The following is an extract from the latest Essex Records Office blog.

Magna Carta: Essex Connections – 1203 charter and letters patent of King John

by admin Ahead of Magna Carta: Essex Connections on Saturday 23 May, thought we would take a look at two ERO documents from the reign of the infamous King John (1199-1216).
These two documents are featured on the University of East Anglia’s Magna Carta Project website which brings together all of the charters of King John’s reign. Professor Nicholas Vincent, an expert on Magna Carta, leads this project and he will be speaking about Magna Carta at the Essex Record Office’s mini conference on 23 May.
King John issued several thousand charters during his reign. The Magna Carta Project site explains that:
‘The word ‘charter’ covers a multitude of possibilities, but in essence defines a single sheet of parchment on which were recorded commands, requests or most often grants by one party to another… [charters] are often our best, and sometimes our only means of access to the realities of power, of landholding and of administration.’
The Magna Carta Project has been tracking down all the surviving charters of King John’s reign, which can be found in archives around the country (including here at ERO) and bringing digital versions of them together online