Whether or not there was a secret meeting at Bury St Edmunds, with all the major nobles in England sworn to force John to accept reform, it's certainly true that from defeat sprang rebellion. At some point, the barons drafted a document that went well beyond forcing John to stop being vindictive, proposing instead a catalogue of things the King would not be allowed to do. It was called Magna Carta. Anyone expecting to find in it some sort of primitive constitution is going to be in for a bit of a shock when they read the details, because the liberties enumerated here boil down largely to tax relief for the armoured and landed classes.


无论英格兰的所有大贵族是否在柏立艾蒙秘密会谈[萨福克郡的集市]，立誓要逼迫约翰接受改革，可以肯定的是，失败催生了叛变。在这个时候，贵族们起草了一份文件，不仅禁止国王实施报复，同时还列出了一连串国王不得越过的雷池。 这就是《大宪章》，如果有人想在《大宪章》中看到原始宪法的雏型，那么当你了解了它的内容，恐怕会有些震惊。因为其中罗列的许可条款，基本概括起来，就是给骑士和地主阶级减免税收。