A Forgotten Treasure: The Story of the Lincoln Magna Carta

Lincoln Magna Carta

In Dr. Russo's lecture "How England Gave Rise to the Manga Carta," he presented the broad historical background of the region and how those aspects directly affected the creation and the significance of the Magna Carta. Although he presented a surplus of great information, my favorite part of the lecture was about the copy of the Magna Carta that he has spent part of his career studying. As of today, there are only four surviving copies of the Magna Carta, but when it was printed, it was distributed to all the bishops in the region. Dr. Russo has studied arguably the best preserved copy of the Magna Carta, and that copy was sent to the Lincoln Cathedral in Lincolnshire, England. This is the copy that will actually be on display at Missouri State later this month. The Lincoln copy of the Magna Carta has had an interesting past. The document was found folded in a drawer in the cathedral several decades after its creation. It was then framed and placed on the wall outside the library of the church, and it wasn't until the 20th Century, when historical preservation artists were going through the castles in England did the Lincoln Cathedral remember that they had the Magna Carta. Despite the fact that it was forgotten about, it has been influential for 800 years. Its influence though, has only been documented in one other 13th century piece of literature and the was in the Chronicle of Melrose Abbey. In here, the Magna Carta was referred to in a poem that outlines the purpose of the document and says, "the body wishes to rule the head, and the people wish to rule the king." This discussion on the Magna Carta was really interesting and I can't wait to see it later this month.