The document that the English barons, aided by Stephen Langton, forced King John to seal at Runnymede on 15 June 1215. It was a charter of 61 or 63 clauses (the final clause is sometimes subdivided into three) covering a wide range of issues, mainly limiting the power of the king. John sought and obtained papal condemnation of the charter on 24 August 1215, which led to the first Barons’ War four months later. Although the charter was often violated by medieval kings, it came to be seen as an important document defining the English Constitution.