Cathedral scribe penned Salibsury Magna Carta

Handwriting analysis has been used to determine that the same cathedral scribe who wrote the Register of St. Osmund also penned the Salisbury Magna Carta.

Scholars have long thought that the Magna Carta was issued by the king in the Chancery, the king’s central court, written by his scribes there and then sent out to other locations in the shires, or counties, of England.

According to Treharne, her research suggests the Salisbury Magna Carta was not just received and preserved at Salisbury, but that the Salisbury Magna Carta was written at Salisbury by one of the cathedral’s own scribes. She recently co-published her findings with University of Glasgow historian Andrew Prescott.

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Story: Angela Becerra Vidergar, Stanford University | Photo: L.A. Cicero