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Magna Carta exhibition shows off newly found copy of charter

Earlier this year a copy of Magna Carta dated to the year 1300 was discovered in Kent. This rare copy now goes on public display as part of an exhibition starting today at the Kent History and Library Centre in Maidstone.

magna carta exhibit - photo courtesy Kent County Council

The Magna Carta Rediscovered Touring Exhibition runs from July 25th to September 5th, and features the Magna Carta issued at the beginning of the 14th century by King Edward I to the borough of Faversham, one of the Cinque Ports.

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The free exhibition includes numerous interactive displays which allow visitors to find out more about the importance of the medieval Magna Carta. It also takes a look at how it ties to today’s concepts of the freedom of the individual, democracy and society, with the Faversham Magna Carta as the centrepiece.

Alongside this is the exhibition ‘In Comitatu Kantie: Life in Kent at the time of Magna Carta’, produced by the Kent History and Library Centre, which will give a taste of life in Kent in the later middle ages.

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Part of the exhibit traces the theme of shopping in the 13th century while another looks at how the law impacted on people’s lives. Other pieces include religion, music culture, and everyday life in the middle ages.

Documents from the county archive collections and objects contemporary to Magna Carta will illustrate how people lived, worked and played within the structure of the Law and the Church.

Learn more: 715 year old copy of Magna Carta discovered

Kent County Council Cabinet Member for Community Services Mike Hill commented, “Magna Carta Rediscovered offers the chance to see an original Magna Carta close up. Visitors will be given detailed guidance on the background to Magna Carta, its sealing, history and modern legacy.

“I would encourage everyone to go and have a look as we celebrate 800 years and see what life was like back then.”

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Click here to visit the Kent History and Library Centre wesbite

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