26 February 2015
Magna Carta: The Worcester Connection
There are now just a few weeks to the opening of our magnificent Magna Carta exhibition. We're very excited today to announce that on display will be some extremely precious items loaned to us by our friends at Worcester Cathedral and Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum.
King John's molars, found in his coffin in 1797 (image courtesy of Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum)
For starters, you'll be able to see King John himself at the British Library this spring and summer or, at the very least, those parts of him that survive outside his tomb! John's tomb at Worcester Cathedral was opened for a brief period in 1797, and certain of his body parts removed as souvenirs. On display in Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy will be two of King John's molars, taken from the tomb by William Wood, a stationer's apprentice, and kindly being loaned to our exhibition by Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum. On show with them will be a thumb-bone, reputedly that of King John, which was returned to the cathedral in 1957. We're thrilled that we are going to have these items in our Magna Carta exhibition, and we're extremely grateful to the two institutions concerned for so kindly agreeing to lend them to us.
A piece of textile identified as the shroud wrapped round the body of King John, with a heraldic lion or "leopard" (image courtesy of Worcester Cathedral)
Worcester Cathedral will also be lending some other items to Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy. Also found in the tomb in 1797 were some pieces of textile, identified as parts of King John's hose and shroud, together with a portion of his leather shoe. Come and admire how a medieval king was dressed, and what he wore on his feet! In addition to this, we're very pleased to announce that we will also be displaying King John's own will in our exhibition, again on loan from Worcester Cathedral. This is the earliest surviving original English royal will, and it attests to John's deteriorating condition in his final days, since he left the distribution of his effects and the administration of his kingdom to a group of close advisers, being in an unfit state to make more detailed provisions. Once again, we are delighted that this key witness to King John's final days will be on display in London, where it can be seen alongside other books and objects relating to this troubled period in English history.
The will of King John, October 1216 (image courtesy of Worcester Cathedral)
Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy promises to be the largest exhibition ever devoted to the Great Charter, and the centrepiece of international celebrations to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the granting of Magna Carta in 1215. This could not have been made possible without the generosity of our lenders, among whom we wish to particularly acknowledge Worcester Cathedral and Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum.
The thumb-bone of King John (image courtesy of Worcester Cathedral)
Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy is sponsored by Linklaters, and is open from 13 March until 1 September 2015. Tickets are on sale now but beware, they are selling fast!
You can learn more about the history of Magna Carta on our dedicated site. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter (@julianpharrison and @BLMedieval) for more updates.
The teeth and thumb-bone of King John, prior to their installation in Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy at the British Library
25 February 2015
Magna Carta Unification Update
It seems ages since we brought together for the first time in history the four 1215 Magna Carta manuscripts: in fact, it was only the beginning of February! This was a truly memorable occasion, and we thought you might like to see some film and images of that special day, when one thousand, two hundred and fifteen members of the public came to see Magna Carta ... let us know via Twitter if you are featured here.
And never fear if you were not among the lucky few. The British Library's two Magna Carta manuscripts will be on display in London from 13 March until 1 September 2015, alongside the United States Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, in our major exhibition Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy.
13 February 2015
One Month To Go
It's exactly one month until our major exhibition, Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy, opens to the public. We've been working feverishly behind the scenes to get the show ready: the builders are fitting out the gallery, the labels have been signed off, the catalogue has gone to press, and all the while we've been juggling with the historical Magna Carta unification.
The cover of the exhibition catalogue, edited by Claire Breay and Julian Harrison. The same design will appear on our exhibition poster, we hope you like it!
So what will the exhibition comprise? We can't give away any secrets just yet, save to remind you that, apart from featuring our two original 1215 Magna Carta manuscripts, on display will be (DRUMROLL) the American Declaration of Independence, the US Bill of Rights, and the unique royal writ ordering the publication of the Great Charter. We've recently heard that advance ticket sales have exceeded those for any previous British Library exhibition; so a huge thank you to everyone who has already taken the trouble to book, and a quick reminder to anyone else interested in doing so that you may miss out if you're not careful! And we wouldn't want that to happen ... Tickets cost £12, but there are plenty of concessions, and under 18s go free, a bargain, we think!
Finally, a huge thank you from the curatorial team to everyone who's been working on the project, in particular our Exhibitions colleagues Susan and Alex; Barbara and the Loan Registry; our Press Officers Evie and Sophie; Rob and Sally in Publishing; Anna and the Learning team; and our conservators Gavin, Mark and Kumiko, and conservation scientists Christina and Paul. Their work often goes unheralded, so we're delighted to acknowledge it here.
Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy is sponsored by Linklaters and opens at the British Library on Friday, 13 March, and runs until 1 September 2015
03 February 2015
The Magna Carta Unification
Today, for the first time in history, the four surviving 1215 Magna Carta manuscripts have been brought together. This is a truly historic occasion: not once in 800 years have these documents been in one place, because they were written over a period of weeks in June and July 1215, and dispatched to their medieval homes as soon as they were written.
You may recall that, last October, we offered 1,215 members of the public the opportunity to win a ticket to see these manuscripts side-by-side, in an event sponsored by Linklaters, the global law firm. The response was overwhelming -- we received more than 43,000 entries, from countries as far afield as Algeria, Bolivia, The Gambia, Hong Kong and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The British Library, Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral would like to thank everyone who entered this public ballot for showing such interest in our event, and for helping us to start this year of global commemorations of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. Congratulations if you were one of the lucky winners -- we regret that entry to this event is limited to those with tickets only.
For those of you who were unsuccessful in the ballot, or were unable to come to London, here is a sneak preview of the four manuscripts in question. After the temporary unification event at the British Library, Salisbury's Magna Carta will return to its home for the exhibition Magna Carta: Spirit of Justice, Power of Words (from 6 March 2015); Lincoln's Magna Carta will go on display in the new David P. J. Ross Lincoln Castle Vault in the exhibition Magna Carta: Power, Justice and Accountability (from 1 April 2015); and the British Library's two 1215 Magna Carta manuscripts will be exhibited in our major exhibition Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy (13 March-1 September 2015). We'd be delighted to see you at one or more of these exhibitions, in what promises to be a truly memorable year for everyone interested in Magna Carta and its pivotal place in establishing the rule of law.
The Salisbury Cathedral 1215 Magna Carta (image courtesy of Salisbury Cathedral)
The Lincoln Cathedral 1215 Magna Carta (image courtesy of Lincoln Cathedral)
One of the British Library's 1215 Magna Carta manuscripts, reputedly found in a London tailor's shop in the 17th century
The British Library's other 1215 Magna Carta manuscript, kept at Canterbury Cathedral in the Middle Ages but damaged by fire in the 18th century
23 January 2015
Hereford Writ to be displayed at the British Library
The British Library's major Magna Carta exhibition opens in less than two months. We're delighted to announce that Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy will feature a very important medieval document, on loan from Hereford Cathedral. On 20 June 1215, just a few days after Magna Carta had been granted, King John of England wrote to all of his sheriffs, commanding them to have the Great Charter read out in public. Only one of those documents — known as a royal writ — still survives, the letter sent to the sheriff of Gloucestershire and today kept at Hereford. The British Library is extremely grateful to the Dean and Chapter of Hereford Cathedral for so kindly agreeing to lend us this precious document for the duration of our exhibition, where it will be on display alongside other books and artefacts relating to the history and legacy of Magna Carta.
The Hereford writ, a unique survival of the letter commanding that Magna Carta be read out in public in 1215
Magna Carta was granted by King John (1199–1216) at Runnymede on 15 June 1215. Its most controversial feature was the condition that 25 barons be elected to oversee the implementation of the charter, or to seek immediate redress from the king if its terms were being ignored. The Hereford writ is hugely significant: it demonstrates that the sheriffs were commanded to restore the peace, and that they were ordered to swear obedience to the 25 barons. This particular writ is addressed to the sheriff of Gloucestershire — similar documents would have been sent to the other sheriffs, but this is the only one to have survived — and asks that 'you inviolably observe and cause to be observed, by everyone, everything contained in the charter, lest the peace of our kingdom should happen to be troubled again'.
There is a certain irony here, however. The sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1215 was none other than Engelard de Cigogné (d. 1244), and he was named specifically in Magna Carta as one of the king's evil advisers, who the barons demanded be dismissed from office. The writ's stipulation that Engelard investigate his own malpractices must surely have been difficult to enforce! Engelard also held the post of sheriff of Herefordshire, which may explain how this writ came to be preserved at Hereford Cathedral. It's also interesting to note that the only bishop who joined the baronial rebellion in 1215 was Giles de Briouze, Bishop of Hereford (1200–1215): he was excommunicated by the papal commisioners in September of that year.
Hereford Cathedral, where the writ has been kept since the Middle Ages
You can read a translation of the Hereford writ below. It will be on display in Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy at the British Library from 13 March to 1 September 2015, and tickets are already on sale. Once again, we are indebted to Hereford Cathedral for its generosity in kindly agreeing to lend us this item, so that it can be shown with other items relating to the granting of Magna Carta in 1215. You can read more here about Hereford's participation in the celebration of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.
