Harvard's $27 copy of Magna Carta revealed to be $21m original

Telegraph

15-05-2025

A copy of Magna Carta bought by Harvard University for just $27 in the 1940s is an original worth $21 million (£16 million), scans have shown.
The document, originally drafted by Cardinal Stephen Langton, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1215 to make peace between King John and rebel barons is credited with laying the foundations of many democracies around the world.
Although the first version was annulled, it was reissued in 1300 by Edward I, promising protection of church rights, limits on taxes and access to impartial justice.
Four of its clauses, including a guarantee of due legal process, are still in law today.
There were thought to be only six originals remaining from the final version and Harvard believed it had bought an unofficial replica at auction for $27.50 in 1946.
In the auction catalogue, the document was described as a 'copy… made in 1327… somewhat rubbed and damp-stained'.
But new analysis by King's College London and the University of East Anglia has found the handwriting, sizing and elongated letters are all consistent with the original.
When a similar original Magna Carta was auctioned in 2007, it sold for $21.3 million.
David Carpenter, professor of medieval history at King's College London, said: 'This is a fantastic discovery. 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.'
Prof Carpenter was studying unofficial copies of Magna Carta when he came across the digitised version of the document on the Harvard Law School Library website and realised it might be an original document and not a copy.
He began to compare it to other originals to establish its authenticity and teamed up with the University of East Anglia's Nicholas Vincent, a fellow professor of medieval history, to investigate its provenance.
The pair realised that its dimensions – 19.2in by 18.6in – were the same as the six previously known originals, as is the handwriting, with the large capital 'E' at the start in 'Edwardus' and the elongated letters in the first line.
Using images obtained by Harvard Law School librarians via ultraviolet light and spectral imaging, the pair discovered the text matching up perfectly with that in the other originals.
Prof Vincent said: 'If you asked anybody what the most famous single document in the history of the world is, they would probably name Magna Carta.
'It is an icon both of the Western political tradition and of constitutional law.'
The pair believe the document may be the lost Magna Carta issued to the former parliamentary borough of Appleby in Westmorland.
The manuscript was sent to auction in 1945 by Air Vice-Marshal Forster 'Sammy' Maynard, a First World War pilot, who had inherited archives from Thomas and John Clarkson, leading campaigners against the slave trade.
In the early 1800s, Clarkson retired to the Lake District, where he became a friend both of poet William Wordsworth and William Lowther, a local landowner and hereditary lord of the manor of Appleby.
Considered a key step in the evolution of human rights against oppressive rulers, Magna Carta has formed the basis of constitutions around the world.
It was influential in the founding of the United States, from the Declaration of Independence to the framing of the US Constitution and the subsequent adoption of the Bill of Rights.
Only four original copies of the 1215 Magna Carta survive. Two are kept in the British Library (one of which was badly damaged by fire in 1731), one in Salisbury Cathedral the other in Lincoln Castle.
Amanda Watson, Harvard Law School's assistant dean for library and information services, said: 'Congratulations to Professors Carpenter and Vincent on their fantastic discovery
'This work exemplifies what happens when magnificent collections, like Harvard's, are opened to brilliant scholars.'