Which English king signed the Magna Carta in 1215?

King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215.

The charter was sealed at Runnymede, a meadow beside the River Thames, on 15 June 1215. It followed a rebellion by English barons who opposed John’s heavy taxation, military failures, and arbitrary use of royal power. The document aimed to settle the immediate political crisis by placing limits on the king and recognizing certain customary rights.

The Magna Carta did not create modern democracy, and most of its clauses concerned the interests of medieval nobles, the Church, towns, and merchants. Only a few original clauses remain part of English law today, including protections for the freedom of the Church and the principle that lawful judgment should precede imprisonment.

A common mix-up is confusing John with his brother Richard I, the “Lionheart.” Richard was king before John, but he died in 1199. John ruled from 1199 to 1216, and his reign produced the charter later celebrated as a foundation of constitutional government.