15 May 2025 - Harvard’s ‘Copy’ of Magna Carta Found to Be an Original from 1300
Harvard’s unofficial copy of Magna Carta is actually an original, experts say
Olivia Lee (The Guardian, 15/05/2025)
A Magna Carta wrongly listed as an unofficial copy for nearly 80 years has been confirmed as an original from 1300. The discovery means the document is just one of seven issued in 1300 by Edward I that still survive. He said: “I was trawling through all these online statute books trying to find unofficial copies of the Magna Carta … and I immediately thought: my god this looks for all the world like an original of Edward I’s confirmation of Magna Carta in 1300, though of course appearances are deceptive.”David Carpenter, a professor of medieval history at King’s College London, stumbled on a document labelled as an unofficial copy of Magna Carta from 1327 in Harvard law school library’s online collection.
Cut-price Magna Carta 'copy' now believed genuine
Jo Black (BBC News, 15/05/2025)
A manuscript once considered an unofficial copy of Magna Carta is now believed to be a genuine version and ''one of the world's most valuable documents'', according to UK academics. Harvard Law School paid $27.50 (then about £7) for it in 1946 and for years it has remained tucked away in its library, its true identity unknown. But two medieval history professors have concluded it is an extraordinarily rare and lost original Magna Carta from 1300, in the reign of King Edward I, that could be worth millions. ''This is a fantastic discovery," said Prof David Carpenter from King's College London, who began analysing it after seeing digitised images of it on the US university's website.
Making a key piece of history available to the world
Colleen Walsh (Harvard Law School, 15/05/2025)
When two British researchers recently decided to take a closer look at a Magna Carta in the Harvard Law School Library archives, they didn’t hop the next flight to United States. Instead, they fired up their laptops and searched the library’s online catalog. Examining the document online, leading Magna Carta experts David Carpenter and Nicholas Vincent, professors of medieval history at Kings College London and the University of East Anglia, were able to determine that the medieval manuscript was no mere copy of the great medieval charter, as had been believed. Instead, the image on their screens, they realized, was that of a rare original, making it one of seven from King Edward I’s 1300 confirmation of Magna Carta that still survive.
Magna Carta: Does it still matter?
David Torrance (UK Parliament, 24/09/2024)
Magna Carta (“Great Charter”) was a royal charter of rights agreed by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. Although more than 800 years old, it continues to feature in political and legal debate.This Insight looks at the origins of the Magna Carta and examines which of its provisions still have legal force today. It also examines its unsuccessful use in the courts, for example by Occupy London protestors and individuals opposed to lockdown laws.
The Magna Carta (originally known as the Charter of Liberties) of 1215. Wikipedia, Public Domain.