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The Age
16-05-2025
- General
- The Age
They paid $43 for a replica Magna Carta. Turned out, it's an original
Providential or not, the discovery happened largely by chance. Carpenter was at home in Blackheath, south-east London, ploughing his way through Harvard Law School's digital images as research for a book, when he opened a file named HLS MS 172 – the catalogue name for Harvard Law School Manuscript 172. 'I get down to 172 and it's a single parchment sheet of Magna Carta,' he said. 'And I think, 'Oh my God, this looks to me for all the world – because I read it – like an original'.' Carpenter emailed Vincent, who was, at the time, at work in a library in Brussels. 'David sent it with a message saying, 'What do you think that is?'' Vincent said. 'I wrote back within seconds, saying, 'You and I both know what that is!'' The two academics were able to confirm the manuscript's authenticity after Harvard Law School photographed it under ultraviolet light and then subjected it to various levels of spectral imaging, a technique that can enhance aspects of historical documents undetectable to the human eye. Comparing it with six previously known originals from 1300, the professors found the text matched, as did the dimensions – 489mm x 473mm. The handwriting used in the manuscript, with a large capital 'E' at the start in 'Edwardus' and elongated letters in the first line, also tallied. 'It's the best sort of thing that can happen to a librarian,' said Amanda Watson, assistant dean at Harvard Law School's library. 'This is our daily work to digitalise things, to preserve things, to save things, to open things up for people like David Carpenter.' Watson said the document itself had sometimes been put on display, but, as part of a large collection, it was not kept out permanently. The library has yet to decide whether it will now be made available to the public, but Watson said she 'can't imagine' that it would be sold. 'In the United States, having things that are 700 years old is special,' added Jonathan Zittrain, professor of international law and chair of the Harvard Law School library. Loading 'The law of the land' Magna Carta – 'Great Charter' in Latin – has been used to justify many different causes over the centuries, sometimes on shaky historical ground. But it has evolved into a global symbol of the importance of fundamental freedoms, including habeas corpus. By limiting the power of the monarch, it came to represent the right to protection against arbitrary and unjust rule. One of its most famous passages states: 'No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.' First issued in 1215, it put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England – or Bad King John, as he became known in folklore. He later revoked the charter, but his son, Henry III, issued amended versions, the last one in 1225, and Henry's son, Edward I, in turn, confirmed the 1225 version in 1297 and again in 1300. The document influenced the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights includes several provisions that are thought to descend from it. There are 25 original manuscripts of Magna Carta in all, produced at various times. Including the one at Harvard, only three are outside Britain. Harvard Law School bought its version from a London legal book dealer, Sweet & Maxwell, which had purchased it in December 1945 from Sotheby's, the auctioneers. In the 1945 auction catalogue it was listed as a copy and with the wrong date (1327) and was sold for £42 – about a fifth of the average annual income in the United Kingdom at the time – on behalf of Forster Maynard, an air vice-marshal who had served as a fighter pilot in World War I. Loading Maynard inherited it from the family of Thomas and John Clarkson, who were leading campaigners in Britain against the slave trade from the 1780s onward. Vincent believes the document could be a lost Magna Carta that was once issued to the former parliamentary borough of Appleby-in-Westmorland, in the north of England, and which was last mentioned in print in 1762. While undoubtedly famous, many Britons seem to have hazy knowledge of the document. Former prime minister David Cameron was famously unable to translate the term Magna Carta when asked by David Letterman on his late-night talk show in 2012. But few doubt its significance in the evolution of Western notions of rights and freedoms. With some of those now more under threat, Vincent said the discovery at Harvard was timely. Loading Magna Carta, he said, placed the king under the rule of law. The 'head of state cannot simply go against somebody because he doesn't like them, he has to do it using the law', he said. The text of the charter is incorporated within 17 state constitutions of the US, he added, 'so there is more of it in American state law than there is in the UK'. Vincent likened the discovery to happening upon a masterpiece by Johannes Vermeer, the Dutch artist, only 36 of whose paintings are known to have survived. 'He is regarded as the rarest of all the great masters, so there are significantly fewer of these than there are of Vermeers,' Vincent said.
