Magna card: Rare copy of 1300 randomly found in Harvard
An invaluable treasure has hid Harvard for decades, without anyone realizing that it was a faithful copy of the Magna Card, one of the six published in 1300 by Britain King Edward I.
The stained and faded document had been purchased by the American Educational Foundation for nearly $ 30 and for decades the authorities remained with the belief that it was a cheap copy of no value.
« It appears in Harvard just when the university is being attacked by the Trump government who seems to want to tell Harvard what to do, » said Nicolas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at the University of East England, Britain.
He, along with his colleague from King’s College, London, David Carpenter, who found the rare copy, worked together to prove his authenticity, according to the Associated Press Post.
« My reaction was a surprise and awe, » said Dr. Carpenter who found the rare copy of
Harvard researchers use spectral imaging in the copy of the mangna card to reveal details that are not visible to the human eye (Source: AP)
« My reaction was a surprise and awe, » said Dr. Carpenter, who was looking on the site of the Harvard Law School Library in December 2023, when the digitized document first caught his attention.
« I had found one of the rarest and most important documents in world constitutional history, » he said, « but it was surprising that no one in Harvard had realized all these years what it was. »
With the technology assistant
Comparing it with the other six copies from 1300, Dr. Carpenter found that the dimensions were fitted. The two researchers then turned to images created by Harvard libraries using ultraviolet light and spectral imaging.
This technology helps scholars to see details in faded documents that are not visible to the human eye. So they compared the word word for word as well as the graphic character, which includes a large capital e in Edwardus and elongated letters at the forefront.
Harvard’s Cut-Price Magna Carta ‘Copy’ Now Believed Genuine https://t.co/smi1jacvoj
– BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 15, 2025
Following the original 1215 printed by King John the Astimon, five other editions followed the following decades until 1300, the last time the full document was exposed and approved by the king’s stamp.
Magna Card: The valuable version of 1300
The 1300 edition « differs from previous versions in many small ways and changes are found in each of them, » Dr. Carpenter said.
The Harvard Law School Library bought the copy in 1946 from a book dealer in London for $ 27.50. At that time, it was wrongly dated to 1327.
Dr. Carpenter estimates that the faded $ 30 dollar copy is worth millions of dollars, though Harvard does not intend to sell it. It is worth noting that a 1297 magnificent version of the 1297 Magna Card was sold at auction in 2007 for $ 21.3 million.
Together with Dr Vincent they plan to visit Harvard in June to see the rare document closely.
« The thought that the Magna Card can inspire new generations of people to think of individual freedom and what this means is very exciting, » said Amanda Watson, an assistant dean for Library Services at the Harvard Law School.
What did the magna card establish
The 1215 Magna Card established the principle that the king was subject to the law and was the basis of the constitutions worldwide. There are four authentic copies of the prototype written in papyrus and according to estimates only six copies of the 1300 version.
It is a list of rights (magnificent card) that was forced to grant the King of England John the Coast to the nobles and the British clergy but mainly to the lower social classes of the time.
This is because when King John appeared not to respect the promises he had made in 1213, a group of Barones allied two years later to press him.
Thus, on June 15, 1215 in Windsor, the king, the king accepted the so -called « Map of Liberty » – written in Latin and his name – which for the first time put the monarch under the authority of the law but also gave a series of rights to the people.
The Magna Card is considered one of the most important documents in the evolution of modern democracy, as it has laid the foundations for human rights. Among other things, it was the basis for the drafting of the Declaration of Human Rights and the US Constitution in 1787 as well as the Ecumenical Declaration on Human Rights in 1948.
His provisions include the right of all free citizens to hold and inherit the property and equality of all citizens before the law.
