Bought for $27.50 after WWII, the faint, water stained manuscript in the library of Harvard Law School had attracted relatively little attention since it arrived there in 1946.
That is about to change.
Two British academics, one of whom happened on the manuscript by chance, have discovered it is an original 1300 version — not a copy, as long thought — of Magna Carta, the medieval document that helped establish some of the world’s most cherished liberties. It is one of just seven such documents from that date still in existence.
“I never in all my life expected to discover a Magna Carta,” said David Carpenter, professor of medieval history at King’s College London. The manuscript’s value is hard to estimate, although it is fair to say its price tag of under $30 (about $500 today) must make it one of the bargains of the last century. A 710-year-old version was sold in 2007 for $21.3 million.
Nicholas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at University of East Anglia, in eastern England, helped authenticate the text. He said the document, which bound the nation’s rulers to acting within the law, had resurfaced at a time when Harvard has come under extraordinary pressure from Trump govt. “In this particular instance, we are dealing with an institution that is under direct attack from the state itself, so it’s almost providential....”
Providential or not, the discovery happened largely by chance. Carpenter was plowing his way through Harvard Law School’s digital images when he opened a file named HLS MS 172 — catalogue name for Harvard Law School Manuscript 172. “I get down to 172 and it’s a single parchment sheet of Magna Carta,” he said. “And I think ‘Oh my God, this looks to me for all the world... like an original.” He emailed Vincent, who was at work in a library in Brussels. “David sent it with a message saying, ‘What do you think that is?... ’” said Vincent. “I wrote back within seconds, saying, ‘You and I both know what that is!’”
They were able to confirm its authenticity after Harvard photographed it under ultraviolet light and subjected it to various levels of spectral imaging, a technique which can enhance aspects of historical documents undetectable to the human eye. Comparing it with six previously known originals, they found the text and dimensions matched. The handwriting also tallied. Magna Carta — “Great Charter” in Latin — has been used to justify many different causes over the centuries, sometimes on shaky historical ground. First issued in 1215, the document put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England.
It influenced the US Constitution. Harvard bought its version from a London book dealer, which had purchased it in Dec 1945 from Sotheby’s.
That is about to change.
Two British academics, one of whom happened on the manuscript by chance, have discovered it is an original 1300 version — not a copy, as long thought — of Magna Carta, the medieval document that helped establish some of the world’s most cherished liberties. It is one of just seven such documents from that date still in existence.
“I never in all my life expected to discover a Magna Carta,” said David Carpenter, professor of medieval history at King’s College London. The manuscript’s value is hard to estimate, although it is fair to say its price tag of under $30 (about $500 today) must make it one of the bargains of the last century. A 710-year-old version was sold in 2007 for $21.3 million.
Nicholas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at University of East Anglia, in eastern England, helped authenticate the text. He said the document, which bound the nation’s rulers to acting within the law, had resurfaced at a time when Harvard has come under extraordinary pressure from Trump govt. “In this particular instance, we are dealing with an institution that is under direct attack from the state itself, so it’s almost providential....”
Providential or not, the discovery happened largely by chance. Carpenter was plowing his way through Harvard Law School’s digital images when he opened a file named HLS MS 172 — catalogue name for Harvard Law School Manuscript 172. “I get down to 172 and it’s a single parchment sheet of Magna Carta,” he said. “And I think ‘Oh my God, this looks to me for all the world... like an original.” He emailed Vincent, who was at work in a library in Brussels. “David sent it with a message saying, ‘What do you think that is?... ’” said Vincent. “I wrote back within seconds, saying, ‘You and I both know what that is!’”
They were able to confirm its authenticity after Harvard photographed it under ultraviolet light and subjected it to various levels of spectral imaging, a technique which can enhance aspects of historical documents undetectable to the human eye. Comparing it with six previously known originals, they found the text and dimensions matched. The handwriting also tallied. Magna Carta — “Great Charter” in Latin — has been used to justify many different causes over the centuries, sometimes on shaky historical ground. First issued in 1215, the document put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England.
It influenced the US Constitution. Harvard bought its version from a London book dealer, which had purchased it in Dec 1945 from Sotheby’s.
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