Boston – Harvard University for decades meant that he had a cheap copy of The Magna Carta In his collection, a stained and faded document that had bought for less than $ 30.
But two researchers have concluded that it has something much more valuable: a rare 1300 version issued by King Eduardo de Great Britain Edward I.
The original Magna Carta Established in 1215 the principle that the king is subject to the law, and has formed the basis of the constitutions worldwide. There are four copies of the original and, until now, it was believed that there were only six copies of version 1300.
“My reaction was astonishing and, in a way, amaze that I should have managed to find a previously unknown Magna Carta,” said David Carpenter, a medieval history professor at the King’s College London. I was searching on the website of the Library of the Harvard Law Faculty in December 2023 when you found the digitalized document.
“First, I found one of the rarest documents and the most important documents in world constitutional history,” Carpenter said. “But secondly, of course, it was an astonishment that Harvard would have been sitting on him during all these years without realizing what it was.”
Carpenter associated with Nicholas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at the University of Great Britain of East Anglia, to confirm the authenticity of the Harvard document.
Comparing it with the other six copies of 1300, Carpenter found the coincident dimensions. He and Vincent then turned to the images that Harvard librarians created using ultraviolet images and spectral images. Technology helps academics to see details about faded documents that are not visible to the human eye.
That allowed them to compare the word texts by word, as well as handwriting, which includes a large capital ‘E’ at the beginning in ‘Edwardus’ and elongated letters on 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 established and authorized by the king’s label.
Magna letter version 1300 is “different from the previous versions of a complete series of small forms and the changes are found in each one,” Carpenter said.
Harvard had to meet a high bar to demonstrate authenticity, said Carpenter, and did it “with flight colors.”
His copy made and faded with the Magna Carta is worth millions of dollars, estimated Carpenter, although Harvard has no plans to sell it. A 1297 version of the Magna Carta was sold at an auction in 2007 for $ 21.3 million.
The other mystery behind the document was the trip that led to Harvard.
That task was left to Vincent, who was able to track all the way back to the former Appleby parliamentary district in Westmorland, England.
The Harvard Law Faculty Library bought its copy in 1946 a London’s book dealership for $ 27.50. At that time, it was erroneously dated 1327.
Vincent determined that the document was sent to a British auction house in 1945 by a World War I flyer who also played a role defending Malta in World War II. The war hero, Forster Maynard, inherited the archives of Thomas and John Clarkson, who led activists against slave trade. One of them, Thomas Clarkson, became friends with William Lowther, hereditary lord of Appleby’s mansion, and possibly he gave it to Clarkson.
“There is a connection chain there, so to speak, a steaming gun, but there is still no clear proof that this is Appleby Magna’s letter. But it seems very likely to be,” said Vincent. He said he would like to find a letter or other documentation that shows that the Magna Carta was delivered to Thomas Clarkson.
Vincent and Carpenter plan to visit Harvard in June to see their Magna letter First hand, and they say that the document is as relevant as ever at a time when Harvard faces the Trump administration On how much authority the federal government should have on its leadership, admissions and activism on the campus.
“It appears in Harvard at the time Harvard is under attack as a private institution by a state authority that seems to want to tell Harvard what to do,” said Vincent.
It is also an opportunity for a new generation to learn about the Magna letterthat played a role in the foundation of the United States, from the declaration of independence to the adoption of the Declaration of Rights. Seventeen states have incorporated aspects of it into their laws.
“We think of law libraries as places where people can come and understand the foundations of democracy,” said Amanda Watson, a dean library services and information at the Harvard Law Faculty. “To think that Magna Carta could inspire new generations of people to think about individual freedom and what that means and what self -government means is very exciting.”
