A richly illuminated medieval manuscript containing a copy of Magna Carta has been acquired by Dartmouth College. Dating to the opening years of the 14th century, the palm-sized volume brings together the 1300 regrant of Magna Carta with important statutes that helped shape English law.
The manuscript, known as Magna Carta and Statutes of the Realm, was acquired this summer for Dartmouth’s Rauner Special Collections Library in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth Libraries announced the acquisition this week, noting that it was funded through endowments dedicated to acquiring material for its collections.
Created between 1300 and 1307, the manuscript contains a copy of King Edward I’s 1300 regrant of Magna Carta as well as the Westminster Statutes. The texts offer a window into the development of English civil and criminal law during the later Middle Ages.
A richly decorated legal manuscript
Decorative elements and detailing examples within Magna Carta and Statutes of the Realm. Photo by Katie Lenhart / Dartmouth. Courtesy Trustees of Dartmouth College
Although medieval legal manuscripts were often made as practical working texts, Dartmouth’s newly acquired volume is considerably more elaborate. Its pages feature large decorative initials embellished with gold leaf at the beginning of individual statutes, while parts of the manuscript are written in Anglo-Norman French. Most strikingly, a painted image of King Edward I appears at the beginning of the Magna Carta section.
Dartmouth believes that the manuscript was most likely produced at the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter in York, better known as York Minster. Its extensive decoration suggests that it may have been commissioned by a wealthy individual for personal use rather than produced simply as a utilitarian legal volume.
The depiction of Edward I also helps scholars date the manuscript. According to Dartmouth, permission from the Crown was required to portray the monarch, placing its production sometime between Edward’s regrant of Magna Carta in 1300 and his death in 1307.
Despite its elaborate decoration and important contents, the manuscript is remarkably small. Dartmouth describes the approximately 700-year-old volume as “palm-sized.”
Magna Carta in the 13th and 14th centuries
Carl Estabrook, associate professor of history, with Magna Carta and Statutes of the Realm. Photo by Katie Lenhart / Dartmouth. Courtesy Trustees of Dartmouth College
The manuscript belongs to a long history of the creation, revision and reaffirmation of Magna Carta. The first version was issued by King John in 1215 amid his conflict with rebellious barons. Although Magna Carta would eventually become one of the most famous documents in the history of law, its medieval origins were rooted in the political relationship between the English monarchy and a relatively small group of powerful landholders.
Carl Estabrook, associate professor of history at Dartmouth, cautions against interpreting the medieval charter through its much later reputation as a universal statement of liberty. Magna Carta initially benefited the wealthy landed elite, whom he describes as “a tiny minority who themselves wielded largely unchecked social, legal, and economic power.”
Nor was the charter established permanently in 1215. It was revised and reissued several times during the reign of Henry III, who ruled from 1216 to 1272.
Edward I reaffirmed Henry III’s version of Magna Carta in 1297, as political pressures and the costs of his wars made maintaining support among the English political elite particularly important. Estabrook notes that Edward also authorised copies of Magna Carta to “placate potentially obstreperous landed elites.”
In 1300, Edward once again regranted the charter, and this is the version preserved in Dartmouth’s newly acquired manuscript.
The volume also contains the Westminster Statutes, a series of important pieces of legislation issued during Edward I’s reign. For Estabrook, these texts are particularly interesting because they represent the “first utterances of a king conceding to elected representatives in a legislative body.”
A medieval manuscript open to researchers
Internal pages from Magna Carta and Statutes of the Realm. Photo by Katie Lenhart / Dartmouth. Courtesy Trustees of Dartmouth College
Dartmouth Libraries says the acquisition will be used for both teaching and scholarly research. Unlike a manuscript held in a private collection, the volume will be accessible through the Rauner Special Collections Library, which makes its rare books and manuscripts available to researchers.
“Anyone who is interested in the histories of sovereignty, since this manuscript contains royal concessions, and anyone interested in law will find useful things in here. It’s definitely an important addition to our collections and a great acquisition,” Estabrook said.
The acquisition also arrives as the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Magna Carta remained an important reference point in debates over rights and government in colonial America, even though more than five centuries separated the medieval charter from the American Revolution.
For Dartmouth itself, the manuscript complements documents relating to the institution’s own legal and constitutional history, including Dartmouth’s royal charter of 1769 and a recently donated first edition of The Federalist.
“This early 14th-century legal compendium allows students to encounter Magna Carta within the legal culture that copied, organized, and used it,” said Dartmouth College’s Provost Santiago Schnell.
For Susanne Mehrer, Dean of Libraries, the physical survival of such a small medieval volume is itself part of its appeal. She describes it as “this incredible, 700-year-old manuscript” that allows students, scholars and other visitors to experience history directly.
