Harvard thought it had cheap copy of the Magna Carta – it turned out to be extremely rare

Harvard University for decades assumed it had a cheap copy of the Magna Carta in its collection, a stained and faded document it had bought for less than US$30.

But two researchers have concluded it has something much more valuable – a rare version from 1300 issued by England’s King Edward I.

The original Magna Carta established in 1215 the principle that the king is subject to law, and it has formed the basis of constitutions globally. There are four copies of the original and, until now, there were believed to be only six copies of the 1300 version.

“My reaction was one of amazement and, in a way, awe that I should have managed to find a previously unknown Magna Carta,” said David Carpenter, a professor of medieval history at King’s College London. He was searching the Harvard Law School Library website in December 2023 when he found the digitised document.

“First, I’d found one of the most rare documents and most significant documents in world constitutional history,” Carpenter said. “But secondly, of course, it was astonishment that Harvard had been sitting on it for all these years without realising what it was.”

Carpenter teamed up with Nicholas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at Britain’s University of East Anglia, to confirm the authenticity of Harvard’s document.