'John by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine and Count of Anjou to the sheriff of Gloucestershire, foresters, wareners, custodians of rivers and all his other officials in the same county, Greeting.
Know that to restore by the grace of God firm peace between us and the barons and free men of our kingdom, just as you will be able to hear and see by our charter, which we accordingly caused to be made, which likewise we order to be read publically throughout the whole of your bailiwick and to be held firmly; willing and strictly enjoining that you, the sheriff, cause all men of your bailiwick or the majority of them according to the model of the aforementioned charter to swear obedience to the twenty-five barons of whom mention is made in the aforementioned charter to the same command, in their presence or the presence of those assigned to this by their letters patent, and at the day and place which for this purpose the aforementioned or assigned barons established from them for this.
We also wish and order that the twelve knights of your county, who shall be elected by the county in its first session that will be held after receipt of these letters in your parts, swear an inquiry into the corrupt customs of as much the sheriffs as of their agents, of forests, foresters, warrens, warreners, riverbanks and their wardens, and the destruction of the same, as is contained in the charter itself.
Therefore you all, as you love us and our honour, and the peace of our kingdom, inviolably observe and cause to be observed, by everyone, everything contained in the charter, lest for want of you or by your digression, the peace of our kingdom should happen to be troubled again, God forbid. And you, sheriff, cause our peace to be proclaimed through the whole of your bailiwick and order it to be firmly held.
And these our letters patent we send to you thence in testimony of this. Witness myself at Runnymede, the twentieth day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.'
12 January 2015
The Canterbury Magna Carta: A New Discovery
One of the questions we're most frequently asked at the British Library is: why is there more than one manuscript of Magna Carta? The simple answer is that, when the Great Charter was first granted by King John in 1215, numerous copies were made so that its terms could be distributed more easily throughout the kingdom of England. Four of those 1215 manuscripts survive to the present day, one of which is owned by Lincoln Cathedral, another by Salisbury Cathedral and the other two being held at the British Library in London.
The Canterbury Magna Carta, granted by King John of England (1199-1216) on 15 June 1215 (London, British Library, Cotton Charter XIII 31A). This manuscript was sadly damaged by fire in 1731, and by a restoration attempt in the 1830s.
The Lincoln manuscript of King John's Magna Carta is undoubtedly that presented to Hugh of Wells, bishop of Lincoln, in 1215, while that at Salisbury is presumably that sent to Herbert Poore, the bishop of Salisbury at the same time (or alternatively was made for William, earl of Salisbury and one of King John's chief confidants). Until now, the medieval provenance of the two British Library manuscripts of the 1215 Magna Carta has been less certain. One was reputedly found in a London tailor's shop in the 17th century, and then given to Sir Robert Cotton (d. 1631) as a New Year's gift on 1 January 1629 (now British Library Cotton MS Augustus II 106); the other was sent to Cotton by his friend, Sir Edward Dering (d. 1644), lieutenant of Dover Castle, in 1630 (now British Library Cotton Charter XIII 31A). It has previously been assumed that Dering's Magna Carta must have been that sent to the Cinque Ports in 1215. However, new research by Professor David Carpenter of King's College, London, has demonstrated conclusively that the Dering Magna Carta had in fact been kept at Canterbury Cathedral in the Middle Ages, and that it must now be re-designated the Canterbury Magna Carta.
Letter of Sir Edward Dering to Sir Robert Cotton, 10 May 1630, informing him that he is sending him one of the original manuscripts of King John's Magna Carta (London, British Library, Cotton MS Julius C III, f. 143)
Professor Carpenter is a Co-Investigator of the Magna Carta Project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and his research is published by Penguin Classics in his new commentary and translation of Magna Carta. Essentially, Carpenter's discovery is based on two key pieces of evidence: first, Cotton Charter XIII 31A contains a handful of unique readings that are also preserved in a copy of Magna Carta in a late-13th century Canterbury Cathedral register (Register E), which suggests that the Cotton charter was the exemplar of Register E; secondly, Dering is known to have removed other charters from Canterbury Cathedral, and he clearly had access to a manuscript of Magna Carta in the Canterbury archives, undoubtedly that now known as Cotton Charter XIII 31A.
Carpenter's discovery is of fundamental importance for our knowledge of the dissemination and preservation of Magna Carta in the Middle Ages. As the other surviving witnesses of the 1215 Magna Carta were potentially sent to King John's bishops, does this also mean that the Canterbury Magna Carta once passed through the hands of Archbishop Stephen Langton (1207-28), one of the possible architects of the Great Charter?
