In the medieval landscape Magna Carta is rather like Vesuvius. It is a grand object, never quite inactive, always plumed with smoke, sometimes emitting a cascade of miscellaneous debris on to the surrounding countryside, but seldom in full-scale eruption.’
R.W. Southern, reviewing J.C. Holt, Magna Carta, ante, lxxxii (1967), p. 342.
2015 marks the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, itself widely regarded as a means by which kings, medieval and post-medieval, were taught to respect the rule of law. As the most venerable of Anglophone historical periodicals, the English Historical Review has carried many new findings on Magna Carta. In what follows, I attempt a survey of this contribution. What I hope will emerge is the extraordinary breadth of the materials that EHR has broadcast. For ease of reference, I have divided this survey into four periods. Were we seeking a terminology here, I would suggest ‘the era of Stubbs’, ‘the era of Powicke’, ‘the era of Holt’, and ‘the post-Stubbsian age’.