When Was the Magna Carta Signed?

On 15 June 1215, facing a rebellion by powerful English barons angry over heavy taxation and arbitrary rule, King John agreed to the Magna Carta ("Great Charter") at Runnymede meadow by the River Thames. The document established that the king was subject to the law, not above it, and guaranteed rights such as fair trial and limits on feudal payments. Although John repudiated it within weeks and Pope Innocent III annulled it, revised versions were reissued by later kings. Its principles influenced the English Bill of Rights (1689), the US Constitution, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.