Challenging Feudalism

Question 1

How did the economy cause the Magna Carta?

Answer 1

• Scutage on barons to fund French wars
• Inheritance tax - held hostages if they couldn’t pay

Question 2

How did war cause the Magna Carta?

Answer 2

• Needed money to fight wars in France
• John was infamously poor in battle, nicknamed “Lackland” as he lost his barons’ land in France
• Lost the Battle of Bouvines

Question 3

What was the short-term significance of the Magna Carta?

Answer 3

• Council of 25 barons made sure John obeyed the Magna Carta
• Scutage ended
• Nobody was imprisoned without trial
• Ordinary people not included, and no women were included
• John ignored it after the Pope declared it invalid as he was forced to sign it

Question 4

What was the long-term significance of the Magna Carta?

Answer 4

• A council of Barons the King had to obey laid the foundations for Parliament
• Habeas corpus is still part of British law
• Introduced the idea that the King isn’t above the law
• Not mentioned in Shakespeare’s play ‘King John’

Question 5

What were the 3 main clauses of the Magna Carta?

Answer 5

• No scutage
• No freeman to be imprisoned without trial
• Council of 25 barons to monitor John

Question 6

What were the events of the Magna Carta being signed?

Answer 6

• Barons’ army led by Fitzwalter sent to London
• John had no army so was forced to negotiate
• Magna Carta signed at Runnymede in 1215

Question 7

How did religion cause the Magna Carta?

Answer 7

John fell out with the Pope over the appointment of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury
The Pope excommunicated John and banned Church services in England

Question 8

What caused the First Barons’ War?

Answer 8

John signed the Magna Carta to buy time, after the Pope declared it invalid, John raised an army to fight the barons

Question 9

Who won the First Barons’ War?

Answer 9

John died before the war finished, not known for sure
Barons’ crowned John’s son Henry III as King

Question 10

What were the key ideas of Magna Carta?

Answer 10

• The King is not above the law
• Habeas corpus (right to fair trial)

Question 11

What were the main causes of the Provisions of Oxford?

Answer 11

• Henry raised taxes to fund wars in Sicily, Pope threatened with excommunication
• He lost 2 wars with France
• Tried to reform local governments, which angered the barons
• Henry relied on his French half-brothers, the Lusignans, for advice, barons disliked their influence in running the country

Question 12

When were the Provisions of Oxford signed?

Answer 12

1258

Question 13

What were the clauses of the Provisions of Oxford?

Answer 13

• Creation of a king’s council with only