Posted May 16, 2025 by Rose A. McCandless, DS Manuscript Data Curation Graduate Fellow
Recent research has revealed that a copy of the Magna Carta long held by Harvard Law School has earlier origins than previously believed. Acquired in 1946 for a modest price, the document was thought to date to the mid-14th century. But Profs David Carpenter and Nicholas Vincent have now identified it as a 1300 copy of the Magna Carta, authorized by King Edward I. This makes it one of only seven known copies from that year—an exciting discovery that not only enhances the manuscript’s historical value, but also deepens our understanding of Magna Carta’s enduring role in the development of constitutional law and the foundational principle that no one is above the law.
With this newly affirmed early witness (Harvard Law School, Manuscript 172) in mind, I turned to the Digital Scriptorium Catalog to see what other copies (early or later!) might be found. There are at least four that date from the 13th and 14th centuries, and all of them are especially interesting for how they frame Magna Carta in the context of later English legal texts. Each of these four codices—Huntington Library, mssHM 25782 (DS9825); Harvard University, alc Ms427 (DS16770); and Newberry Library, Case MS 30 (DS17988); and Free Library of Philadelphia, LC 14 21 (DS4360)—includes Magna Carta alongside other English statutes. All are relatively portable, ranging in size from just 92 x 55mm (DS4360) to 217 x 147mm (DS16770), likely intended for legal reference and use by practicing lawyers.
Among them, Huntington Library, mssHM 25782 (DS9825) stands out as one of the few surviving thirteenth-century copies of Magna Carta. Dated to ca. 1285–1299, it may predate Edward I’s reissues of Magna Carta in 1297 and 1300, and so offers an important witness to the statute’s textual tradition before these later royal endorsements. Signs of active use, including corrections, annotations, and fore-edge tabs, point to its use as a practical legal resource.
Intriguingly, DS9825 also offers a window into contemporary legal debates. According to the Huntington’s catalog record, an allusion to the manor of Nasby in Northamptonshire within the text of the Statute of Westminster II (f. 66v) likely refers to the legal struggles of Isabella de Fortibus (1237–1293), one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in 13th-century England. The Statute of Westminster II, enacted in 1285, is a sweeping legal code of 50 chapters. Its most famous provision, De donis conditionalibus, introduced the concept of entailed estates, ensuring that inherited lands remained within the family and could not be sold or seized (even by the king!).
Isabella’s long legal resistance to King Edward I’s attempts to claim her lands, particularly the Isle of Wight, offers a vivid illustration of the legal issues the statute addressed. Though she lost her northern holdings, Isabella successfully retained control of the Isle, even when challenged in court by the king in 1281. That her situation appears referenced in DS9825 suggests that legal minds in late-13th century England were directly engaged with high-profile property law disputes of their time.
Free Library of Philadelphia, LC 14 21 (DS4360) is another portable codex containing Magna Carta alongside other legal statutes from medieval England (including Carta de Foresta and the Statutes of Westminster I, II, and III). Unlike the other codices I’m discussing in this blog post, this little legal manuscript includes illuminated initials. The initial “E” introducing Magna Carta (Edwardus dei gratis rex) is historiated, with a badly-rubbed figure that very easily could depict Edward I himself. The manuscript also includes two separate tables of contents preceding the legal texts, both written in medieval English hands.
Harvard University, alc Ms427 (DS16770) and Newberry Library, Case MS 30 (DS17988) both include similar legal texts to those in DS9825 and DS4360, from Magna Carta to the Statute of the Westminster II and beyond. These very small format manuscripts could easily fit into a belt bag or a pocket, enabling quick access to the most important legal texts of the time. Together, these manuscripts remind us that Magna Carta was not only a foundational document but one actively interpreted, copied, and debated across generations. Discoveries like Harvard’s newly dated 1300 Magna Carta and the evidence in DS9825 allow us to glimpse how legal history was lived and practiced. The discovery of the early date of HLS MS 172 was only made possible through the manuscript’s digitization and availability via Harvard Law School Library’s digital repository; indeed, the New York Times article published on 15 May 2025 about the discovery notes that neither of the scholars involved in authenticating the manuscript have actually seen it in person yet. And the same goes for DS9825; with its metadata available for discovery via the Digital Scriptorium Catalog and the Huntington’s website, this fascinating legal manuscript is more accessible now than ever before.