Top Image: The depiction of King Edward I, which opens the 1300 Magna Carta regrant text from Magna Carta and Statutes of the Realm. Photo by Katie Lenhart / Dartmouth. Courtesy Trustees of Dartmouth College
A richly illuminated medieval manuscript containing a copy of Magna Carta has been acquired by Dartmouth College. Dating to the opening years of the 14th century, the palm-sized volume brings together the 1300 regrant of Magna Carta with important statutes that helped shape English law.
The manuscript, known as Magna Carta and Statutes of the Realm, was acquired this summer for Dartmouth’s Rauner Special Collections Library in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth Libraries announced the acquisition this week, noting that it was funded through endowments dedicated to acquiring material for its collections.
Created between 1300 and 1307, the manuscript contains a copy of King Edward I’s 1300 regrant of Magna Carta as well as the Westminster Statutes. The texts offer a window into the development of English civil and criminal law during the later Middle Ages.
A richly decorated legal manuscript
Although medieval legal manuscripts were often made as practical working texts, Dartmouth’s newly acquired volume is considerably more elaborate. Its pages feature large decorative initials embellished with gold leaf at the beginning of individual statutes, while parts of the manuscript are written in Anglo-Norman French. Most strikingly, a painted image of King Edward I appears at the beginning of the Magna Carta section.
Dartmouth believes that the manuscript was most likely produced at the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter in York, better known as York Minster. Its extensive decoration suggests that it may have been commissioned by a wealthy individual for personal use rather than produced simply as a utilitarian legal volume.
The depiction of Edward I also helps scholars date the manuscript. According to Dartmouth, permission from the Crown was required to portray the monarch, placing its production sometime between Edward’s regrant of Magna Carta in 1300 and his death in 1307.
Despite its elaborate decoration and important contents, the manuscript is remarkably small. Dartmouth describes the approximately 700-year-old volume as “palm-sized.”
Magna Carta in the 13th and 14th centuries
The manuscript belongs to a long history of the creation, revision and reaffirmation of Magna Carta. The first version was issued by King John in 1215 amid his conflict with rebellious barons. Although Magna Carta would eventually become one of the most famous documents in the history of law, its medieval origins were rooted in the political relationship between the English monarchy and a relatively small group of powerful landholders.
Carl Estabrook, associate professor of history at Dartmouth, cautions against interpreting the medieval charter through its much later reputation as a universal statement of liberty. Magna Carta initially benefited the wealthy landed elite, whom he describes as “a tiny minority who themselves wielded largely unchecked social, legal, and economic power.”
Nor was the charter established permanently in 1215. It was revised and reissued several times during the reign of Henry III, who ruled from 1216 to 1272.
Edward I reaffirmed Henry III’s version of Magna Carta in 1297, as political pressures and the costs of his wars made maintaining support among the English political elite particularly important. Estabrook notes that Edward also authorised copies of Magna Carta to “placate potentially obstreperous landed elites.”
In 1300, Edward once again regranted the charter, and this is the version preserved in Dartmouth’s newly acquired manuscript.
The volume also contains the Westminster Statutes, a series of important pieces of legislation issued during Edward I’s reign. For Estabrook, these texts are particularly interesting because they represent the “first utterances of a king conceding to elected representatives in a legislative body.”
A medieval manuscript open to researchers
Dartmouth Libraries says the acquisition will be used for both teaching and scholarly research. Unlike a manuscript held in a private collection, the volume will be accessible through the Rauner Special Collections Library, which makes its rare books and manuscripts available to researchers.
“Anyone who is interested in the histories of sovereignty, since this manuscript contains royal concessions, and anyone interested in law will find useful things in here. It’s definitely an important addition to our collections and a great acquisition,” Estabrook said.
The acquisition also arrives as the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Magna Carta remained an important reference point in debates over rights and government in colonial America, even though more than five centuries separated the medieval charter from the American Revolution.
For Dartmouth itself, the manuscript complements documents relating to the institution’s own legal and constitutional history, including Dartmouth’s royal charter of 1769 and a recently donated first edition of The Federalist.
“This early 14th-century legal compendium allows students to encounter Magna Carta within the legal culture that copied, organized, and used it,” said Dartmouth College’s Provost Santiago Schnell.
For Susanne Mehrer, Dean of Libraries, the physical survival of such a small medieval volume is itself part of its appeal. She describes it as “this incredible, 700-year-old manuscript” that allows students, scholars and other visitors to experience history directly.
The manuscript is now held at Dartmouth’s Rauner Special Collections Library and is available for researchers to consult.
Top Image: The depiction of King Edward I, which opens the 1300 Magna Carta regrant text from Magna Carta and Statutes of the Realm. Photo by Katie Lenhart / Dartmouth. Courtesy Trustees of Dartmouth College
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