Click2History - The Magna Carta: Source of Civil Rights - Chapter 1 - Preface

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff cellpadding=5> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>THE MAGNA CARTA:<br> SOURCE OF CIVIL RIGHTS<br><br> <font size="4">RUNNYMEDE, 1215</b></font></p>  <table width="590"> <tr> <td align="CENTER" valign="top" bgcolor="000000" colspan=2><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="3" color="FFFFFF"><b>STORY CHAPTER LINKS</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" border="0"> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="magna_carta_ch1.htm">1. STORY PREFACE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="magna_carta_ch2.htm">2. WHAT IS THE <i>MAGNA CARTA</i>?</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="magna_carta_ch3.htm">3. THE SOURCE OF TROUBLE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="magna_carta_ch4.htm">4. CROSS PURPOSES AT RUNNYMEDE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width=100% cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 border=0> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="magna_carta_ch5.htm">5. THE POPE RESPONDS</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="magna_carta_ch6.htm">6. THE BARONS PREVAIL</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="magna_carta_ch7.htm">7. BRITAIN'S STATUTE NUMBER ONE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="magna_carta_ch8.htm">8. WHAT HAPPENED TO JOHN?</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  <p><b><font size="3"><u><a name="preface">PREFACE</a></u></font></b></p> <div align=center><b><i><font face="Times New Roman" color="000000" size="3">At Runnymede, at Runnymede,<br> Your rights were won<br> At <a href="http://www.britannia.com/history/kipling.html" target="_blank">Runnymede</a>!</i><br><br> (<a href="http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1907/kipling-bio.html" target="_blank">Rudyard Kipling</a> 1865-1936)</b></font><br><br> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3"><a href="http://www.royal.gov.uk/files/images/john-lackland_lrg.jpg" target="_blank"><b>King John (Lackland)</b></a> was a bad king. At least, that’s how history remembers him. According to legend, he gave <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1210000/images/_1211676_robin_bbc150.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Robin Hood</b></a> a terrible time. He tried to steal the throne from his brother, Richard the <a href="http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/2000_images/Europe/Fontevraud/lionheart.GIF" target="_blank"><b>Lion-Hearted</b></a>, while <a href="http://www.craigr.com/images/London%20Richard%20I.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Richard</b></a> was out of the country. He was a lousy son to his mother, the famous <a href="http://www.ping.at/kessler/01_044.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Eleanor of Aquitaine</b></a>.</p> <p>Yet, <a href="http://www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/cgi-bin/gedlkup/n=royal?royal01364" target="_blank"><b>King John</b></a> gave his barons (and ultimately the world) the <i>Magna Carta</i>, one of the greatest legal documents ever written and a cornerstone of modern national constitutions.</p> </div> <p align="right"><font size="2"><a href="magna_carta_ch2.htm">GO TO CHAPTER 2</a></font></p> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="3"><a href="http://www.awesomestories.com/content/about_author.htm" target="_blank"><b>Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.</b></center></a></p><br> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>  </body>