Pairs read two short extracts: the opening and clauses 39 and 40 of the 1215 charter itself, and a passage from the chronicle of Roger of Wendover, a monk at St Albans who was hostile to King John and wrote within about twenty years of the events. For each source they post one fact and one sign of the writer's viewpoint to a class Padlet with one column per source. The teacher reads down the columns, places posts that disagree side by side, and draws out the biggest contradiction: the charter presents itself as John's free grant made out of reverence for God, while Wendover shows a king forced to agree. Pairs finish by deciding which source is more useful for explaining why John sealed the charter, and add that verdict to their post.
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