Latest news with #DavidCarpenter
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Historian blames post-war 'chaos' for Harvard Magna Carta 'copy' confusion
A British historian who discovered a copy of the Magna Carta was a genuine manuscript has shared his theory on why the document was misidentified. Harvard Law Library bought a version of the royal charter at auction for just $27.50 in 1946, the equivalent of around $450 (£328) today. The vellum document was described as a "copy made in 1327... somewhat rubbed and damp-stained" - but two historians it was actually a rare original worth millions of pounds. The document was just one of seven versions of the Magna Carta to survive from King Edward I's 1300 issue of the charter. Professor David Carpenter, who made the discovery with Professor Nicholas Vincent, believes "post-war chaos" is to blame for the confusion. Speaking at a meeting of the Pipe Roll Society at The National Archives in London, he said: "This was just after the war, there was still a measure of chaos, someone has misread the date on it. "This is most likely how it happened." Following the discovery, Prof Vincent traced the history of the document prior to Harvard buying it. His research suggests that after it was issued by King Edward I to the former parliamentary borough of Appleby, it fell into the hands of a family before being passed to slavery abolitionist Thomas Clarkson. Via his estate, it ended up in the hands of Forster Maynard, a World War One flying ace, who sold it to London book dealers Sweet & Maxwell for £42, which then sold it to Harvard. Read more from Sky News: Prof Carpenter, a medieval historian at King's College London, immediately realised the 'copy' looked a lot like the real Magna Carta when he spotted it in Harvard's online catalogue. "I immediately sent the image to my colleague Nicholas Vincent asking him 'Is this what I think it is?'," he said. Speaking at the same meeting, Prof Vincent said: "I told him immediately, you know what that is!" The Magna Carta was originally established in 1215 under King John and outlined the rights of ordinary people under common law for the first time. It has since formed the basis of constitutions worldwide.
Sky News
26-06-2025
- General
- Sky News
Historian blames post-war 'chaos' for Harvard Magna Carta 'copy' confusion
A British historian who discovered a copy of the Magna Carta was a genuine manuscript has shared his theory on why the document was misidentified. Harvard Law Library bought a version of the royal charter at auction for just $27.50 in 1946, the equivalent of around $450 (£328) today. The vellum document was described as a "copy made in 1327... somewhat rubbed and damp-stained" - but two historians last month discovered it was actually a rare original worth millions of pounds. The document was just one of seven versions of the Magna Carta to survive from King Edward I's 1300 issue of the charter. Professor David Carpenter, who made the discovery with Professor Nicholas Vincent, believes "post-war chaos" is to blame for the confusion. Speaking at a meeting of the Pipe Roll Society at The National Archives in London, he said: "This was just after the war, there was still a measure of chaos, someone has misread the date on it. "This is most likely how it happened." Following the discovery, Prof Vincent traced the history of the document prior to Harvard buying it. His research suggests that after it was issued by King Edward I to the former parliamentary borough of Appleby, it fell into the hands of a family before being passed to slavery abolitionist Thomas Clarkson. Via his estate, it ended up in the hands of Forster Maynard, a World War One flying ace, who sold it to London book dealers Sweet & Maxwell for £42, which then sold it to Harvard. Prof Carpenter, a medieval historian at King's College London, immediately realised the 'copy' looked a lot like the real Magna Carta when he spotted it in Harvard's online catalogue. "I immediately sent the image to my colleague Nicholas Vincent asking him 'Is this what I think it is?'," he said. Speaking at the same meeting, Prof Vincent said: "I told him immediately, you know what that is!" The Magna Carta was originally established in 1215 under King John and outlined the rights of ordinary people under common law for the first time.
