The Landmark Library

The Landmark Library is a series of concise histories devoted to documents, institutions, places and events with a lasting public legacy. Each volume combines narrative history with an explanation of how its subject acquired meanings that extended far beyond its original time and setting.

Dan Jones’s contribution examines Magna Carta, beginning with King John’s political crisis in 1215 and following the charter through civil war, reissue and reinterpretation. It separates the limited practical aims of the medieval document from the much broader ideas of lawful government and liberty later attached to it.