From "Harvard Law Paid $27 for a Copy of Magna Carta. Surprise! It’s an Original. Two British academics discovered that a 'copy' of the medieval text, held in Harvard Law School’s library for 80 years, is one of seven originals dating from 1300" (NYT).
Does the article mention Trump? Of course: "Nicholas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at the University of East Anglia, in eastern England... noted that the document, which bound the nation's rulers to acting within the law, had resurfaced at a time when Harvard has come under extraordinary pressure from the Trump administration."
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“Top Men.”
- Raiders of the Lost Ark.
That's incredible.
If you want to really surprise a group of people, take them to the British Library and don't tell them that it's there. Ask them to follow you, walk directly to the little room where the Magna Carta is, and point.
What's $27 plus $53.2 Billion? From what I hear, few Harvard freshman can tell us the answer.
I think Trump Derangement Syndrome will ultimately be recognized as a mental illness like obsessive-compulsive disorder or Tourettes syndrome (these unfortunate people, like the TDS people, also experience repetitive behaviors or vocalizations as a result of their condition).
I was going to mention that this post needs the TDS tag.
“In this particular instance we are dealing with an institution that is under direct attack from the state itself, …”
BS - It’s about the state’s money and you don’t like the strings the state is attaching to it.
I’ve stayed in Runnymede, but I never went to a library to see the Magna Carta.
The pressure from Trump on Harvard is to get the University to follow the rule of law, rather than continuing the practice of treating individuals differently based on race or religion.
But of course! That's one thing I admire about the Left is that they are always, ALWAYS on message.
I read on some legal blog that the real purpose of the Magna Carta was to remove the church's ability to arrest, imprison, or execute English subjects rather than establish baseline civil liberties. T/F ?
RideSpaceMountain said...What's $27 plus $53.2 Billion?
$53.200000027 billion. But I didn't go to Harvard.
Anything in there about filthy rich, elite academies acting within the law?
@tim maguire, just don't ask them to divide and multiply. They wouldn't know what to do except segregate in two groups and begin bopping like bunnies.
Harvard represents the nobility in this analogy, not the filthy peasants.
So Harvard sees itself as barons enforcing feudal rights?
Shouldn’t it be returned to the original indigenous owners?
The rotters @the NYT can go rodger a jelly donut.
Who was the seller ?
“Does the article mention Trump? Of course: ….” There must be a name for this obsession other than TDS.
Signed with a Paper Mate Flair pen would be a confirming indicia,
https://images.ctfassets.net/f1fikihmjtrp/2d4LlDqdqUeMPOfb8fopwC/d2754db0332d491271c55dc2c4e84feb/81711-1006-M-4ww.jpg
Now that Starmer has hitched his wagon to the Trump team, he'd better demand its return before Harvard burns it.
Will someone please understand the absurd typo that ruined my original 8:12 AM comment, because I don't.
Nothing about the Cathars? The Merovingians?
Harvard has been discriminating against white Americans, and white American Christians in particular for years. You only have to look at the percentage of the US that is nominally Christian and white and look at the percentage of undergrads, Admin, and professors to see that.
Like the leadership of the Episcolpal (sic) Church, they hate Whites. I once read a book called "Harvard Hates America" which I thought was overstated. But I can now see that it was an understatement.
Well, one thing is clear: Harvard certainly wasn't using any of their money for competent library archivists.
I look forward to Narr's perspective.
Harvard is a Pro-Choice institution.
Every once in a while when I was working someone would call or drop in to ask me (special collections curator and archivist) to take a look at something they found in a dusty box or piece of old furniture in the attic.
About half the time, it was a copy of the Declaration of Independence that they were hoping was an original. It never was of course, and I explained to them why it couldn't be.
Only one person went away unenlightened, and vowed that he was going to fly to DC and talk to the real experts there.
I wished him luck.
My perspective is that I don't know enough about the provenance and the circumstances of the original purchase to have a strong opinion.
I do know that enormous amounts of European historical publications and manuscripts were purchased by American institutions after both world wars, when the dollar was strongest.
Oh, wait! It says it was Harvard Law Library. That explains it. Law librarians are retarded.
So the scholars are coming here to touch an ancient document? You don't "touch" incredibly rare old documents. What a weird thing to say. Did the Times screw up yet another explanation of something, or are the professors secret vandals who need to be restrained? Either way, this should be an abject embarassment for Harvard. Sure, they bought it 80 years ago, but they handled it recently enough to make a scan of it. Nobody noticed its age then? They're lucky they didn't damage it. And none of their historians identified the document sooner? Buffoons. This is a story about Harvard's complete incompetence, as if we need another.
So now Harvard can sell it and stop complaining about funding cuts ...
