A treaty between Charles V and Francis I, putting an end to the captivity of Francis, signed in 1526. The French King ceded Burgundy to Charles, and renounced the sovereignty of Flanders and all his rights in Italy.
Maffia.
A secret society which largely controlled the appointment of officials, and practically governed Sicily. The disclosures following the murder of Signor Notarbartolo, deputy for Palermo, in 1899, caused the Italian Government to institute a searching inquiry, which led to the suppression, temporarily at least, of the Maffia.
Magdeburg, Sack of.
At the capture of Magdeburg by the Austrian General, Tilly, in 1629, during the Thirty Years’ War, the Protestant inhabitants were put to the sword with ruthless barbarity.
Magna Charta.
The Great Charter of English liberty, extorted from John by his Barons in 1215. It prescribed the constitution of the Great Council of the Kingdom, the members whereof were to be summoned by writ; it defined and limited the feudal obligations of the Barons and other tenants of the Crown; restricted the powers of the sheriffs and other royal officers, and secured the liberties of the free towns. It further declared the right of an accused person to be tried by his peers.
Magnum Concilium.
The Great Council of the Realm, which in Norman times took the place of the Anglo-Saxon Witanegemot, and was the forerunner of the Parliament. It consisted in the main of the King’s great vassals, and with the King exercised legislative functions and initiated taxation. Its constitution was defined, and the mode of summoning it prescribed in Magna Charta.