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King John, to some the worst king in English history, was forced to sign the Magna Carta by his rebellious barons after a disastrous campaign in France. John’s unpopularity with the English people and failure to recapture his lands in France prompted his barons to threaten a civil war against the king. Brought together at Runnymede in 1215, the two sides agreed a truce, but only after John agreed to respect the freedoms of his barons. The ‘Great Charter’ he signed came to symbolise the rights of free Englishmen to life, liberty and property.