The First Barons' War (1215–1217) was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of rebellious barons and King John.

Background

King John in June of 1215 was forced to sign Magna Carta by a group of powerful barons who had had enough of John's failed leadership and despotic rulership. "The law of the land" is one of the great watchwords of Magna Carta, standing in opposition to the king's mere will.

Magna Carta of 1215 contained clauses that no medieval king could accept, unless he wished to remain ruler in name only. This included clause 61, the "security clause", that allowed a group of 25 barons to override the king at any time by way of force, a medieval legal process called distraint that was normal in feudal relationships but had never been applied to a king. After a few months of half-hearted attempts to negotiate in the summer of 1215, open warfare broke out between the rebel barons and the king and his supporters.

First Barons' War

The war began over Magna Carta but quickly turned into a dynastic war for the throne of England. The rebel barons, faced with a powerful king, turned to the son of the king of France, Louis, son and heir apparent of king of France Philip Augustus. Louis landed in England on May 21, 1216 and marched on London where he was openly received by the rebel barons and citizens of London. Many of John's supporters, sensing a tide of change, moved to support to barons. Gerarld of Wales remarked:

"The madness of slavery is over, the time of liberty has been granted, English knecks are free from the yoke."

John died in the middle of the war on October 18, 1216 of dysentery and it quickly changed the nature of the war. His nine year old son Henry was next in line for the throne. The royalists believed the rebel barons would find the idea of loyalty to the child Henry more palatable than loyalty to Louis, and so the child was swiftly crowned in late October. On November 12, 1216 Magna Carta was reissued in Henry's name with some of the clauses, including clause 61, omitted. The revised charter was signed by the young kings' regent William Marshal.

Having appropriated the rebels' cause, the military defeat of Louis came soon after and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Lambeth in 1217, and the withdrawal of Louis to France.

See also

• Second Barons' War