by Phyllis Irene Radford

Presuming you’ve all had a chance to check out Guardian of the Trust Merlin’s Descendants #2   http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/MD2-Guardian-of-the-Trust-by-Irene-Radford on sale at Book View Cafe and seen how I tried to incorporate the Magna Carta into the plot, let’s move on to the next clauses.

In clause #9 of the Magna Carta we deal with debts.  How much can a bailiff seize when a debtor defaults?  When in need of cash, a man of property could get a wealthier person to co-sign the loan.  That should satisfy the lender and the bailiff.  But the debt continues to the co-signer if the debtor defaults.

For the entire Magna Carta you may go here: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/magnacarta.asp

For a more scholarly analysis of the Charter and its relevance to modern life:  http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/magna-carta.htm

Recognizing that in the medieval economy land is the source of all wealth, taking possession of the land and manor is the ultimate goal of the lender, the bailiff, and the cosigner.  Keeping possession of the land is the debtor’s prime goal, even if the debtor has to offer a substitute payment.

At this time, Christians were not allowed by the Church to charge interest on loans (usury).  So the lender had to become creative to profit from the loan.

9. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for any debt, so long as the chattels (personal possessions) of the debtor are sufficient to repay the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the principal debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal debtor shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing where with to pay it, then the sureties (co-signer) shall answer for the debt; and let them have the lands and rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until they are indemnified for the debt which they have paid for him, unless the principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as against the said sureties.  (Ah, the paper work, even in a mostly illiterate society.)

Many greedy bailiffs would rather seize the land and its continuing opportunity to supply wealth than just enough of the furniture, plate, and jewels to pay off the debt.

Anyone who has watched the news or listened to the woes of foreclosure victims can see similar tactics used by big banks.  They say they will accept a short sale that pays off most of the mortgage in lieu of foreclosure, but then when an offer is made for the house, the bank rejects the offer because the foreclosure insurance will repay the entire loan and the homeowner has the big fat black mark on their credit record of a foreclosure.  We also see instances of requests to restructure the loans being met with selling the house out from under the homeowner.  Both instances are perfectly legal.

Our economy is built on credit and loans.  Is it any more secure now than in 1215?

10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die before that loan can be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall into our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum contained in the bond.

Because of the Church’s prohibition against usury, only the Jews could charge interest.  Indeed, usury was the only profession allowed them.  If a borrower should die while his heir was still a minor, the loan remained, but the interest is waived.  Even if the king co-signed the loan, he can’t bilk the estate of more than the loan principle.

Makes us wonder how much the king stole before the he signed the Charter.  Here we see the beginnings of making the king, monarch by the grace of God, subject to his own laws.

Phyllis Irene Radford is a founding member of the Book View Café.  Though raised in the seaports of America she was born in Portland, Oregon and has lived in and around the city since her junior year in high school.  She thrives in the damp and loves the tall trees.

For more about her and her fiction please visit her bookshelf here on BVC http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Phyllis-Irene-Radford/

Or her personal web page ireneradford.com