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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2015

Magna Carta in Chronicles of Medieval Britain

Marie-Françoise Alamichel
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Résumé

This paper aims at analyzing and commenting upon Latin, Anglo-Norman, and English medieval chronicles relating the causes and events that led up to Magna Carta. The corpus includes works in verse and in prose, some of which are contemporary accounts to the writing and sealing of the charter (due to Latin chroniclers such as Roger Wendover [Flores Historiarum], Matthew Paris [Chronica majora], Ralph of Coggeshall [Chronicon Anglicanum] and the anonymous Melrose Chronicle), or Latin annals like Dunstable Annals or The Annals of Waverlay) while others are 14th and 15th century historical chronicles of England either in French (Chronicle of Pierre de Langtoft, The French Chronicle of London, The Anglo-Norman Brut in prose) or in English (Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, Robert Mannyng of Brunne's Story of Inglande, The Boke of Brut attributed to Thomas Castleford, The Anonymous Short English Metrical Chronicle, John Hardyng's Chronicle, John Capgrave's Chronicle of England, and the Middle English prose Brut). These sources are compared and contrasted in order to consider the following issues: •Setting Magna Carta in its historical background / medieval context: the events as selected and reported by the various chroniclers. •The arguments of the various parties mentioned in the sources:(Relationships between the king and the magnates. Grievances, complaints of the barons. The king's demands and attitude. The role and support of the Church). •The chroniclers' message / Public opinion: upon whom is the blame placed? (Portraits of the major protagonists: Portrait of King John: a sinner abandoned by God? Portraits of King Henry III and Edward I). •The charter of liberties (The liberties mentioned by the chroniclers. Kingship, royal power, good & mis-government, feudalism, the role of Parliament as seen by the chroniclers. Justice, rights, law, reform: contemporary issues in the chronicles. The religious and moral authority of the charter). •The importance and value ascribed to the charter by the various chroniclers. Today, one must read these medieval chronicles with a critical eye for the accounts are biased. The chroniclers (upon whom we greatly rely for our knowledge of events) were all either clerks or monks. Because of the breach between royal governement and the Church, they were naturally placed in opposition to the king. The war between the king and the magnates was, consequently, also one of propaganda.
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Dates et versions

hal-01371341 , version 1 (26-09-2016)

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  • HAL Id : hal-01371341 , version 1

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Marie-Françoise Alamichel. Magna Carta in Chronicles of Medieval Britain. Magna Carta, Sophie Loussouarn, Dec 2015, Amiens, France. ⟨hal-01371341⟩
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