Beset by foreign crisis and domestic rebellion in 1215 England, King John agreed to meet a group of disgruntled barons in a meadow by the River Thames, and reluctantly fixed his regal seal to a document that would change the world. For the first time a group of subjects had forced a king to accept a document that protected their rights and limited his powers by law. Here the author of The Plantagenets details the making and legacy of Magna Carta, and includes color illustrations and a full text of the charter.