By Steve Dunn, Head Guide, Salisbury Cathedral

TUCKED away deep below the spire of Salisbury Cathedral lies a small piece of sheepskin older than the cathedral itself.

It’s covered in hand written Latin (which seems to get smaller towards the end as the scribe realised he was running out of space – sheepskin didn’t come cheap in those days).

It is, of course, Magna Carta – Latin for Great Charter – and Salisbury Cathedral has the best preserved one of only four that have survived from the historic agreement made on June 15, 1214.

If you haven’t heard of Magna Carta before, you’re going to hear an awful lot about it in the coming months as celebrations for its 800th anniversary kick in. It was clearly important at the time, but what is it about this little bit of sheepskin that continues to inspire people today? The rapper Jay-Z named an album after it, and last year made a special trip to Salisbury to see it.

The short answer is it means freedom. The lifestyle that we enjoy in this country today – largely free from unfair justice or persecution – is rooted in the principles enshrined in Magna Carta when the barons forced the King to agree to a list of rules by which they would all live. John became king in 1199. The great grandson of William the Conqueror, and the youngest son of King Henry II, he lacked the lands and estates of his elder brothers earning the nickname ‘Lackland”. Determined to have his own way, his reign was violent and ill judged. He lost lands in France and Magna Carta was further humiliation for him – the 63 articles spelling out concessions to the barons on subjects as diverse as tax, inheritance and weights and measures.

It gave the barons liberty, while the King agreed to toe the line and rule the country fairly.

It was the first time that a reigning monarch in England had been brought to heel; held to account by his people.

Granted, it was a small and select group of his people but nevertheless it was a significant step towards the freedoms that we enjoy and take for granted today. It said clearly that no one – not even the King – was above the law. And that no one could be imprisoned without a fair trial. So important is this principle that the Founding Fathers of the USA inserted it, together with other bits of the Charter into the US Constitution – regarded to this day as a cornerstone of liberty.

King John died in 1216, but the message of Magna Carta was so powerful that it was reissued several times up to 1300 and has informed legislation to this day: the Bill of Rights of 1689, which extended rights to all men; The Great Reform Act of 1832; and more recently, the Human Rights Act.

So maybe it’s not surprising that Magna Carta is held in such high regard after all. It’s certainly worth celebrating – with pride that something so important and influential resides here in Salisbury, freely available to view by all.