A journey: King John in 1215¶

Medieval kings moved constantly, and the letters they sent out were witnessed with the place and the day: “Witness ourself between Newbury and Abingdon, on the 15th of July in the 17th year of our reign”. In 1835 T. D. Hardy used those witness clauses, enrolled on the Chancery rolls, to trace King John from day to day through his whole reign. This example takes the weeks around the sealing of Magna Carta, from 1 June to 17 July 1215, as Hardy tells them in the remarks that open his tables (pages 108 to 110). It shows how a journey is recorded: each stop in order, with the dates the source gives.

Download the example as CSV files. The same data is in the repository as PLATO JSON, and part of it, with comments, as linked data.

What the source says¶

Previously to the sealing of Magna Carta, namely, from the 1st to the 3d of June 1215, the King was at Windsor, from which place he can be traced, by his attestations, to Odiham, and thence to Winchester, where he remained until the 8th. From Winchester he went to Merton; he was again at Odiham on the 9th, whence he returned to Windsor, and continued there until the 15th: on that day he met the barons at Runnemead by appointment, and there sealed the great charter of English liberty. The King then returned to Windsor, and remained there until the 18th of June, from which time until the 23d he was every day both at Windsor and at Runnemead …

The account goes on through Odiham and Winchester to Marlborough, round Wiltshire and into Dorset, and back by Newbury and Abingdon to Oxford on 17 July. The dates are in the Julian calendar, as the rolls give them.

The sources¶

`source_id`	`title`	`citation`	`uri`	`date`	`from`	`to`	`derived_from`	`licence`
chancery-rolls	Enrolled royal letters of 1215	The attestations of King John’s letters of 1215, enrolled on the Chancery rolls, from which Hardy traced the King’s movements		1215	1215	1215
hardy-1835	A Description of the Patent Rolls in the Tower of London; to which is added an Itinerary of King John	T. D. Hardy, A Description of the Patent Rolls in the Tower of London; to which is added an Itinerary of King John, with prefatory observations (London: Record Commission, 1835)	https://archive.org/details/descriptionofpat00hard	1835	1835	1835	chancery-rolls	https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
wikidata	Wikidata	Wikidata, https://www.wikidata.org/ (consulted 29 September 2026)	https://www.wikidata.org/	2026	2026	2026		https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Hardy’s book is the source every row cites, with its page. It is derived_from the enrolled letters he read, which are a source of their own, dated 1215. Wikidata is the source of the locations.

The journey and its stops¶

`place_id`	`label`	`country_codes`
itinerary-1215	King John’s itinerary, 1 June to 17 July 1215	GB
windsor	Windsor	GB
odiham	Odiham	GB
winchester	Winchester	GB
merton	Merton	GB
runnymede	Runnymede	GB
marlborough	Marlborough	GB
devizes	Devizes	GB
bradenstoke	Bradenstoke	GB
calne	Calne	GB
cirencester	Cirencester	GB
ludgershall	Ludgershall	GB
clarendon	Clarendon	GB
corfe	Corfe Castle	GB
newbury	Newbury	GB
abingdon	Abingdon	GB
woodstock	Woodstock	GB
oxford	Oxford	GB
isle-of-wight	Isle of Wight	GB

`place_id`	`type_label`	`type_uri`	`date`	`from`	`to`	`source_id`	`locator`	`citation_function`	`notes`
itinerary-1215	itinerary	https://w3id.org/plato#TypeItinerary	1215	1215-06-01	1215-07-17	hardy-1835	pp. 108-109	citesAsEvidence	Dated to the span Hardy’s pages cover, which is the evidence for the type. It is not the journey’s overall span entered as a fact: a platform works that out from the stops.

The journey is a row in the places sheet, typed itinerary. Every place the King stopped at has a row too, once, however often he came back.

