Did you know?
Two surviving twelve fifteen copies belong to the British Library; the others belong to Lincoln and Salisbury cathedrals.
Four authorised originals survive from Magna Carta’s 1215 settlement between King John and his opponents, with cathedral ownership not always meaning cathedral accommodation.
1 min read
Parchment, seals and survival
Four original exemplifications of Magna Carta issued in 1215 survive. Two belong to the British Library, one to Lincoln Cathedral and one to Salisbury Cathedral. Lincoln’s document is housed in the Magna Carta vault at Lincoln Castle: ownership and accommodation are distinct matters.
Here, ‘original copies’ means authorised contemporary documents, not later reproductions of a uniquely authoritative master. Written in Latin on parchment, they carried the settlement around England. Authentication depended upon the royal seal, not King John’s signature. At least thirteen were produced by July 1215; the full number remains uncertain.
One British Library exemplar was badly damaged in the Cotton Library fire of 1731. It nevertheless retains the melted remains of its original seal, a material reminder of how precariously even an exceptionally consequential document may survive.
A peace that did not hold
Magna Carta emerged from rebellion against John, driven by grievances over taxation, arbitrary government and access to justice. The charter bears the date 15 June 1215 at Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines. That does not establish when each surviving sheet was written or sealed.
It was an attempted settlement, not a blueprint for modern democracy. John repudiated it, papal annulment followed in August, and civil war resumed. After his death, revised charters helped rally support to Henry III. The first reissue was authorised at Bristol on 12 November 1216 by William Marshal and the papal legate Guala.
Liberties with a longer life
Clause 13 protected London’s ancient liberties and customs. Clauses 39 and 40 addressed the lawful treatment of free men and access to justice. Their later constitutional importance was considerable, but they did not establish universal rights in 1215. This was an English royal charter whose British and international legacy eventually exceeded the boundaries of its original bargain.