Time of India
16-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
Harvard Law paid $27 for a copy of Magna Carta. Surprise! It's an original
NYT photo Bought for $27.50 after WWII, the faint, water stained manuscript in the library of Harvard Law School had attracted relatively little attention since it arrived there in 1946. That is about to change. Two British academics, one of whom happened on the manuscript by chance, have discovered it is an original 1300 version — not a copy, as long thought — of Magna Carta, the medieval document that helped establish some of the world's most cherished liberties. It is one of just seven such documents from that date still in existence. 'I never in all my life expected to discover a Magna Carta,' said David Carpenter , professor of medieval history at King's College London. The manuscript's value is hard to estimate, although it is fair to say its price tag of under $30 (about $500 today) must make it one of the bargains of the last century. A 710-year-old version was sold in 2007 for $21.3 million. Nicholas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at University of East Anglia, in eastern England, helped authenticate the text. He said the document, which bound the nation's rulers to acting within the law, had resurfaced at a time when Harvard has come under extraordinary pressure from Trump govt. 'In this particular instance, we are dealing with an institution that is under direct attack from the state itself, so it's almost providential. ...' Providential or not, the discovery happened largely by chance. Carpenter was plowing his way through Harvard Law School's digital images when he opened a file named HLS MS 172 — catalogue name for Harvard Law School Manuscript 172. 'I get down to 172 and it's a single parchment sheet of Magna Carta,' he said. 'And I think 'Oh my God, this looks to me for all the world... like an original.' He emailed Vincent, who was at work in a library in Brussels. 'David sent it with a message saying, 'What do you think that is?. .. '' said Vincent. 'I wrote back within seconds, saying, 'You and I both know what that is!'' They were able to confirm its authenticity after Harvard photographed it under ultraviolet light and subjected it to various levels of spectral imaging, a technique which can enhance aspects of historical documents undetectable to the human eye. Comparing it with six previously known originals, they found the text and dimensions matched. The handwriting also tallied. Magna Carta — 'Great Charter' in Latin — has been used to justify many different causes over the centuries, sometimes on shaky historical ground. First issued in 1215, the document put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England. It influenced the US Constitution. Harvard bought its version from a London book dealer, which had purchased it in Dec 1945 from Sotheby's.
The Age
15-05-2025
- Science
- The Age
They paid $43 for a replica of the Magna Carta. Turned out, it's an original
Providential or not, the discovery happened largely by chance. Carpenter was at home in Blackheath, south-east London, ploughing his way through Harvard Law School's digital images as research for a book, when he opened a file named HLS MS 172 – the catalogue name for Harvard Law School Manuscript 172. 'I get down to 172 and it's a single parchment sheet of Magna Carta,' he said. 'And I think, 'Oh my God, this looks to me for all the world – because I read it – like an original'.' Carpenter emailed Vincent, who was, at the time, at work in a library in Brussels. 'David sent it with a message saying, 'What do you think that is?'' Vincent said. 'I wrote back within seconds, saying, 'You and I both know what that is!'' The two academics were able to confirm the manuscript's authenticity after Harvard Law School photographed it under ultraviolet light and then subjected it to various levels of spectral imaging, a technique that can enhance aspects of historical documents undetectable to the human eye. Comparing it with six previously known originals from 1300, the professors found that the text matched, as did the dimensions – 489mm x 473mm. The handwriting used in the manuscript, with a large capital 'E' at the start in 'Edwardus' and elongated letters in the first line, also tallied. 'It's the best sort of thing that can happen to a librarian,' said Amanda Watson, assistant dean at Harvard Law School's library. 'This is our daily work to digitalise things, to preserve things, to save things, to open things up for people like David Carpenter.' Watson said the document itself had sometimes been put on display, but, as part of a large collection, it was not kept out permanently. The library has yet to decide whether it will now be made available to the public, but Watson said she 'can't imagine' that it would be sold. 