Page 50 - BBC History The Story of Science & Technology - 2017 UK

Ideas & Inventions / Giant leaps

6 The triumph

of the law

Magna Carta
England, 1215
Chosen by Professor David
Carpenter, King’s College, London

Magna Carta was a turning point in British
and world history because it was the first
time a ruler was subject formally to the law.
It became a great barrier against arbitrary
rule and arbitrary kingship and it is that
fundamental principle that resonates down
the ages. Magna Carta seemed very
important in the 17th-century struggle of
the parliament against Charles; it seemed
equally important to the founders of the
American constitution, and of course it still
reverberates today.
The background to the charter was
Early learners: Italian students reading in the 14th or 15th century a society that was becoming more
cohesive, with a greater sense of commu-
5 Teaching the nity. There were political ideas about rulers
who should be subject to law and govern
for the benefit of their society not just
masses to read themselves. These came up against a very
intrusive form of kingship, which extracted
huge amounts of money from England on
Alexander of Villedieu’s the one hand but gave little in the way of
peace and justice on the other.
Doctrinale King John was the final straw. He spent
many years and large sums trying to regain
France, 1199 Normandy after it was lost in 1204 – and
once he failed to do so in 1214, with his
Chosen by Professor Robert D Black, University of Leeds treasure spent, he was a sitting duck.
He was also a murderer and a lecherous
womaniser who evoked fear and loathing
Throughout the Middle Ages and well That book was Doctrinale, which on a very personal level. There was a huge
into the early modern period, literacy became one of the great medieval degree of animosity against him, which
was inextricably associated with Latin. bestsellers. Its influence and use doesn’t explain the broader grievances but
However, until the end of the 12th spread throughout Europe and, helps to explain why it all came to a head
century, the methods of teaching Latin on the basis of such simplified with the rebellion in 1215.
were extremely long and drawn out, methods for teaching Latin, You can see how important Magna Carta
based on a system whereby pupils a great movement of mass literacy was by the fact that when John tried to
read and memorised Latin texts for began. This new type of education renege on the deal there was a great civil
years. It was a scheme that was was much more rapid and better war. The only way the minority government
largely suitable to the clerical elite. suited to the aspirations, intentions of John’s son felt they could win this war
Then along came Alexander of and professional needs of the laity. and secure the peace after he died in 1216
Villedieu, a French grammarian and Doctrinale therefore marked the first was by reissuing the charter. Throughout
teacher who was private tutor to the major step in the move towards a the 13th century the charter was constantly
nephews of a bishop in northern wide-ranging and extended secular cited and referred to. It became then what
France. He devised a fast-track lay education. it has always remained: a touchstone of
method to teach Latin using simple just and lawful rule.
rules and written in verse so that his
pupils could memorise it more easily.
When the bishop asked his nephews
how they were doing in their learning Robert D Black
of Latin, they quoted back a few is the author of
verses given to them by their teacher. Humanism and David Carpenter is the PHOTO SCALA, FLORENCE
The bishop thought it was such a Education in Medieval author of The Struggle for
good idea that he encouraged and Renaissance Italy Mastery: Britain 1066–1284
Alexander to write a whole grammar. (CUP, 2008) (Penguin, 2004)

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