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Secondary sourcePainting1902

King John signing the Great Charter

English School · 1902

A later engraving from Cassell's History of England (1902) showing King John signing the Great Charter at Runnymede. It imagines the scene and is not a contemporary record.

This engraving imagines King John sealing the charter, showing how later artists pictured the making of Magna Carta rather than recording it.

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Sepia engraving of a crowned king seated at a table draped with a cross-patterned cloth, signing a large document as armored barons and clergy in mitres stand around him. A kneeling clerk sits at lower right beside scrolls, and tents and banners fill the background.
English School, King John signing the Great Charter, engraving, 1902, Cassell's History of England.

About this source

What it is

This is a sepia engraving published in Cassell's History of England, Century Edition, in 1902. It shows a crowned king seated at a table draped with a cross-patterned cloth, signing a large document while armoured barons and clergy in mitres stand around him. A kneeling clerk sits at the lower right beside scrolls, and tents and banners fill the background. The engraving is by an unnamed English artist.

Why it matters

The picture shows the sealing of the charter at Runnymede in 1215, but it was made about seven centuries later. It reveals how Victorian and Edwardian readers imagined the origins of English liberty, with the king surrounded by his barons.

Look closer

  • Who appears in the scene, and what roles do they seem to play?
  • What details of the setting were the artist's choices rather than known facts?
  • Why might a history book of 1902 want to show this moment?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Magna Carta on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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