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Welcome to the History of English Podcast, a podcast about the history of the English language.

This is Episode 98, The Great Debates.

In this episode, we're going to look at the aftermath of Magna Carta.

Rather than settling the dispute between the King and his parents, it actually sparked

a renewed debate over the power of the King.

And that wasn't the only debate that was taking place during this period.

The art of debating was being taught in schools and universities.

The burgeoning legal profession used those techniques to try cases in the newly reformed court

system.

And poets composed poetry in a popular style that featured characters engaged in a debate

about various topics.

So this time, we'll look at the art of debate in 13th century England.

But before we begin, let me remind you that the website for the podcast is historyofenglishpodcast.com.

And you can sign up to support the podcast at patreon.com slash historyofenglish.

And as always, you can reach me by email at kevinathistoryofenglishpodcast.com.

Now this time, I want to look at what happened in the immediate aftermath of Magna Carta.

And I had planned to take the story beyond the death of King John.

But I won't have time to get there this time because there's an important middle English

poem that I want to discuss.

The poem is called The Owl and the Nightingale.

And while the date of the poem is unclear, many scholars think it was composed during John's

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