I really envy the Boston-area person who bought a drawing at an estate sale for $30 dollars that may turn out to be an authentic Dürer worth millions -- envy that person as much for his or her eye and brain as for the money.
if the original was 1215, then it has to be a copy,
were purchased by American institutions after both world wars
Many years ago I noticed that the Air Force Research Laboratory library had a complete set of Crelle's Journal. It was fun reading articles by Gauss and Abel, but I wondered about the provenance. Did someone loot the German libraries? There may be an innocent explanation, but I hope not :)
"Nicholas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at the University of East Anglia, in eastern England... noted that the document, which bound the nation's rulers to acting within the law, had resurfaced at a time when Harvard has come under extraordinary pressure from the Trump administration."
Has this dope taken notice of what his country's ruling class is doing to the rule of law in Britain?
"Nicholas Vincent, a professor of medieval history at the University of East Anglia, in eastern England... noted that the document, which bound the nation's rulers to acting within the law, had resurfaced at a time when Harvard has come under extraordinary pressure from the Trump administration."
Wonder how today’s professoriate would fare under King John.
it took me 10 seconds to figure it's not an original, and i'm not ben gates of national treasure,
Harvard has been discriminating against white Americans, and white American Christians in particular for years. You only have to look at the percentage of the US that is nominally Christian and white and look at the percentage of undergrads, Admin, and professors to see that.
Seems like a slam-dunk case of "disparate impact" to me. Time for a multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit and a RICO criminal prosecution with hate-crimes enhancements.
I'm sure they can find a lead plaintiff in Wyoming or Oklahoma so Harvard can get a heaping helping of what the left-wing government bootlickers who sit on D.C. juries have been ladling out.
Let's use the Left's own weapons to destroy it.
so it could be a good copy, but still a copy,
I haven't read the article, which apparently has some details that people are referencing here.
That being the case, I won't have anything to say about who shoulda coulda woulda. I'll see what I can learn from other sources than the NYT filtered through Althouseblog.
I was asked by the university and by private individuals to assess or evaluate the authenticity of numerous items and collections, and had to make decisions about purchasing for the department, but I always made clear the limits of my expertise and never charged money for a (hopefully) well-informed opinion.
chuck, it's anyone's guess how that item got to the AFRLL--they should have had an acquisition or accession record.
My collection housed only one item that I thought might be war booty. It was a very fine bound presentation copy of the annual report for Army Group North, printed I think in 1943 on Riga's finest presses.
Beautiful maps of operations and installations, often with plastic overlays, and statistical charts and tables.
The provenance info was skimpy, and I think it might have been picked up and brought or shipped home by some GI in the chaos of postwar.
"noted that the document, which bound the nation's rulers to acting within the law, had resurfaced at a time when Harvard has come under extraordinary pressure from the Trump administration."
Left out is Harvard is under extraordinary pressure from the Trump administration to obey federal law such as Title VI. Imagine the gall of expecting Harvard to obey the law! That's just crazy talk! /s
again, they may have paid 27.00 for a copy,
The Magna Carta guaranteed the right to vote to anyone that could raise and field an army in England.
Harvard is a bloc act, a Diversity purveyor, an equivocal affront, known to follow progressive principles to exercise liberal license under a Pro-Choice religion.
Narr, I could use some expert archival advice from you. I've badly neglected an obligation. I have an eponymous blog with contact information. I want to see this through.
Generally, I admire the British, warts and all. One of the biggest warts is their propensity to frame the most mundane episodes from their history in terms of universal struggle for freedom and human rights and then hold this fabricated image before the world as an example to be followed.
There is absolutely nothing special about Magna Carta. It was just another episode in medieval history when Nobles clashed with Royalty. It happened many times in Germanic world all over Europe and when the fighting was over both sides would sign a Charter (or Carta) postulating new set of rights and obligations, to be observed until next ‘crisis’. That was actually a standard procedure.
Tina, I'm thinking hard about your request. I'm hesitant to break cover even in what I'm sure is a good cause, and am not sure how much expert archival advice I have to offer.
Can you outline here or somewhere on your blog what your concerns are? If digitization is involved I'll beg off up front, as I was barely keeping up when I retired and haven't paid any attention since.
All the people that have concerns about how the Trump Administration is adhering to the Constitution or to law in general weren't similarly concerned about the Biden Administration, which is baffling to me considering the blatant lawlessness during that period. So tired of those phony blowhards who want me to respect their integrity, which is clearly fictional.
Last night the sun sank in the west.... JUST LIKE THE ECONOMY WILL UNDER TRUUUUUUMP!
The author reveals TDS two ways. 1) the totally unnecessary inclusion of the snipe at Trump. 2) published by the NYT
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