Barons of the Magna Charta​

 

SAHER DE QUINCY

Richard de Clare

Gilbert de Clare

Henry de Bohun

 

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​The Magna Carta is important to the American Revolution because it established the core ideas of limited government, the rule of law, and protection against taxation without representation. American colonists viewed the 1215 document as a guarantor of their fundamental rights as Englishmen, which they felt King George III and Parliament were violating.

Core Principles Adopted by Colonists

• No Taxation Without Consent: The charter limited the king's power to levy taxes without approval, forming the basis for colonial resistance against British acts.

• Rule of Law: It asserted that no ruler, even a king, is above the law.

• Due Process: It promised that no person could be imprisoned or stripped of property without a lawful judgment or trial by peers. 

Impact on the Revolution

• The Rights of Englishmen: Colonists argued that moving to America did not strip them of the ancient liberties promised in English common law and the Magna Carta. 

• Justifying Rebellion: Revolutionary leaders like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams used the document's legacy to justify breaking away from a government they saw as tyrannical. 

• Shaping New Laws: The concepts inspired core American texts, including state constitutions, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights

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King James V of Scotland + Mistress Euphemia Elphinstone

• Child: Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney (1533–1593) 

💍 Step 2: The Noble Marriage (1561)

• Robert Stewart marries Lady Janet Kennedy (daughter of Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassillis). The Kennedy family is the "gateway" that carries the English Magna Carta blood into the Scottish royal lines. [1]

🛡️ Step 3: Up the Kennedy Line to Saher de Quincy (Example Baron) 

Moving up through Janet Kennedy's ancestral grandparents (including the Earls of Cassillis and the Lords of the Isles), the tree links directly to the English-Norman barons who intermarried with Scottish royalty generations earlier:

1. Lady Janet Kennedy (b. 1542)

2. ← is daughter of Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassillis

3. ← up to Gilbert Kennedy, 1st Lord Kennedy (who married Catherine Maxwell)

4. ← up to Sir Herbert Maxwell (who married Katherine Stewart, daughter of Alexander Stewart)

5. ← up to the Earls of Angus and Mar

6. ← up to Lady Elena de Quincy (b. 1222)

7. ← SAHER DE QUINCY (Magna Carta Baron, d. 1219) 

 Step 4: Branching out to the Clare and Bohun Barons

Through the same Kennedy maternal lines, your tree hits Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland. His mother was Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, who was the great-granddaughter of Richard de Clare and Amice FitzRobert. [1]

Richard de Clare and his son Gilbert de Clare are both on the list of the 17 Sureties.

Robert the Bruce's line also traces through the de Bohun family, pulling in Henry de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. [1]

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