'In the United States, having things that are 700 years old is special,' added Jonathan Zittrain, professor of international law and chair of the Harvard Law School library. Loading 'The law of the land' Magna Carta – 'Great Charter' in Latin – has been used to justify many different causes over the centuries, sometimes on shaky historical ground. But it has evolved into a global symbol of the importance of fundamental freedoms, including habeas corpus. By limiting the power of the monarch, it came to represent the right to protection against arbitrary and unjust rule. One of its most famous passages states: 'No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.' First issued in 1215, it put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England – or Bad King John, as he became known in folklore. He later revoked the charter, but his son, Henry III, issued amended versions, the last one in 1225, and Henry's son, Edward I, in turn confirmed the 1225 version in 1297 and again in 1300. The document influenced the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights includes several provisions that are thought to descend from it. There are 25 original manuscripts of Magna Carta in all, produced at various times. Including the one at Harvard, only three are outside Britain. Harvard Law School bought its version from a London legal book dealer, Sweet & Maxwell, which had purchased it in December 1945 from Sotheby's, the auctioneers. In the 1945 auction catalogue it was listed as a copy and with the wrong date (1327) and was sold for 42 pounds – about a fifth of the average annual income in the United Kingdom at the time – on behalf of Forster Maynard, an air vice-marshal who had served as a fighter pilot in World War I. Loading Air Vice-Marshal Maynard inherited it from the family of Thomas and John Clarkson, who were leading campaigners in Britain against the slave trade from the 1780s onward. Vincent believes the document could be a lost Magna Carta that was once issued to the former parliamentary borough of Appleby-in-Westmorland, in the north of England, and which was last mentioned in print in 1762. While undoubtedly famous, many Britons seem to have hazy knowledge of the document. Former prime minister David Cameron was famously unable to translate the term Magna Carta when asked by David Letterman on his late-night talk show in 2012. But few doubt its significance in the evolution of Western notions of rights and freedoms. With some of those now more under threat, Vincent said the discovery at Harvard was timely. Magna Carta, he said, placed the king under the rule of law. The 'head of state cannot simply go against somebody because he doesn't like them, he has to do it using the law', he said. The text of the charter is incorporated within 17 state constitutions of the US, he added, 'so there is more of it in American state law than there is in the UK'. Vincent likened the discovery to happening upon a masterpiece by Johannes Vermeer, the Dutch artist, only 36 of whose paintings are known to have survived. 'He is regarded as the rarest of all the great masters, so there are significantly fewer of these than there are of Vermeers,' Vincent said. Both he and Carpenter plan to visit Harvard Law School next month to see and touch the document for the first time, a moment that Vincent predicted would be 'emotional.
Sydney Morning Herald
15-05-2025
- Science
- Sydney Morning Herald
They paid $43 for a replica of the Magna Carta. Turned out, it's an original
Providential or not, the discovery happened largely by chance. Carpenter was at home in Blackheath, south-east London, ploughing his way through Harvard Law School's digital images as research for a book, when he opened a file named HLS MS 172 – the catalogue name for Harvard Law School Manuscript 172. 'I get down to 172 and it's a single parchment sheet of Magna Carta,' he said. 'And I think, 'Oh my God, this looks to me for all the world – because I read it – like an original'.' Carpenter emailed Vincent, who was, at the time, at work in a library in Brussels. 'David sent it with a message saying, 'What do you think that is?'' Vincent said. 'I wrote back within seconds, saying, 'You and I both know what that is!'' The two academics were able to confirm the manuscript's authenticity after Harvard Law School photographed it under ultraviolet light and then subjected it to various levels of spectral imaging, a technique that can enhance aspects of historical documents undetectable to the human eye. Comparing it with six previously known originals from 1300, the professors found that the text matched, as did the dimensions – 489mm x 473mm. The handwriting used in the manuscript, with a large capital 'E' at the start in 'Edwardus' and elongated letters in the first line, also tallied. 'It's the best sort of thing that can happen to a librarian,' said Amanda Watson, assistant dean at Harvard Law School's library. 'This is our daily work to digitalise things, to preserve things, to save things, to open things up for people like David Carpenter.' Watson said the document itself had sometimes been put on display, but, as part of a large collection, it was not kept out permanently. The library has yet to decide whether it will now be made available to the public, but Watson said she 'can't imagine' that it would be sold. 'In the United States, having things that are 700 years old is special,' added Jonathan Zittrain, professor of international law and chair of the Harvard Law School library. Loading 'The law of the land' Magna Carta – 'Great Charter' in Latin – has been used to justify many different causes over the centuries, sometimes on shaky historical ground. But it has evolved into a global symbol of the importance of fundamental freedoms, including habeas corpus. By limiting the power of the monarch, it came to represent the right to protection against arbitrary and unjust rule. One of its most famous passages states: 'No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.' First issued in 1215, it put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England – or Bad King John, as he became known in folklore. He later revoked the charter, but his son, Henry III, issued amended versions, the last one in 1225, and Henry's son, Edward I, in turn confirmed the 1225 version in 1297 and again in 1300. The document influenced the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights includes several