A copy of the 1300 version of the Magna Carta on display at the Harvard Law School.
Lorin Granger/Harvard Law School
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Lorin Granger/Harvard Law School
It wasn’t exactly like the big reveal on the Antiques Roadshow. But one day in December 2023, David Carpenter, a professor of medieval history at King’s College London, was searching through the digital archives of the Harvard Law Library when he clicked on a document that would become the biggest discovery of his career.
It had been labeled as a 1327 copy of the Magna Carta, “somewhat rubbed and damp-stained,” according to the archive’s description. But Carpenter knew almost immediately when he opened the document that it wasn’t as advertised: “What do I see before my eyes? For all the world [it] seemed to me an original of the 1300 Magna Carta.” He immediately thought, “Oh, my God, this isn’t known at all.”
It was a remarkable find not only for Carpenter, but for Harvard — especially since the university had paid a London bookseller just $27.50 (about $460 adjusted for inflation) for the document in 1946. An authentic Magna Carta sold in 2007 for $21.3 million.
The Magna Carta is one of the most important documents in history and deeply influenced the framers of the U.S. Constitution. First signed by England’s King John in 1215, it aimed to circumscribe the king’s power and establish the principle that even the monarchy is not above the law. It also guaranteed certain rights such as protections from arbitrary imprisonment and the right to due process.
But the document went through six different iterations throughout the 13th Century, the final one dating to 1300. “It is, in a way, the last Magna Carta … the final emphatic Magna Carta,” Carpenter says.
Searching through Harvard’s digital archives, there were a few giveaways that tipped Carpenter off that he was looking at an authentic copy. “In particular, the letter E of the ‘Eduardus,’ the king confirming the charter … looked very similar to the letter in the other originals” of the famous document, Carpenter says. “It clearly was Edward I confirming Magna Carta. And the date at the end was 1300.”
But his intuition still needed scholarly backing. Carpenter brought in a colleague, Nicholas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at the University of East Anglia and a fellow Magna Carta expert. Carpenter mentions that they joined forces to demonstrate their correctness because initial impressions can sometimes be misleading.
They reached out to Harvard to request an ultraviolet scan in order to closely examine the document. This is when Jonathan Zittrain, head of the Harvard Law School library, first became aware of the interest in the document.
Zittrain explains that there isn’t always a sudden “eureka” moment, but rather a process of connecting various pieces of information to determine the authenticity of something.
He expresses gratitude for their British colleagues who used their expertise to analyze a digitized copy of the document. This preliminary work was crucial in the verification process.
Carpenter notes that while there are many copies of the Magna Carta, originals are extremely rare, with only about two dozen known to exist. The 1300 version, like the one at Harvard, is even rarer, with only six other known copies.
Zittrain describes the discovery of the document’s authenticity as serendipitous, a possibility that no one had anticipated.
He attributes the success of the discovery not only to Carpenter and Vincent but also to Harvard’s decision to digitize their archives for public access. This leads to speculation about other hidden treasures waiting to be found.
Overall, the collaborative effort between experts and institutions led to the exciting revelation of the Magna Carta’s authenticity, showcasing the importance of thorough research and technological advancements in uncovering historical gems. sentence:
“John quickly ran to catch the bus before it left.”
John hurriedly ran in order to catch the bus before it departed.
