The history of the monarchy in Europe for most countries ended with some kind of a revolution that finally overthrew them. Except for Britain, which lived with its kings and queens more or less happily for eight centuries and counting. The British Crown was never able to obtain for itself the kind of absolute powers that the monarchs of France of Russia took, and British nobility as early as the 13th century outlined the limits of the ruler’s power in a formal document that later inspired the U.S. Constitution.

On this day, June 16, in 1215 King John of England met a rebellious baron at Runnymede on the Thames, and put his seal on the Magna Carta, the “Great Charter” that compelled him uphold the nation’s laws and respect the freedoms of both the Church and the nobility.

John spent a lot of the nation’s fortune on ill-conceived wars in France, and to recoup the gold he began selling appointments to positions within church and imposing heavy taxes on the nobility. In response the nobles swiftly gathered up a fighting force superior to John’s own. Facing the prospect of losing a war to his own people, John wisely decided to accede to their demands.