The Articles of the Barons record royal concessions to baronial demands in 1215 and form the basis for Magna Carta. They reveal at least some of the aims of the first English baronial rebellion with a clear programme of governmental reform. Their survival also for the first time allows analysis of the development of a major English legal document from draft to final version.

This essay begins by examining the drafting of the Articles, and suggests who may lie behind their composition. It then compares the form and contents of Magna Carta with the Articles. Finally it makes suggestions as to how the redrafting may have been carried out, and who influenced it. Comparison of the Articles and Magna Carta is not new. The contribution of the present paper reflects its origins: its starting point with the Articles rather than Magna Carta; its underlying interest in the drafting of legislation as much as in the politics of 1215; and its analysis of both the minutiae of the texts and the broader ideas that examination of those minutiae reveals.

The Articles

The Articles of the Barons are written on a single sheet of parchment, under the heading ‘These are the articles that the barons seek and the lord king grants.’ They probably owe their survival to Archbishop Stephen Langton (1207–28), into whose hands they seem to have passed in 1215. The form of the document is unusual, in that it is set out article by article, each introduced with the paragraphus symbol, making it much easier to consult than the solid block of text that characterizes charters, including Magna Carta. The form was presumably intended to facilitate further discussion, which would lead to the already-envisaged Charter [i.e. Magna Carta]. Particularly in the earlier part of the document there is some logic to the ordering of the clauses into groups, although also elements of apparent disorder.

The Articles are in the handwriting typical of, although not exclusive to, clerks of the royal chancery.