Avatar photo

Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Part of FCDO Human Rights UK in Holy See

16th June 2015

The Church and Magna Carta

©The British Library
©The British Library
©The British Library

On 15 June we celebrated the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. It is extraordinary how a document agreed in 1215 between a medieval English king and his leading subjects continues to resonate down the ages, wherever people believe in the rule of law. I recently wrote an article trying to set Magna Carta in its proper historical context. But it is also worth remembering the words of one Chief Justice, that “the significance of Magna Carta lay not only in what it actually said, but in what later generations claimed and believed it had said”. As Nelson Mandela stated at the Rivonia Trial in April 1964, “The Magna Carta, the Petition of Rights and the Bill of Rights are held in veneration by democrats throughout the world”. The Prime Minister has set out clearly its continuing relevance to today’s debates about law, liberty and human rights.

One thing people often forget is the prominent role played by the Church in the negotiation, drafting, distribution and subsequent confirmation of Magna Carta. If they know anything, it is that Pope Innocent III sought to annul it with his Bull Etsi Karissimus. That is true, but less than half the story.

Any pictorial depiction of the sealing of Magna Carta shows King John surrounded by churchmen. As it happens, the Archbishops of Dublin and Canterbury were important players in the negotiations. The latter, Stephen Langton, intellectual and spiritual heir to St Thomas Beckett, played an essential role in proceedings, and it is no coincidence that the first clause, and amongst the most enduring, is “that the English church shall be free”.

King John sought to wriggle out of his obligations by claiming to the Pope that Magna Carta had been forced upon him. The Pope initially agreed. But when an amended version was reissued on the coronation of King John’s nine year old heir, Henry III, in 1216, it was the Papal Legate and guardian of the young king, Cardinal Bicchieri, who authenticated it with his own seal. From 1216, Magna Carta enjoyed explicit Papal approval.

That was important to the document’s future. The English bishops and other ecclesiastical officials were crucial to the work of copying, distributing and preserving copies of the text (one reason why two of the surviving four originals are held by Lincoln and Salisbury cathedrals). Archbishop Stephen Langton was its most indefatigable champion. Pope Innocent III its international guarantor. So it is right that Vatican Radio should be interested in the anniversary. And that as embassy to the Holy See we, too, should be commemorating Magna Carta 800 years on.

2 comments on “The Church and Magna Carta

Comments are closed.

About Nigel Baker

Nigel was British Ambassador to the Holy See from 2011-2016. He presented his Credentials to Pope Benedict XVI on 9 September 2011, after serving 8 years in Latin America, as…

Nigel was British Ambassador to the Holy See from 2011-2016. He presented his Credentials to Pope Benedict XVI on 9 September 2011, after serving 8 years in Latin America, as Deputy Head of Mission in the British Embassy in Havana, Cuba (2003-6) and then as British Ambassador in La Paz, Bolivia (2007-11). In July 2016, Nigel finished his posting, and is currently back in London.

As the first British Ambassador to the Holy See ever to have a blog, Nigel provided a regular window on what the Embassy and the Ambassador does. The blogs covered a wide range of issues, from Royal and Ministerial visits to Diplomacy and Faith, freedom of religion, human trafficking and climate change.

More on Nigel’s career

Nigel was based in London between 1998 and 2003. He spent two years on European Union issues (for the UK 1998 EU Presidency and on European Security and Defence questions), before crossing St James’s Park to work for three years as The Assistant Private Secretary to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. At St James’s Palace, Nigel worked on international issues, including the management of The Prince of Wales’s overseas visits and tours, on the Commonwealth, interfaith issues, the arts and international development.

Nigel spent much of the early part of his FCO career in Central Europe, after an initial stint as Desk Officer for the Maghreb countries in the Near East and North Africa department (1990-91). Between 1992 and 1996, Nigel served in the British embassies in Prague and Bratislava, the latter being created in 1993 after the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia into the separate Czech and Slovak Republics.

Nigel joined the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) in September 1989. Between 1996 and 1998 he took a two year academic sabbatical to research and write about themes in 18th century European history, being based in Verona but also researching in Cambridge, Paris and Naples. The research followed from Nigel’s time as a student at Cambridge (1985-88) where he read history and was awarded a First Class Honours degree, followed by his MA in 1992.

Before joining the Foreign Office, Nigel worked briefly for the Conservative Research Department in London at the time of the 1989 European election campaign.

Nigel married Alexandra (Sasha) in 1997. They have one son, Benjamin, born in Bolivia in September 2008.

Follow Nigel