`place_id`	`relation_type`	`related_place_id`	`sequence`	`date`	`from`	`to`	`duration`	`source_id`	`locator`	`citation_function`	`denied`	`notes`
windsor	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	1	from the 1st to the 3d of June 1215	1215-06-01	1215-06-03		hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence
odiham	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	2	undated	1215-06-03	1215-06-08		hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence		“from which place he can be traced, by his attestations, to Odiham”. Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
winchester	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	3	until the 8th	1215-06-03	1215-06-08		hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence		“where he remained until the 8th”.
merton	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	4	undated	1215-06-08	1215-06-09		hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence		“From Winchester he went to Merton”. Hardy does not say which Merton, so it is not located here. Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
odiham	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	5	the 9th	1215-06-09	1215-06-09		hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence		“he was again at Odiham on the 9th”.
windsor	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	6	until the 15th	1215-06-09	1215-06-15		hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence		“whence he returned to Windsor, and continued there until the 15th”.
runnymede	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	7	the 15th	1215-06-15	1215-06-15		hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence		“on that day he met the barons at Runnemead by appointment, and there sealed the great charter”.
windsor	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	8	until the 18th of June	1215-06-15	1215-06-18		hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence		“The King then returned to Windsor, and remained there until the 18th of June”.
windsor	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	9	did not finally leave Windsor and its vicinity before the 26th	1215-06-18	1215-06-26		hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence		From the 18th to the 23rd he was “every day both at Windsor and at Runnemead”; see the Runnymede row without a sequence.
runnymede	MemberOf	itinerary-1215		from which time until the 23d	1215-06-18	1215-06-23		hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence		“every day both at Windsor and at Runnemead”: no sequence, because the source puts neither before the other; the timespans say when.
odiham	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	10	undated	1215-06-26	1215-06-30		hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence		“John then proceeded through Odiham to Winchester”. Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
winchester	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	11	until the end of June	1215-06-26	1215-06-30		hardy-1835	pp. 108-109	citesAsEvidence		“and continued in that city until the end of June”.
marlborough	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	12	the first four days of July	1215-07-01	1215-07-04	P4D	hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		“The first four days of July he passed at Marlborough”: a length the source states, with its dates.
devizes	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	13	undated	1215-07-04	1215-07-07		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		“from which place he went to Devizes, Bradenstoke, and Calne”. Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
bradenstoke	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	14	undated	1215-07-04	1215-07-07		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
calne	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	15	undated	1215-07-04	1215-07-07		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
cirencester	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	16	the 7th	1215-07-07	1215-07-07		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		“reached Cirencester on the 7th”.
marlborough	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	17	the following day	1215-07-08	1215-07-08		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		“and returned to Marlborough on the following day”.
ludgershall	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	18	undated	1215-07-08	1215-07-15		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		“He afterwards went to Ludgershall, and through Clarendon into Dorsetshire, as far as Corfe-Castle”. Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
clarendon	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	19	undated	1215-07-08	1215-07-15		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
corfe	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	20	undated	1215-07-08	1215-07-15		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		“as far as Corfe-Castle”. Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
clarendon	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	21	the 15th of July	1215-07-15	1215-07-15		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		“but returned to Clarendon on the 15th of July”.
newbury	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	22	undated	1215-07-15	1215-07-17		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		“from which place he proceeded, through Newbury and Abingdon, to Woodstock”. A letter of the same day is witnessed “between Newbury and Abingdon, on the 15th of July” (p. 109, note 1). Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
abingdon	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	23	undated	1215-07-15	1215-07-17		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
woodstock	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	24	undated	1215-07-15	1215-07-17		hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		Hardy gives no date for this stop; from and to are those of the stops either side of it.
oxford	MemberOf	itinerary-1215	25	the 17th of that month	1215-07-17			hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence		“and thence to Oxford, where he arrived on the 17th of that month”. Only his arrival is given, so to is left empty.
isle-of-wight	MemberOf	itinerary-1215		then	1215-06-15	1215-07-17		hardy-1835	pp. 109-110	citesAsEvidence	yes	“The statement of historians that John went to the Isle of Wight immediately after signing Magna Carta is thus clearly shown to be erroneous, as it is unquestionable that the King did not then visit the Isle of Wight”.

