Today in History: The Pope Strikes Down Magna Carta

On this day (August 24) in 1215, Pope Innocent III, perhaps the most powerful and influential pope of the Middle Ages, declared the English Magna Carta to be invalid. He did so at the bequest of King John who had signed the Great Charter. Innocent called the agreement "not only shameful and demeaning, but illegal and unjust". He went on to excommunicate John’s rebel barons over the Magna Carta.