Crossroads
We spend a special weekend on top of a hill above the wide swathe of plain that wraps the Wash, at a crossroads.
|
To the west the power, the 11c castle of Lincoln that watches over the lands, that contains the courts of law, the state measuring the morals of its people.
To the east the church, the 12c cathedral of Lincoln that watches over the heavens, that seeks to provide the ethical compass, albeit to a much-diminished congregation. Through the middle runs the social backbone of the city, the commerce, the entertainment and the meeting places of the people. |
Unbeknown to us, and concealed within a sunken and barely lit display, we find Lincoln is not simply a crossroads of the primary tenets of the English peoples, not simply a rather pleasant crossroads in a rather pretty town, it is also the crossroads at which was bequeathed our modern democracy. For it was at this hill-top crossroads, between 1215 and 1225, that the principles of the Magna Carta emerged and were secured, the principles that dissipated the power to the people away from the regal occupiers of the castle to the west and, inevitably, would soon divest absolute judgement from the control of those who held court in the east.
This crossroads of Lincoln was the source of a new social balance, the founding principles of the Magna Carta, from whence morals and ethics would be judged not by the few but by the many.
This crossroads of Lincoln was the source of a new social balance, the founding principles of the Magna Carta, from whence morals and ethics would be judged not by the few but by the many.
TO ALL FREE MEN OF OUR KINGDOM we have also granted, for us and our heirs for ever, all the liberties written out below, to have and to keep for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs:
(39) No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.
(39) No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.
So strong and true are the principles of the Magna Carta that they were again invoked and reinforced 500 years later, by the Declaration of Independence, the foundation of the US Constitution.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
And by chance we will soon be heading to the source of these modern Carta, Philadelphia, the crossroads at which the United States was born.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
And by chance we will soon be heading to the source of these modern Carta, Philadelphia, the crossroads at which the United States was born.
August 2024
Kreuzungen
|
Wir verbringen ein besonderes Wochenende auf einem Hügel über der weiten Ebene, die den Wash umgibt, an einem Scheideweg.
Im Westen die Macht, die Burg von Lincoln aus dem 11. Jahrhundert, die über die Ländereien wacht, die noch immer die Gerichte beherbergt und in der der Staat die Moral seiner Bürger misst.
Im Osten die Kirche, die Kathedrale von Lincoln aus dem 12. Jahrhundert, die über den Himmel wacht, die den ethischen Kompass zu liefern versucht, wenn auch für eine stark geschrumpfte Gemeinde. Durch die Mitte verläuft das soziale Rückgrat der Stadt, der Handel, die Unterhaltung und die Treffpunkte der Menschen. Unbemerkt von uns und verborgen in einer versunkenen und kaum beleuchteten Auslage finden wir heraus, dass Lincoln nicht nur Kreuzung der wichtigsten Grundwerte der englischen Völker ist, nicht nur eine recht angenehme Kreuzung in einer recht hübschen Stadt, sondern auch der Kreuzungpunkt, von wo unsere moderne Demokratie ihre Grundlagen erbte. Denn an diesem Brennpunkt auf dem Hügel entstanden zwischen 1215 und 1225 die Grundsätze der Magna Carta, die die Macht des Volkes von den königlichen Burgbesetzern im Westen ablösten und die unweigerlich dazu führten, dass die absolute Rechtsprechung bald der Kontrolle derer entzogen wurde, die im Osten Hof hielten.
|
Diese Kreuzung in Lincoln war die Quelle eines neuen sozialen Gleichgewichts, der Grundprinzipien der Magna Carta, von der aus Moral und Ethik nicht mehr von den Wenigen, sondern von den Vielen beurteilt werden sollten.
TO ALL FREE MEN OF OUR KINGDOM we have also granted, for us and our heirs for ever, all the liberties written out below, to have and to keep for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs:
(39) No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. Die Grundsätze der Magna Carta sind so stark und wahr, dass sie 500 Jahre später in der Unabhängigkeitserklärung, der Grundlage der US-Verfassung, erneut zitiert und bekräftigt wurden.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
Und wie es der Zufall will, werden wir uns bald auf den Weg zum Ursprung dieser modernen Carta machen, nach Philadelphia, dem Ort, an dem die Vereinigten Staaten geboren wurden.
August 2024
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
