The previously considered, 'genuine' magna carta is kept in Harvard University.
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A manuscript once considered to be an unofficial copy of the Magna Carta is now believed to be a genuine version.
According to UK academics, it is “one of the world’s most valuable documents”.
For years the manuscript has been tucked away in a library. Now, two medieval history professors have concluded it is an extremely rare and previously lost original Magna Carta from 1300. They have said that the manuscript could be worth millions.
Professor David Carpenter from King’s College London commented that:
“It is the last Magna Carta… [and it] deserves celebration, not as some mere copy, stained and faded, but as an original of one of the most significant documents in world constitutional history; a cornerstone of freedoms past, present and yet to be won.”
The document catalogued as HLS MS 172 was described in a Sotherby’s auction catalogue as “a copy made in 1327… somewhat rubbed and damp-stained” under King Edward III.
Based on inflation, the manuscript’s initial price would be about £339, or $450.
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HeadlineMagna carta ‘copy’ believed to be genuine
Short HeadlineMagna carta 'copy' is genuine
StandfirstHarvard Law School bought the manuscript for $27.50 in 1946.
A manuscript once considered to be an unofficial copy of the Magna Carta is now believed to be a genuine version.
According to UK academics, it is “one of the world’s most valuable documents”.
For years the manuscript has been tucked away in a library. Now, two medieval history professors have concluded it is an extremely rare and previously lost original Magna Carta from 1300. They have said that the manuscript could be worth millions.
Professor David Carpenter from King’s College London commented that:
“It is the last Magna Carta… [and it] deserves celebration, not as some mere copy, stained and faded, but as an original of one of the most significant documents in world constitutional history; a cornerstone of freedoms past, present and yet to be won.”
The document catalogued as HLS MS 172 was described in a Sotherby’s auction catalogue as “a copy made in 1327… somewhat rubbed and damp-stained” under King Edward III.
Based on inflation, the manuscript’s initial price would be about £339, or $450.
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