratic and constitutional history. The National Trust labels it "the birthplace of modern democracy," while an impressive monument commemorates a "symbol of freedom under law." It was here, of course, that the Magna Carta is said to have been sealed on June 15, 1215 under the title of the "Great Charter."

Archaeologists have uncovered a royal palace used by King Henry II AN ANCIENT royal palace near Kingsclere unearthed during recent excavations will be open to the public over the weekend (September 22-23). The Royal Palace of Fremantle has lain hidden under the Hampshire Downs at Tidgrove Warren Farm, in the parish of Hannington, for nearly 900 years. Over the last three years the site has been excavated by staff and students from the University of Southampton in association with the Kingsclere Heritage Association local volunteers. Explorations have revealed a medieval enclosed settlement surrounded by a massive ditch - larger than...

Tomorrow, you can hardly have failed to notice, marks the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, the document famously issued by King John at Runnymede on June 15, 1215. Most people are understandably a little hazy about the charter’s contents (it runs to 63 clauses and over 4,000 words). But they are aware that it was a “good thing” – a significant step in the direction of the liberties we enjoy today.

MAGNA CARTA, on which King John placed his seal 800 years ago today, is synonymous in the English-speaking world with fundamental rights and the rule of law. It’s been celebrated, and appropriated, by everyone from Tea Party members to Jay Z, who called his latest album “Magna Carta Holy Grail.” But its fame rests on several myths. First, it wasn’t effective. In fact, it was a failure. John was a weak king who had squandered the royal fortune on a fruitless war with France. Continually raising taxes to pay for his European adventures, he provoked a revolt by his barons,...

'Among the 27 men named in the preamble to Magna Carta as King John of England's advisors and negotiators was Alan, lord of Galloway and constable of the Scottish king, Alexander II. How had this man, ruler of semi-independent Galloway, a senior officer in Alexander's kingdom and lord of Lauderdale and Cunninghame, come to exercise such influence in English politics?'

Originally published on June 11, 2015 11:30 am Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. Transcript RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: The Magna Carta has a big birthday coming up. That document, establishing the foundation of the modern judicial system, will turn 800 years old on Monday. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: At the British Library in London, an exhibition displays the Magna Carta alongside original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Bill of Rights. Both of those documents were inspired by the Magna Carta. A couple of months ago, I visited the British Library for a story on the...

What sometimes seem like epic battles to reshape the world generally fade to irrelevance very quickly. To take just one recent example, 20 years ago the Justice Department was trying to break up Microsoft because the software giant was perceived as too powerful to be challenged by other firms. Today, of course, all the talk is of Google and Apple with Microsoft struggling to find a niche. Only a few events and documents -- like the American Declaration of Independence -- are worthy of celebrating even a century or two later. On Monday, June 15, the Magna Carta turns 800,...

Here might be a workable way to look at academia: That which academics dismiss is probably worth exploring. “There is quite a list of academics who question the importance of the Magna Carta,” University of Chicago law professor Richard Helmholz pointed out in a lecture at the Cato Institute on June 4, 2015. “They dismiss it as baronial and backward looking, an immediate failure and talk about the myth of the Magna Carta.” “I don’t think that view is correct.” Certainly, the sections of the Magna Carta he supplied to accompany his talk hold up well in translation: • No...

The anniversary of the signing of the document that established the seeds of Freedom for the individual is this June 15th. It happened in 1215 at Runnymede. All freedom loving people need to honor this August occasion for being the seminal point in the history of the World. Great article. (No linkie because I don't know how to...) It's entitled "Eight Centuries of Liberty"

Paso Robles, CA -- Their political party lines maybe different but one thing United States presidents could share is their family line. A young girl in California has put together a Presidential Family Tree. Twelve-year-old BridgeAnne d'Avignon found that all the presidents but one are related to King John of England through a common ancestor. "They are all cousins and all grandsons of John Lackland," BridgeAnne told KCOY News. The girl searched more than a half million names for months. She started with George Washington, then traced both the male and female family lines to make the connection. KCOY reports...

