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The thirteenth century began with a rebellion that sought to cast a tyrant from the throne of England, followed after fifty years by a revolution: a party of barons and bishops backed by a vast popular following seized power from the king and ran the country in his stead.

This period – from the reign of King John and the making of Magna Carta, to England’s first revolution, led by Simon de Montfort – has been hailed as the foundation of the enlightened democracy we enjoy today. But the reality is far darker.

This was a world in which religious leaders had the power to punish kings, where people willingly went to their deaths for a political cause believing themselves martyrs, and where the dismembered body of a fallen leader could be transformed into holy relics.

This world was not democratic, but theocratic. What can we learn from this period about the role that religion can, or should, play in politics?