The geniuses at Harvard Law School have owned an original Magna Carta for 80 years without knowing it.
The school bought the presumably fake charter in the 1940s, paying just $27.50 (about $490 today).
For decades Harvard Law kept the parchment in the school’s vault, while an image of the document was available on the internet.
In late 2023 David Carpenter, a medieval history professor at King’s College London, found an image of the document online and was struck by the distinctive large E (signifying King Edward I) in the upper left corner.
(Although King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215, successive English monarchs reissued the charter. The one in Harvard’s possession was issued by King Edward I in 1300.)
Based on the unique “E” Carpenter forwarded the image to fellow history professor Nicholas Vincent at the University of East Anglia. Vincent confirmed Carpenter’s thoughts on the document’s authenticity and the two historians contacted Harvard.
In late spring 2024 special imaging of the parchment confirmed that it was indeed from 1300.
Harvard has removed the charter from its law school’s vault and housed it in an undisclosed location.
The university is still uncertain whether the document will be put on display.
Currently there are 25 Magna Carta originals known to exist; most of them are in the U.K.
The last time an original was sold at auction, the highest bidder paid $21.3 million. That sale took place 2007.