Each row makes one stop a member of the journey. Read down the sequence column and the journey unfolds:

The date as Hardy writes it goes in date: “until the 8th”, “the first four days of July”, “the following day”. The actual days go in from and to. Where Hardy gives no date for a stop he passed through (Odiham on the way to Winchester, for instance), date says undated, and from and to are the dates of the stops either side, which is as close as the source allows; the notes say so.
Windsor appears four times, at positions 1, 6, 8 and 9, each with its own stay. A place visited twice is two members, not one.
Runnymede appears twice. On 15 June it is stop 7. From the 18th to the 23rd the King was “every day both at Windsor and at Runnemead”, so that row has no sequence: the source puts neither before the other, and the dates say when.
Marlborough gives a length as well as dates: “the first four days of July” is from 1 July, to 4 July, and duration P4D (four days). Where a source gives only a length (“he stayed six weeks”), duration can stand alone.
Oxford, the last stop, has only a from: Hardy gives the day the King arrived, not the day he left.
Merton is a member with no location. Hardy does not say which Merton he means, so the example does not guess; a stop can be recorded without a place on the map.

A platform can work out the journey’s overall dates from its stops. It does not need a row saying “1 June to 17 July” as evidence; the types row gives that span only because Hardy’s pages cover it.

A stop that did not happen¶

The last row is a denial. Earlier historians said the King went to the Isle of Wight straight after Magna Carta; Hardy says “it is unquestionable that the King did not then visit the Isle of Wight”. That is recorded as a member row with denied set to yes. It is evidence too: anyone reading the older histories can see that this claim was examined and rejected, and by whom. Formats that cannot say “not”, such as Linked Places Format, leave a denial out rather than put the King where the source says he never was.

Names and locations¶

`place_id`	`name`	`language`	`script`	`form_status`	`date`	`from`	`to`	`source_id`	`locator`	`citation_function`	`notes`
runnymede	Runnemead	en	Latn	Attested	1835	1835	1835	hardy-1835	p. 108	citesAsEvidence	Hardy’s spelling.
corfe	Corfe-Castle	en	Latn	Attested	1835	1835	1835	hardy-1835	p. 109	citesAsEvidence	Hardy’s spelling.

Where Hardy spells a place differently from today, his spelling is kept as a name: Runnemead, Corfe-Castle.

`place_id`	`latitude`	`longitude`	`geometry_role`	`date`	`source_id`	`locator`	`citation_function`
windsor	51.48333	-0.6	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q464955	citesAsDataSource
odiham	51.24566	-0.94777	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q928816	citesAsDataSource
winchester	51.06333	-1.30861	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q172157	citesAsDataSource
runnymede	51.44451	-0.56537	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q1483542	citesAsDataSource
marlborough	51.4212	-1.7274	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q539528	citesAsDataSource
devizes	51.35278	-1.99583	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q1026699	citesAsDataSource
bradenstoke	51.51	-2	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q4954492	citesAsDataSource
calne	51.4353	-2.00427	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q1235307	citesAsDataSource
cirencester	51.719	-1.968	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q852772	citesAsDataSource
ludgershall	51.2566	-1.6209	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q643318	citesAsDataSource
clarendon	51.07083	-1.74167	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q404530	citesAsDataSource
corfe	50.6399	-2.0589	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q1236511	citesAsDataSource
newbury	51.4009	-1.3235	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q655874	citesAsDataSource
abingdon	51.67167	-1.27833	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q321381	citesAsDataSource
woodstock	51.845	-1.354	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q752111	citesAsDataSource
oxford	51.75194	-1.25778	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q34217	citesAsDataSource
isle-of-wight	50.7	-1.3	RepresentativePoint	undated	wikidata	Q9679	citesAsDataSource

`place_id`	`same_as`	`match_type`	`basis`	`source_id`
windsor	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q464955	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
odiham	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q928816	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
winchester	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q172157	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
runnymede	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1483542	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
marlborough	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q539528	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
devizes	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1026699	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
bradenstoke	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4954492	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
calne	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1235307	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
cirencester	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q852772	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
ludgershall	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q643318	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
clarendon	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q404530	closeMatch	Hardy writes “Clarendon”; the royal palace there	wikidata
corfe	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1236511	closeMatch	Hardy writes “Corfe-Castle”; the royal castle, not the village	wikidata
newbury	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q655874	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
abingdon	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q321381	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
woodstock	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q752111	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
oxford	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q34217	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata
isle-of-wight	http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q9679	exactMatch	The place Hardy names	wikidata

The coordinates are Wikidata’s, and each place is matched to its Wikidata item. Two matches are closeMatch: Hardy’s “Clarendon” is matched to the royal palace there, and his “Corfe-Castle” to the castle rather than the village, and the basis column says why.