How Harvard Discovered It Has an Original Copy of the Magna Carta
Clip: Season 52 | 3m 13sVideo has Closed Captions
They paid only $27.50 for it from a London bookseller in 1946.
Researchers used ultraviolet scans to compare Harvard Law School’s copy of the Magna Carta, word for word, against the other known originals. Their analysis helped confirm it was an original from 1300.
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How Harvard Discovered It Has an Original Copy of the Magna Carta
Clip: Season 52 | 3m 13sVideo has Closed Captions
Researchers used ultraviolet scans to compare Harvard Law School’s copy of the Magna Carta, word for word, against the other known originals. Their analysis helped confirm it was an original from 1300.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- [Narrator] Imagine accidentally encountering an original version of one of the most famous documents in the world, the Magna Carta.
- I thought, "Oh heavens, this looks for all the world like an original of the final 1300 Magna Carta."
- [Narrator] David Carpenter and Nicholas Vincent combed through digital images, including in ultraviolet light, to confirm Harvard Law School's copy was actually an original.
And in June 2025, they had the opportunity to see the document in person.
The researchers discovered just the seventh known copy remaining.
Signed in England in 1215, the Magna Carta is the first known document asserting that the king is also subject to the rule of law.
It went through six different versions until 1300, the last time it was validated by a king.
Back then, scribes wrote over 30 copies to distribute around the country.
Harvard Law School paid only $27.50 for it from a London bookseller in 1946.
One thing that tipped the researchers off to the document's authenticity was the appearance of the handwriting.
It was remarkably similar to other confirmed original copies from the same time period, and upon further inspection, they noticed a massive clue, "At Westminster in the 28th year of Edward's Reign," which puts it at the place and time, 1300, where the other known original copies were signed.
- The whole way the first line is written is very comparable in terms of handwriting.
So that's seen in the other previously known six originals, but also the whole size and shape of the charter.
- [Narrator] The next step was to match it word for word against the original copies, but there was an issue.
- The key problem was that the lettering, the handwriting in places was faded.
- [Narrator] Some of the document's text is so faded that it's not legible to the naked eye, and in order to confirm its authenticity, the researchers needed to be able to see all of the words.
To reveal the faded text, they used different kinds of light, including ultraviolet light and a special camera.
Like most documents of its era, the Magna Cartas from 1300 were written on parchment made of animal skin, which contains collagen.
When ultraviolet light hits the parchment, it causes the molecules and the collagen to glow.
- That ink is almost like a tattoo into that animal skin, and so we would make that animal skin glow, if you will, and backlight that tattoo.
- [Narrator] The ultraviolet light also revealed etch marks left in the parchment, even where the ink had faded.
These images allowed the researchers to finally confirm the charter's authenticity.
- But in the end, I mean it did pass the test with absolutely flying colors and it matches up pretty well exactly with the other six originals.
Harvard Law School is one of the great centers of legal studies in the world, and therefore, it's very fitting that Harvard Law School should have its own Magna Carta, and I hope it will be inspirational.
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