Magna Carta and King John

Magna Carta and King John

For the first time, the City of London’s 1297 copy of Magna Carta is on public display at The London Archives.

Magna Carta is one of the most famous documents in English history, and the granting of a charter by King John at Runnymede has an almost mythical status. Magna Carta has been invoked at various points in British history – such as during the English Civil War – and was a foundational document in the creation of the American Constitution. The 1215 charter was reissued and confirmed several times in the thirteenth century and the City of London’s 1297 charter is one of these.

Also on display is the mayoralty charter granted by King John in 1215 which granted Londoners the right to choose a mayor and thereby confirming a custom that had already developed as the earliest recorded mayor Henry Fitz-Ailwin is identified as such in a document of 1194 and is believed to have held office from 1189. The charter has one of the finest surviving impressions of John’s Great Seal. As the seal is missing from all four surviving copies of the 1215 issue of Magna Carta, a mould taken from the seal of this charter, was used to produce a silver cast replica incorporated in the replica of Magna Carta presented by the British Parliament to the US Congress to mark the bicentenary of American independence in 1976.

The rubber moulds made at the British Library for production of the silver cast are displayed alongside ephemera which demonstrates the popularity of the imagery surrounding the event.

Magna Carta and King John opens on Monday 5 August and runs to Thursday 31 October during our normal opening hours.