800 years ago ago, on 15 June 1215, King John sealed the Magna Carta at Runnymede. Over the next few years it was reissued a number of times. Of the versions reissued in the 13th century, only 17 originals remain and four of those sit in Oxford University‘s Bodleian Libraries. This month members of the public have the chance to view three of these manuscripts in the Weston Library. A free exhibition called Magna Carta 800 that runs until 28 June has two charters from 1217 and 1225 and other documents from the Library’s collections that help explain the political background to Magna Carta. The 1217 ‘Gloucester Charter’ is also on display as part of Marks of Genius, the inaugural exhibition at the new Weston Library which runs until 20 September. Magna Carta 800 has been curated by Dr Hugh Doherty, now at the University of East Anglia and previously a British Academy Post Doctoral Fellow in Medieval History at Oxford. Dr Doherty says the
