英国历史拓展阅读：约翰王与大宪章
I. The Great Charter (大宪章) (1215)
诺曼人遗留下来的两件事情促成了 12 世纪和 13 世纪英国国内的极不稳定。其一是英国在法国境内拥有的 土地；其二是诺曼人对罗马天主教的依附。 像所有的欧洲基督教国王一样，英国国王也被要求参加对伊 斯兰帝国土耳其人的战争，以夺得基督教圣地耶路撒冷。事实上有三次大规模的十字军东征，加上对法战
争，极大消耗了英国的财政。结果导致了 1215 的约翰国王与贵族们之间的对抗。Two aspects of the Norman legacy were to contribute to great domestic unrest in the 12th and 13th centuries. One was England's possession of territory in France. The other was Norman adherence to Roman Catholicism. English kings, like all Christian
kings of Europe, were expected to become involved in the wars against the Islamic Empire of the Turks in order to gain possession from them of the Christian holy city of Jerusalem. Indeed there were three great crusades. This together with wars against France was an enormous drain upon financial resources of England. The result was
confrontation between King John and his barons in 1215.
写有许多不满的请愿书被上呈给国王约翰。贵族们抱怨说:国王没能保护诺曼土地免受法国国的进逼；国王收的赋税太重，破坏了封建法庭的权力；国王把罚款据为已有，而这些罚款以前也是贵族的一部分收入。国王亨利拒绝了贵族们的要求，但他在炫耀武力失败后被追求和。1215 年夏天，在离温莎城堡四英里之外的泰晤士河下游的兰尼米德岛上举行了会议，贵族代表团把他们的宪章（后被称为《大宪章》）递交给国王和他的顾问们。1215 年 6 月 19 目，国王极不情愿地在大宪章上盖上印鉴。
A list of grievances was presented to King John. The barons complained that the king has failed to protect the Norman lands from the advances of the French King, Philip Augustus, and that he had imposed high taxes, undermined the power of the feudal courts and taken himself the fines which had previously been part of the barons' income. The king rejected the barons' demands but was forced to make peace after a show of force. The barons' charter, or Magna Carta as it came to be known, was presented by a delegation of their class to the king and his advisers in
the summer of 1215 at a conference at Runnymede, an island in the Thames four miles downstream from Windsor. With the utmost reluctance, the king was forced to put his seal to the Charter on June 19,1215.
大宪章共有 63 条，主要条文如下；没有大评议会批准不得征税；除依照法律，不得随意逮捕、拘禁 自由民，不依照土地法不得剥夺其财产；教会拥有的权利和选举自由不受侵犯.伦敦和其他城市应保留其古老的权利和特权；全国应统一度量衡。尽管有些条款也允诺普通人更多的权利，但没有涉及农奴的条款。 由 24 位贵族和伦敦市长组成的委员会帮助国王执行大宪章，若国王违反规定，他们有权对国王宣战。
Magna Carta had altogether 63 clauses, of which the most important matters were these: no tax should be made without the approval of the Grand Council; no freeman should be arrested, imprisoned, or deprived of his property except by the law of the land; the Church should possess all its rights, together with freedom of elections; London and other towns should retain their ancient rights and privileges, and there should be the same weights and measures throughout the country. Although some clauses of the Great Charter promised more general rights, nothing was said about serfs. A committee of 24 barons plus the Mayor of London was chosen to help the king carry out the Charter; with the right of declaring war on him should he break its provisions.
尽管大宪章长期以来被普遍认为是英国自由的基础，但它陈述的只是国王与贵族之间的封建关系与法 律关系，保证了教会的自由，限制了国王的权力，大宪章的精神是限制王权，置王权于封建法律的约束下。
Although Magna Carta has long been popularly regard-ed as the foundation of English liberties, it was a statement of the feudal and legal relationship between the Crown and the barons, a guarantee of the freedom of the Church and a limitation of the powers of the king. The spirit of Magna Carta was the limitation of the powers of the king, keeping them within the bounds of the feudal law of the land.
