Called “Kingdom 1000”, the web series has been co-designed with Voluntary Arts, the team behind BBC Get Creative. The creators involved include composer and BBC Sound of Musicals presenter Neil Brand, Cambridge Folk Festival’s spoken word curator John Row, and “Brit-Indi” chef and BBC Food presenter Manju Malhi.
In each episode, the creators will join a local storyteller and historian to uncover the medieval origins of the document that inspired Magna Carta. After a discussion exploring the themes of equality, diversity, and compassion found in the stories of the time, the audience will be invited to participate in a live Q&A with the show’s panellists.
Magna Carta has long been held up as the pillar of a fair and just legal system, both within the UK and beyond—it was cited as inspiration by America’s Founding Fathers, the authors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and others.
What is less known is that Magna Carta was not the first document of its kind. Knut, Britain’s Danish conqueror, issued a proclamation in 1020 that laid the foundations for equal justice for all, regardless of class or race—200 years before King John tried to act above the law, and got called to account by nobles who presented him with the first Magna Carta.
Exactly 1,000 years on, the issue of equal justice is once again in the spotlight. Julie Spence OBE, Lord Lieutenant for Cambridgeshire, said:
"The 1000th anniversary of the first Equality Law is a timely reminder that resolving inequality in society is not an easy path to follow. Perhaps inequality is inevitable in a world where people strive to improve, because some will for many reasons be left behind—but the fair human being will strive to eradicate inequality."
Kingdom 1000 began when Cambridge historian Chip Colquhoun unearthed a local oral tradition that led him to discover the significance of Knut’s proclamation. The project is funded by Arts Council England, and is project managed by Cambridgeshire County Council.