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Year 1946. Someone buys a cheap and no apparent copy of The Magna Carta After ending World War II. The article, dated in 1327, passes without penalty or glory for decades in some trunk of the Harvard Law School. Today, eighty years later, to the surprise of the entire world it has been discovered that it was actually one of The original writings.
A medieval jewel. In other words: for eight decades, a very valuable original of the 1300 Magna Cart bad of 1327. acquired at the time for just $ 27.50 In 46, the document was bought from a London bookseller and, since then, lay in oblivion.
It was not until December 2023 when David Carpenter, professor of medieval history at the King’s College in London, He identified it while sailing through the Harvard digital library. When observing the sheep skin scroll (labeled as HLS MS 172) it was dumbfounded: design, calligraphy, Latin use and the capital “E” characteristic of Edwardus coincided with The original specimens known He immediately alerted his colleague Nicholas Vincent, a professor at the University of East Anglia, who confirmed authenticity of the finding. With the discovery, they ascend to 24 The original specimens Known of the edition, the last officially issued by the Royal Foreign Ministry during the reign of Eduardo I.
A 725 -year -old relic. The document, in remarkable state of conservation, was produced in the year 28 of the reign of Eduardo I and represents the culmination of a series of reference to the Carta Magna since their original conception in 1215, when the English barons, in open rebellion, forced the king to accept that even the monarchy had to submit to the law.
The text was reissued several times for its successors and ended up consolidating as one of the pillars of the Western constitutional thinking. The authenticity of the Harvard specimen already It has been validated with spectral and ultraviolet image techniques (image below), which allowed to compare the text and paleographic marks with other authentic specimens. In contrast to the deteriorated document found in 2014 In Sandwich, England (which was incomplete, without seal and partially illegible), Harvard’s piece retains its integrity and clarity.
The thoroughly examined letter
Historical Genealogy. Harvard experts tell that the documentary trail suggests that the copy could be the Magna Carta originally sent to the municipality of Appleby-in-Westmorland, in northern England. It is presumed that it was delivered by Lord Lord William Lowther to the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, one of the most influential figures in the eradication of British slave trafficking.
Clarkson, author of The History of the Abolition of the African Slave-Tradehe retired to the area, and his family archive was subsequently inherited by the aviator and war hero Forster Maynard. In fact, it was he who He auctioned in 1945 Through Sotheby’s, where Harvard acquired it without noticing his true importance. Although there is still a conclusive evidence that confirms such documentary genealogy, the chain of custody is more than solid and plausible.
Symbol I live in times of tension. The American media counted this morning that the rediscovery of the document also arrives at one time politically loaded: Harvard University faces direct pressures from the Trump government, which recently announced the Cancellation of 450 million dollars in federal financing after disputes over student protests related to war in Gaza and university autonomy.
For Carpenterthe appearance of this founding letter in the midst of that conflict is not mere coincidence, but almost “providential”: a tangible reminder of the essential principle that power, even in its highest form, is subject to the law. “The Magna Carta says that the ruler cannot simply order your execution or appropriate your land: it must respect the law,” He pointed out.
Constitutional inspiration. Finally, the relevance of the finding is not limited to its estimated historical value (there is talk of More than 20 million of dollars, considering that a 1297 version was sold in 2007 for 21.3 million), but also to its pedagogical and symbolic potential. In words From Amanda Watsonassociated dean of the Harvard Legal Library, the document offers a unique opportunity for future generations to understand the foundations of democracy, individual freedom and limited government.
If you also want, that a medieval relic of this caliber emerges from the shelves of an American university In full struggle to preserve its academic autonomy against the impositions of state power, it gives an extra intangible to the finding, a weight that transcends the historical: a living lesson, written more than seven centuries ago, but more in force than ever.
Image | Harvard Law School
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