But John died the following year, and the nobles backing his successor, the nine-year-old Henry III, needed support against a rival claimant to the throne. To gain that support, Henry’s government reissued its own version of Magna Carta, which remains part of the laws of England.
大宪章看上去也不会维持多久。很快，它就被与国王结盟的教皇英诺森三世（Innocent III）取消。但第二年约翰驾崩，支持其继承人、年仅九岁的亨利三世的贵族需要支持以对抗觊觎王位者。为了赢得支持，亨利政府重新颁布了其自身的大宪章，至今仍是英国法律的一部分。