A rare edition of the Magna Carta has been unearthed in a city library and is believed to be worth a staggering $21.3 million. An archivist stumbled upon the document, a third of which is missing, at the Kent History and Library Centre. The document was found in a Victorian scrapbook after archivist Dr. Mark Bateson was asked to search for another charter from the town of Sandwich. Modal Trigger The recently discovered copy of the Magna Carta is worth millions even though a third of the document is missing.Photo: Zuma Press The edition is believed to be one of...

An original copy of the Magna Carta has been discovered in a scrapbook in Kent, England. The tattered document dates back to 1300, 85 years after King John of England was compelled to sign the first agreement limiting the rights of kings. This version was issued by King Edward I (King John's grandson), who was under pressure from the church and the barons to reaffirm good governance, said Sophie Ambler, a research associate with the Magna Carta Project. "Nobody knew it was there," Ambler said of the damaged document. "This Magna Carta had been stuck into a scrapbook by a...

In June the world will celebrate 800 years since the issuing of Magna Carta. But 2015 is also the anniversary of another important, and far more radical, British milestone in democratic history, writes Luke Foddy. Almost exactly 750 years ago, an extraordinary parliament opened in Westminster. For the very first time, elected representatives from every county and major town in England were invited to parliament on behalf of their local communities. It was, in the words of one historian, "the House of Commons in embryo". The January Parliament, which first met on 20 January 1265, is one of the...

This year people in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and plenty of other nations will mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. The document will be lauded for establishing one vital principle.

Did the Battle of Lewes, which saw King Henry III defeated 750 years ago, lead to England's first tentative steps towards representative democracy? As bloodied bodies littered the South Downs, the King hid in a priory. His father, King John, had been forced to sign Magna Carta by England's rebellious barons, now Henry had suffered even greater humiliation at their hands. His victor was Simon de Montfort, the French-born Earl of Leicester, who was fighting for the rights of England to be governed by the English. After the battle, where de Montfort's forces were outnumbered by two to one, he...

More than 280 years after it was damaged in a fire, one of the original copies of the Magna Carta is legible again. Written in 1215, the Magna Carta required the king of England King John to cede absolute power. Today, the Magna Carta is seen as a first step toward constitutional law rather than the hereditary power of royalty. There were four copies of the document created at the time. One, held by the British Library, was badly damaged in a fire in 1731.

A venerable enumeration of the rights of man is barely taught anymore, resulting in record low recognition of same. “I went to see the Magna Carta when it was on display a few years ago,” British Conservative MP Daniel Hannan remembered in a speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan last week. “You can get right up to it: Nobody comes.” “When it was on display in New York City in 1939, 14 million people came to see it.” Hannan was the keynote dinner speaker at the Philadelphia Society’s regional meeting on Friday, October 10th. The Society of leading conservative intellectuals was...

John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and faithful subjects, greeting. Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honour of God and the advancement of the holy Church, and for the reform of our realm, by advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of...

OUSTON (AP) — It was care fit for a king: The yellowing parchment was fitted inside a custom-designed aluminum and steel case with monitors, then wrapped in specially made packaging. Once it was on the plane, a canon chancellor nervously tracked the flight as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean. That document, a rarely seen copy of the Magna Carta, had never before left England's shores and only once been outside its home in the Hereford Chapel near the Welsh border. Now, the famous charter, written nearly 800 years ago and considered one of the most important documents in the history...

A peace treaty sealed in Runnymede in 1215, signalling the end of a conflict between King John and barons who were in revolt, has once again got passions running high in Surrey. ...a debate is raging on what to do in the place where the charter -- hailed by some as the foundation of English democracy -- was sealed. Plans to build an £8m visitor centre in Runnymede as a legacy of the anniversary were dropped earlier this year because of lack of funds. Surrey County Council, Runnymede Borough Council and the National Trust have all said they are now...