Thoughts and the British Library

After about two weeks I am finding roundabouts more comfortable and I am getting used to driving on the left side of the road. I have had a chance to walk on some of the public footpaths and to enjoy the beauty of the Chilterns. I find the English to be very friendly and helpful when I am lost. It is also inspiring to me to go into churches where people have been worshiping for over 900 years.

I took the tube to the British Library. It is a large building with many reading rooms.
On the first two floors are public displays of the treasures of the library.

The Magna Carta has its own room with interpretation. We know that at least 13 copies were issued although only 4 survive today. Two are at the British Library. They were signed with the King's seal and not with a signature. It is possible that King John did not know how to write.

The document contains 63 clauses, only three of which are valid today in British Law. One gives rights to the City of London which established the ability of local government to make laws independent of the King. One gives rights to the Church of England. The third provision that is still in force in British law says:

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled...nor will we proceed with force against him...except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.

This clause set the precedent that the people have rights that the King has to respect. It applied to free men, who were a minority at the time, but it was a start.

As I read about this I remembered that my rights as an American citizen in the United States started with this document. It was the inspiration for the American Bill of Rights. I also learned that it was an inspiration for the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I hope to get to Runnymede where the Magna Carta was signed before we return home.

The public display also has a Canterbury Tales, some early hand written Bibles and the Gutenberg Bible as well as some early Shakespeare.
Three hundred copies were printed of the Gutenberg Bible which would be a rather small run by today's standards, but a considerable improvement over hand copying.

Gutenberg's actual contribution was the mass production of moveable type which he sold so others could print books. I would argue that this new way of disseminating information had more to do with the coming of the modern era than paintings in Italy.

Also at the British Library was a woman professor, probably of Indian origin, who told us about the Ramayana, a long and important Indian epic that raised some of the important questions of ethics that we still deal with today.