After all it was no longer a copy of the magna card

It is considered one of the founding documents of political thinking and western law. Franklin Roosevelt, in his inauguration speech in 1941, considered him a medieval testimony of «Democratic Aspirations».

Wrought in 1215 and signed by King John of England, the magna letter not only guaranteed the freedoms and rights of the subjects, but limited the power of the English monarchs, stating that they were not above the law. In the background, it was an agreement between the king and the barons-in exchange for some concessions, including the limitation of taxes, the nobles reaffirmed their loyalty to the sovereign.

Between 1215 and 1300, different kings of England renewed their commitment to these principles, producing new copies of the document. It is thought that there may have been about 200 originals in total. Of these, today there are 24, mainly maintained in British institutions and collections.

Given the unique importance of the text of the Magna Carta, the later copies abound. And it all pointed out so that it was not a manuscript acquired by Harvard Law School (Massachusetts, USA) in 1946 and later put in a corner of the university library, where it was forgotten for decades. Had been cataloged as a 1327 copy.

Until two medieval history teachers decided to investigate the document to the magnifying glass and found that, after all, there is a high probability of being a lost original.

« The teachers, who spent a year to investigate the Harvard document, believe it comes from the city of Appleby, in Cumbria»writes the BBC.

He will have passed through the hands of a Lowthers nickname, which handed him to Thomas Clarkson (1760 – 1846), a prominent writer and politician who struck the abolition of slavery. His inherited to the Maynard family, with one of his members sold the document in a Sotheby’s auction in 1945.

At the time, a London bookseller finished the manuscript by 42 pounds – a modest value, but it was still a bad deal, since a few months later Harvard University would acquire it for seven pounds – the equivalent of about current euros.

The analysis of the teachers showed that «Calligraphy and dimensions are consistent with those of the six original 1300 known previously»explains the BBC. As for the content of the text, the words used and their order correspond exactly to the documents of that period.

The 27 years of difference between previous dating and the new hypothesis change everything. It is after all «An original from the magna losed and extraordinarily rare letter from the reign of Eduardo I»the experts concluded. A copy of 1297 was sold in New York 18 years ago for $ 21 million.