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Add MS 4838
- Record Id:
- 032-002110357
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002110357
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000040.0x000082
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 4838
- Title:
-
The Articles of the Barons
- Scope & Content:
-
The Articles of the Barons: the undated original document (apparently first so entitled by Stubbs, Select Charters, 6th edn., 1888, p. 289), headed 'Ista sunt Capitula que Barones petunt et dominus Rex concedit', submitted to King John at Runnymede as the basis of Magna Carta and sealed there probably on 15 June 1215. Written in a fine small charter hand. Endorsed 13th century, 'Articuli magne carte libertatum sub sigillo Regis Johannis' and a pressmark 'Johannes XXX' (altered from XXIX) of the archives of the Archbishops of Canterbury. For the text of the document, and hypotheses concerning its composition and dating, see Holt, Magna Carta (2nd edn., 1992), pp. 429–40, and Collins, 'The Documents of the Great Charter of 1215'. The damaged impression of the Great Seal of King John, in white wax, was preserved separately from the 19th century until 2015, since the parchment tag attaching it to a fold in the foot of the document had broken. The seal has now been reattached.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002110357", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 4838: The Articles of the Barons" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002110357
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002110357
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
- 1 item
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_4838 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1215
- End Date:
- 1215
- Date Range:
- 1215
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
- Parchment. 1 membrane. 510 mm x 265 mm. Great Seal of King John in white wax.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: England, possibly Runnymede (Surrey)
Provenance: (1) Endorsed with the descriptive title, 13th century, 'Articuli magne carte libertatum sub sigillo Regis Johannis' and a pressmark 'Johannes XXX' (altered from XXIX) of the archives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, in which it was presumably placed by Archbishop Stephen Langton (1207–28). In the archives (which were then at St Gregory's Priory, Canterbury) the royal charters were arranged by sovereigns and stored in vasa. From a mid-13th century register of the archiepiscopal muniments, now Lambeth Palace Library MS 1212, it appears that the document was no. XXX in vase quinto.
(2) Said to have been removed from Lambeth Palace, with other papers, by John Warner, Bishop of Rochester (1638–66), after Archbishop Laud's impeachment in 1640.
(3) After Warner's death in 1666, it passed to his nephew John Lee (afterwards Lee-Warner), Archdeacon of Rochester, then to his son, Col. Henry Lee-Warner.
(4) Presented by Col. Henry Lee-Warner to Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury (1689–1715).
(5) Passed either from Burnet's son-in-law David Mitchell (husband of Mary Burnet and executor of her brother Sir Thomas, d. 1753), or from his grand-daughter Mary Mitchell, into the possession of Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope (b. 1714, d. 1786).
(6) Presented by Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope, to the British Museum, 26 May 1769.
- Publications:
-
W. de G. Birch, Catalogue of Seals in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 6 vols in 14 (London: The British Museum, 1887–1900), no. 95
Claire Breay & Julian Harrison (eds.), Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy (London: The British Library, 2015), p. 65
A. J. Collins, 'The Documents of the Great Charter of 1215', Proceedings of the British Academy, 34 (1948), 233–79
J. C. Holt, Magna Carta (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965), pp. 304–12, and the works there cited
J. C. Holt, Magna Carta (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn., 1992), pp. 429–40
The Magna Carta, Sotheby's auction catalogue, 18 December 2007, pp. 72–73
William Stubbs, Select Charters and other illustrations of English constitutional history from the earliest times to the reign of Edward the First, revised by H. W. C. Davis (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 6th edn., 1921), pp. 284–91
- Exhibitions:
- Magna Carta, (online), 10 March 2015-
Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy, British Library, London, 13 March 2015 - 1 September 2015 - Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)