Magna Charta Barons and their Descendants (1915)

What it is

This is a 1915 book, Magna Charta Barons and their Descendants, with the Story of the Great Charter of King John, written by Charles Henry Browning. It gives sketches of the twenty-five barons who were sureties for the observance of the charter, and it traces their descendants. The scanned copy was digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014. The book opens with quotations from historians such as William Blackstone and Bishop Stubbs.

Why it matters

The twenty-five sureties were the barons who were chosen to make sure King John kept the charter agreed in 1215. This book shows how later readers were interested in the families of those men, not only in the charter's legal content. Its opening quotations also show how historians from the past described the charter as a turning point in English history.

Look closer

• Why would a book about barons' descendants focus on families rather than on the charter's laws?
• Which historians are quoted at the start, and how do they describe the charter?
• What does a book about the twenty-five sureties leave out about the many other people affected by the charter?