Tomorrow is the 800th anniversary of the Battle of Bouvines. This war, fought and lost by mercenaries paid for with a depleted English treasury, determined the course of European (and ultimately all of western) history. Without King Johns loss to the French at Bouvines, there would have been no Magna Carta. In addition to his other grievous transgressions, Johns barons were furious that the high taxes their king had extorted from them were wasted on a battle that was lost within a matter of hours. With that loss came the surrender of half of Englands territory and nearly all of its holdings on the European continent. Normandy, Maine, the Tourane, Brittany, and Anjou folded into a burgeoning new French nation. Once control of Aquitaine fell to France, Englands power would not to be extended across the sea again until Henry VIII would assume sovereignty over Ireland - over 400 years after Bouvines. The Angevin empire had effectively vaporized in a morning. Less than a year later, King John signed and sealed the Magna Carta under duress. Trials by jury and representative democracy are his lasting legacy - not that John ever would have wanted it that way. Since the constitutional governments of western civilization stem from the Magna Carta, we can only imagine how the world today might be different had Englands mercenaries and allies won at Bouvines. As feudalism gave way to other ways of doing things, all of Europe looked to the Great Charter, and to the charters that built upon it, as models for governance. The battle lasted less than half a day. It bankrupted a nation, reduced it to half its former size, and ushered in an era that would give birth to the notion of personal freedoms. Thats one hell of a butterfly effect.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 16:34:16 +0000
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