A “copy” of the famous document known as a symbol against tyranny and as a “cornerstone of freedom” has been discovered to be authentic.
Harvard Law School in 1946 bought a “copy” of the Magna Carta for just $27.50 from a London legal book dealer, Sweet & Maxwell, according to a news release.
British researchers from King’s College London and the University of East Anglia made the discovery while studying unofficial copies of Magna Carta.
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One professor, David Carpenter, noticed the digital version of the document on the Harvard Law School Library website and realized it might be authentic.
“This is a fantastic discovery,” Carpenter, a professor of medieval history at King’s College London, said in a Harvard Law School press release.
A “copy” of the Magna Carta, purchased by Harvard Law School in 1946, has been authenticated. (Lorin Granger, Harvard Law School)
Previously, only six originals of the document were known to exist.
The Magna Carta is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England in 1211.
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It is known for having paved the way for the idea that the king and his government were not above the law, according to the UK’s Parliament.
British researchers have authenticated a copy of the Magna Carta at Harvard Law School in Boston. (Lorin Granger, Harvard Law School)
“Harvard’s Magna Carta deserves celebration, not as some mere copy, stained and faded, but as an original of one of the most significant documents in world constitutional history, a cornerstone of freedoms past, present and yet to be won,” added Carpenter.
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To determine if the charter was authentic, it was photographed under ultra-violet light and subjected to various levels of spectral imaging along with receiving an analysis of the form, hand and content.
There are only six other known Magna Carta originals. (Lorin Granger, Harvard Law School)
Nicholas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at the University of East Anglia, said it is “a totem of liberty, central to our sense of who we are: a freedom-loving, free-born people.”
“This is a fantastic discovery.”
He added, “It is an icon both of the Western political tradition and of constitutional law. If you asked anybody what the most famous single document in the history of the world is, they would probably name Magna Carta.”
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The press release notes that “Carpenter and Vincent also observed that the first line with elongated letters and a large capital E was consistent with the six other originals of Magna Carta 1300.”
The National Archives in Washington, D.C., holds a 1297 version of Magna Carta that is on display for the public to view.