Sadly, the Canterbury Magna Carta (Cotton Charter XIII 31A) was damaged by fire in 1731, and still further by a restoration attempt at the British Museum in the 1830s. It is the only 1215 Magna Carta still to have the Great Seal of King John attached, though its text is now largely unreadable with the naked eye (you can read more here about the recent multi-spectral imaging of this manuscript).
The Great Seal of King John attached to the Canterbury Magna Carta, damaged by fire in 1731
The British Library's two manuscripts of King John's 1215 Magna Carta will be on display in our major exhibition, Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy (13 March-1 September 2015), and tickets are on sale now. We hope that as many of you as possible are able to see these documents in London this year.
05 January 2015
Melvyn Bragg and The Road to Magna Carta
To mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, BBC Radio 4 is broadcasting a four-part series on this iconic document. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, Magna Carta was recorded in part at the British Library, and features Claire Breay (our Head of Medieval Manuscripts) and other members of the Magna Carta Project, including Professor Nicholas Vincent (University of East Anglia), Professor David Carpenter (King's College, London) and Professor Louise Wilkinson (Canterbury Christ Church University).
Melvyn Bragg looking at Magna Carta with Claire Breay
Episode 1, The Road to Magna Carta, is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Monday, 5 January, at 09:00, and will subsequently be available to listeners in the United Kingdom via the BBC iPlayer. The remaining episodes, Runnymede, 1215, The Aftermath of Magna Carta, and The Legacy of Magna Carta, will be aired at the same time this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 6-8 January.
2015 represents a very exciting year for Magna Carta at the British Library. We are holding our own blockbuster exhibition, Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy, opening to the public on 13 March, and curated by Claire Breay and Julian Harrison. In addition to displaying our two manuscripts of the original 1215 Magna Carta, we will be featuring other key documents, books and artefacts associated with the history and legacy of the Great Charter, including two major loans from the United States of America.We will be blogging more about the exhibition in the coming months. Meanwhile, in February we will be hosting all four 1215 Magna Carta manuscripts, from the British Library, Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral, when they are brought together for the very first time.
Listen if you can to BBC Radio 4 this Monday -- we hope you enjoy the programme!
Julian Harrison
13 December 2014
Magna Carta at the British Library in 2015
By now, you should have heard whether you were one of the lucky 1,215 winners of our ballot to view all four 1215 Magna Carta manuscripts next February. But fear not, don't despair, if you were unsuccessful this time around ... because we're delighted to remind you that next year the British Library will also be staging the largest exhibition ever devoted to Magna Carta.
A 14th-century manuscript image of King John hunting (London, British Library, Cotton MS Claudius D II, f. 116r)
So what do you need to know, and what will you be able to see at the British Library? Our exhibition is called Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy, and is sponsored by the law firm Linklaters. It opens to the public on 13 March 2015, and closes on 1 September. Tickets are already on sale -- just follow this handy link -- and are priced at £13.50 (Adult Gift Aid) with many concessions: entry is free for the Under 18s and Friends of the British Library. As you might expect, our two manuscripts of the 1215 Magna Carta will be on display, together with countless books and objects relating to this globally-recognised document. Previously we announced that an early copy of the American Declaration of Independence (1776), handwritten by Thomas Jefferson, will feature in our exhibition, on loan from New York Public Library, together with the Delaware copy of the United States Bill of Rights (1790), being borrowed from the US National Archives and Records Adminstration. Our American loans are being kindly funded by White & Case.
The Forest Charter, 1225 (London, British Library, Additional Charter 24712)
At this stage we're not allowed to tell you the full line-up of exhibits -- we don't want to spoil the surprise -- but we can promise that our exhibition will be spectacular. There will be manuscripts, documents and printed books, paintings, prints and drawings, newspapers, cartoons and photographs, and artefacts galore. And this blogpost contains a little taster of some of the things that will be on show.
A 13th-century manuscript image of King John being poisoned by a monk of Swineshead Abbey (London, British Library, Cotton MS Vitellius A XIII, f. 5v)
Over the next few months, we'll be telling you more about our plans: keep an eye on this blog and follow us on @BLMedieval. We look forward to welcoming you to the British Library next year. It's only 3 months before our exhibition opens ...
The earliest printed edition of Magna Carta, 1508 (London, British Library, C.112.a.2, ff. 5v–6r)
Julian Harrison
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