Telegraph
26-06-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Why Harvard mistook its £16m Magna Carta for £20 knock-off
A British historian has blamed 'post-war chaos' for an original Magna Carta being mis-identified as a £20 copy. It emerged in May that a copy of Magna Carta bought by Harvard University for just $27.50 in the 1940s is actually an original worth $21 million (£16 million), according to scans. Speaking at a meeting of the Pipe Roll Society at The National Archives in London, Prof David Carpenter said the document was probably mis-catalogued by an auction house after the Second World War. 'This was just after the war, there was still a measure of chaos, someone has mis-read the date on it,' said Prof Carpenter, of King's College London. 'This is most likely how it happened.' The document, originally drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Stephen Langton, 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 reconfirmed 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 in 1946. 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. 'Of course, appearances can be deceptive, but the handwriting of the scribe who wrote the document was very similar,' he said. 'I immediately sent the image to my colleague Nicholas Vincent asking him: 'Is this what I think it is?'' Speaking at the same meeting, Prof Vincent, of the University of East Anglia, said: 'I told him immediately, you know what that is.' Harvard's document was in a poor condition and so the two professors needed to use spectral imaging and ultraviolet light to make the text more legible. 'It matched word for word with the other charters confirmed by King Edward in 1300,' added Prof Carpenter. Prof Vincent believes it was issued in 1300 by King Edward I to the former parliamentary borough of Appleby, in what was then Westmorland, and later fell into the hands of the local Lowther family. They passed it to slavery abolitionist Thomas Clarkson and then via his estate it ended up in the hands of Air Vice-Marshal Forster Maynard, who was a pilot in the First World War and served with the RAF in Malta in the Second World War. He then took it to London book dealers Sweet & Maxwell, who sold it on to the auction house where Harvard bought it. Prof Vincent told the meeting: 'It's an extraordinary story, the Harvard Magna Carta has an extraordinary provenance.'
The Sun
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Sabrina Carpenter fans only just realizing she's a secret nepo-baby with HUGELY famous TV star family member
SABRINA Carpenter is a secret nepo-baby - and fans of the star are only just twigging. The pop star, who is now a global sensation, has an extremely famous TV star relative. 5 5 But do you know who her celebrity family member is? Sabrina's aunt is actress Nancy Cartwright - better known as Bart Simpson. Nancy, 67, has been voicing cartoon character Bart for more than three decades, making it her longest-running acting role. And as well as Bart, she also provides the voices of Maggie Simpson, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, and Nelson Muntz. Nancy has a long list of other acting and voiceover credits to her name - some of which date back long before Sabrina was born. As well as The Simpsons, Nancy has starred in movies including The Twilight Zone and Godzilla, and TV shows such as Cheers, 24 and The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. She also voiced the character of Chuckie Finster in the 90s Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats. Sabrina's father, David Carpenter, is Nancy's step-brother - and some fans have only just worked out the family connection. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one person in the know declared, "Interesting side note for those who don't know. Sabrina Carpenter 's Aunt is Nancy Cartwright... Aka Bart Simpson." Someone replied, "I did not know that!" Sabrina Carpenter strips down to her bra and underwear for a bath with PIGS as she announces new album Another person posted, "Just found out that the voice of Bart Simpson (Nancy Cartwright) is not only a Scientologist but also Sabrina Carpenter's aunt??" A third said, "Sabrina's aunt is Bart Simpson!" And a fourth admitted, "How the f*** am I just finding out Sabrina Carpenter is Nancy Cartwright's niece?" 'Cool' aunt Nancy has actually confirmed her relationship with Sabrina in a TikTok video after being asked by a fan, "Is Sabina Carpenter your niece?" Speaking last year, Nancy said, "Yeah, absolutely. "Isn't that amazing when you find out that somebody that maybe... "You've known me for a little while doing this little 10 year old boy for, like, 35 some years. And for some of you guys, way less than that. "And you find out I'm related to this, like, superstar!" Nancy added, "She's pretty amazing." Sabrina has also spoken about her aunt and said growing up with her voicing Bart Simpson was "the coolest thing". In an interview with Captial FM, she said, "My whole life, that was just like the coolest thing in the world to me. I wasn't even allowed to watch the show until I was a little bit older! "The woman is a woman of many talents, not just Bart. She always blows me away. " Sabrina also revealed how Nancy would pull it out of the bag during family meals out. "When we were in a restaurant, she didn't do it all the time, but there were a couple of times when we couldn't get a table and she'd be like, 'Hey, man, I'm Bart Simpson. What the hell's going on?'" she added. 5 5
Times
23-05-2025
- General
- Times
Harvard owes British scholars a magna favour
In 1946, when Harvard Law School paid $27.50 (then worth about £7, now equivalent to £340) for a 'somewhat rubbed and damp-stained' copy of Magna Carta, it acquired a bargain. Yet it took almost 80 years and two dogged British scholars for the cradle of American jurisprudence to realise the true nature of what it possessed. Rather than being an unofficial medieval knock-off, as supposed, Harvard's version is an original of the updated Magna Carta, the final 'exemplification' under the royal seal, issued by Edward I in 1300. Only seven of these documents remain extant. David Carpenter, a professor at King's College London, found a digitised version of the manuscript while researching the law school's archive. He enlisted another medieval historian, Nicholas Vincent of the
