Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas was born to a wealthy Count and Countess in Italy in 1225.  He began his education at age five.  When he became old enough, his parents sent him to a University in Naples, Italy.  After school, at age nineteen, he joined the Dominican Order of Monks.  This decision of his did not please his parents at all, for they were hoping that he would become a great Count after his father and take care of their lands.  But Thomas had other plans.

A while after Thomas became a Monk, his parents kidnapped him and kept in captive in their home for two long years.  Thomas eventually escaped with the help of his mother.  She knew that Thomas needed to do what he felt was right.  Soon after his escape, Thomas rejoined the Dominican Order of Monks.

One day, the Pope summoned Thomas Aquinas to a meeting.  On the trip to the city where the meeting would be held, a large branch fell out of a tree onto Thomas’s head and he became very ill.  He died several years later in 1274.

One of Thomas Aquinas’s greatest works was the Summa Theological.  He actually did not finish this book, he left it for someone else to end it for him.

The Magna Charta

The Magna Charta is French for ‘Great Charter’.

John of England was a very ineffective and cruel king.  He was the brother of Richard I, the Lionhearted.  King Richard the Lionhearted was loved by his subjects, and was known for many great military achievements.

John was the youngest out of all of his siblings, and he never expected to inherit anything important.  But John still tried to become king of England while King Richard was away fighting in the Holy Lands.  King Richard died during his time in the Holy Lands, making John the King over England.

Soon after being crowned king, John and the Pope got in an argument over which one of them had the authority to choose who would become the next Archbishop of Canterbury be.  When King John did not give in to the Pope, the Pope excommunicated him, meaning that he was no longer a member of the Catholic church.  The Pope threatened to close the church unless King John complied.  So King John eventually complied and was allowed back in to the church.

King John was a poor military leader. He raised a huge amount of money to keep his soldiers around him.  To get this money, he raised the taxes, with out the permission of his barons.  This act angered the barons.  King John then decided the he had no need of the barons and would run England by himself.

In 1215, the barons had had enough and took control of England.  King John met the rebels at the Field of Runnymede.  There the two partyies drafted the Magna Charta, which was a peace treaty.  The four notable rights in the Magna Charta are:

1) No taxation without the approval of the council

2) Trial by a jury, no matter the victim

3) The church was not to be interfered with by the king

4) The King had to abide by laws of the nation

Neither side took the document seriously, and it failed to bring peace.  It brought a war between the barons and the King.  King John died in the war.  John’s successor, Henry, also rebelled the charter.