Excerpt from Magna Charta Barons and Their Descendants: With the Story of the Great Charter of King John, Sketches of the Celebrated Twenty-Five Sureties for Its Observance, and Their Lineal Descents From Them of the Members of the Baronial Order of RunnemedeJohn's first seven regal years had been historically uneventful, when the Uni versal Church for some purpose again aroused ill-will between him and Philip, and rebellion in John's duchy, which had come to look upon him only as an alien. To secure Normandy, John tried to raise a sufficient force in England, but found his subjects generally indifferent to his aim, since they long had lost interest in the land of their forefathers, and it was, any way, only a personal matter of the King. This was John's first disagreeable experience with his barons, and greatly disappointed him. However, what force he could command he led into France, and displayed considerable military ability in several hard fought battles. He captured his nephew, Arthur, at Mirabeau, and sent him to Rouen, and, it is related, Arthur soon after disappeared, hence one of the great scandals of English history. When John returned to England, and was again crowned, on 14 April, 1203, at Canter bury, to allay all doubt as to his regal rights, it was then, as Matthew of West minster relates, a general belief of the death of Arthur gained ground to such an extent that John was looked upon with suspicion by all men, as if he had slain him with his own hand, on which account many people from that time forth were wholly alienated from the King, and pursued him to the death with implacable hatred. It was at this juncture that John's real troubles began.There is no positive date when it can be said that the crisis of June, 1215, had its beginning, nor was there any particular event, or specific cause that can be said to have brought about the Magna Charta. It was a matter of slow but sure growth. Modern historians have arrived at the conclusion that the alleged personal misdeeds of John had nothing at all to do with the movement, 'because the many social scandals often repeated about him have been satisfactorily refuted, and they now unite in the opinion that it was the endeavor to place restrictions on the un bridled strength of the Crown.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.