Boston – Harvard University for decades assumed that it had a cheap copy of the Magna Carta in its collection, a stained and faded document which it had bought for less than $ 30.
But two researchers concluded that he has something much more precious – a rare version of 1300 delivered by the British king Edward I.
The original Magna Carta established in 1215 the principle according to which the king is subject to the law and formed the basis of the constitutions on a global scale. There are four copies of the original and, so far, there were only six copies of the 1300 version.
“My reaction was an amazement and, in a way, to believe that I should have succeeded in finding a Magna Carta before unknown,” said David Carpenter, medieval history teacher at King’s College in London. He excavated the Harvard Law School library website in December 2023 when he found the digital document.
“First of all, I found one of the rarest and most important documents in global constitutional history,” said Carpenter. “But secondly, of course, it was amazing that Harvard was sitting on it for all these years without realizing what it was.”
Confirm the authenticity of the document
Carpenter has teamed up with Nicholas Vincent, medieval history professor at the British University of East Anglia, to confirm the authenticity of the Harvard document.
By comparing it to the other six copies of 1300, Carpenter found the dimensions paired. He and Vincent then turned to the images of the Harvard librarians created using ultraviolet imaging and spectral imagery. Technology helps researchers see details on faded documents that are not visible to the human eye.
This allowed them to compare the texts for word for word, as well as handwriting, which includes great “e” capital at the start in “Edwardus” and letters lying in the first line.
After the original 1215 printed by King John, five other editions were written in the following decades – up to 1300, the last time the complete document was stated and authorized by the king’s seal.
The 1300 version of Magna Carta is “different from previous versions in a series of small ways and the changes are in everyone,” said Carpenter.
Harvard had to meet a high bar to prove authenticity, said Carpenter, and he did it “with flying colors”.
His lambe and faded copy of the Magna Carta is worth millions of dollars, estimated Carpenter – although Harvard does not intend to sell it. A 1297 version of the Magna Carta sold auction in 2007 for $ 21.3 million.
A document with a colorful story
The other mystery behind the document was the journey that Harvard took.
This task was left to Vincent, who was able to trace him to the old parliamentary district of Appleby in Westmorland, England.
The Harvard Law School library bought its copy in 1946 from a London book dealer for $ 27.50. At the time, he was wrongly made as made in 1327.
Vincent determined that the document had been sent to a British auction house in 1945 by an Ace flying from the First World War who also played a defending role in the Second World War. The war hero, Forster Maynard, inherited the archives of Thomas and John Clarkson, who led militants against the slave trade. One of them, Thomas Clarkson, became a friend with William Lowther, hereditary lord of the Appleby manor, and he may have given it to Clarkson.
“There is a chain of connections there, so to speak, a smoking pistol, but there is not yet clear evidence that it is the Appleby Magna Carta. But it seems to me very likely that it is the case,” said Vincent. He said he would like to find a letter or another documentation showing that the Magna Carta had been given to Thomas Clarkson.
Make Magna Carta relevant for a new generation
Vincent and Carpenter plan to visit Harvard in June to see his Magna Carta first -hand – and they say that the document is as relevant as ever when Harvard comes up against the Trump administration on the quantity of authority that the federal government should have on its leaders, its admissions and its activism on the campus.
“He presents himself at Harvard precisely when Harvard is attacked as a private institution by a state authority who seems to mean Harvard what to do,” said Vincent.
It is also a chance for a new generation to find out about the Magna Carta, which played a role in the United States Foundation – of the Declaration of Independence to the adoption of the Declaration of Rights. Seventeen states have incorporated aspects in their laws.
“We consider law libraries as places where people can come and understand the foundations of democracy,” said Amanda Watson, assistant dean of the library and information services at the Harvard Law School. “Thinking that Magna Carta could inspire new generations of people to think of individual freedom and what it means and what self-government means is very exciting.”
