Magna Carta of Chester of the clauses in the Magna Carta of Chester and those in the Magna Carta indicates that it was written after King John issued the latter on 19 June 1215. In the early 1200s, the Earldom of Chester was the only county palatine on the Welsh Marches; Ranulf III ruled Chester as a separate feudal domain. His barons living outside of Cheshire are referred to as his 'knights from England'. In the late 12th century manuscript "De laude Cestrie", Lucian of Chester describes the county as obedient, 'more to the sword of its prince than to the crown of the
Magna Carta marks of intolerable bondage". Both saw Magna Carta as a useful declaration of liberties that could be used against governments they disagreed with. Gerrard Winstanley, the leader of the more extreme Diggers, stated "the best lawes that England hath, [viz., the Magna Carta] were got by our Forefathers importunate petitioning unto the kings that still were their Task-masters; and yet these best laws are yoaks and manicles, tying one sort of people to be slaves to another; Clergy and Gentry have got their freedom, but the common people still are, and have been left servants to work for them." The