Ever since its issue, in June 1215, Magna Carta has been the object of exaggeration and make-believe. Those who were present at Runnymede began the mythologising by carrying away from the scene of negotiations not just the great charter but a series of written memoranda, drafts and other scraps of parchment. Even at the time, these were treated as relics of what contemporaries realised was a momentous event. David Starkey now attempts to recreate the thoughts and actions of these men. He offers a forensic study of the making and immediate posterity of Magna Carta, from roughly 1200 to 1225. It may come as a surprise to find an expert in Tudor history thus parading his knowledge of much earlier events. For those who know Starkey’s methods, it will be less surprising to learn that he