provisions that are thought to descend from it. There are 25 original manuscripts of Magna Carta in all, produced at various times. Including the one at Harvard, only three are outside Britain. Harvard Law School bought its version from a London legal book dealer, Sweet & Maxwell, which had purchased it in December 1945 from Sotheby's, the auctioneers. In the 1945 auction catalogue it was listed as a copy and with the wrong date (1327) and was sold for 42 pounds – about a fifth of the average annual income in the United Kingdom at the time – on behalf of Forster Maynard, an air vice-marshal who had served as a fighter pilot in World War I. Loading Air Vice-Marshal Maynard inherited it from the family of Thomas and John Clarkson, who were leading campaigners in Britain against the slave trade from the 1780s onward. Vincent believes the document could be a lost Magna Carta that was once issued to the former parliamentary borough of Appleby-in-Westmorland, in the north of England, and which was last mentioned in print in 1762. While undoubtedly famous, many Britons seem to have hazy knowledge of the document. Former prime minister David Cameron was famously unable to translate the term Magna Carta when asked by David Letterman on his late-night talk show in 2012. But few doubt its significance in the evolution of Western notions of rights and freedoms. With some of those now more under threat, Vincent said the discovery at Harvard was timely. Magna Carta, he said, placed the king under the rule of law. The 'head of state cannot simply go against somebody because he doesn't like them, he has to do it using the law', he said. The text of the charter is incorporated within 17 state constitutions of the US, he added, 'so there is more of it in American state law than there is in the UK'. Vincent likened the discovery to happening upon a masterpiece by Johannes Vermeer, the Dutch artist, only 36 of whose paintings are known to have survived. 'He is regarded as the rarest of all the great masters, so there are significantly fewer of these than there are of Vermeers,' Vincent said. Both he and Carpenter plan to visit Harvard Law School next month to see and touch the document for the first time, a moment that Vincent predicted would be 'emotional.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Harvard's unofficial copy of Magna Carta is actually an original, experts say
A Magna Carta wrongly listed as an unofficial copy for nearly 80 years has been confirmed as an original from 1300. The discovery means the document is just one of seven issued in 1300 by Edward I that still survive. David Carpenter, a professor of medieval history at King's College London, stumbled on a document labelled as an unofficial copy of Magna Carta from 1327 in Harvard law school library's online collection. He said: 'I was trawling through all these online statute books trying to find unofficial copies of the Magna Carta … and I immediately thought: my god this looks for all the world like an original of Edward I's confirmation of Magna Carta in 1300, though of course appearances are deceptive.' Carpenter and Nicholas Vincent, professor of medieval history at the University of East Anglia, used a battery of tests to establish the authenticity of the document, known as HLS MS 172. 'Using spectral imaging and ultraviolet light, because in places the condition isn't very good, I worked through it word by word and it matched perfectly to the other six,' Carpenter said. 'One extraordinary little detail about the handwriting is the initial E at the start of Edwardus. The next letter – the D – of Edwardus is also a capital, which is quite unusual. And yet you find that capital D in one of the other six originals.' Magna Carta, originally granted by King John in 1215, was the first document to put into writing the principle that the king and his government were not above the law. Carpenter described HLS MS 172 as 'one of the world's most valuable documents'. He added: 'It asserts a fundamental principle that the ruler is subject to the law. He can't just say: 'Into prison, off with your head, I'm seizing your property.' If he wants to act against you, he has to do so by legal process. It's the foundation stone of the western tradition of law and democracy.' According to the library's accession register, it had bought what it believed to be a copy for $27.50 in 1946. A month earlier, an RAF veteran had sold it to the London book dealers Sweet & Maxwell for £42. Vincent said: 'It's easy to understand why it was mis-catalogued when it was sold … it's a long time ago. Everyone in 1945 was a bit tired. It's worth many, many, many, many times that.' Carpenter described the discovery as fantastic news for Harvard. 'I felt amazed. First that it existed at all and secondly, that Harvard didn't realise what they had. I felt slightly awestruck in a way because the 1300 confirmation by Edward I is the most authoritative of all confirmations,' he added. Carpenter and Vincent believe the document was issued to the former parliamentary borough of Appleby in Cumbria in 1300. Vincent said: 'It was then passed down through an evil aristocratic family of the 18th century, the Lowthers, who then gave it to Thomas Clarkson, who was the leading slavery abolitionist. And then, through Clarkson's estate, it went to this fellow, Forster Maynard, who was a first world war flying ace, who ended up as the commander of the airbase on Malta at the start of the second world war. The provenance of this document is extraordinary.' 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 Law Library's, are opened to brilliant scholars.'
