Power and beauty: an evening in celebration of Magna Carta and medieval charters

Suffering from the symptoms of Magna Carta withdrawal?

Not surprising after this summer’s surfeit of events and exhibitions celebrating the 800th anniversary of the great right-giving text. Sufficient ancient delights to give even the most hardened fan of the Middle Ages a case of charter hangover!

Well who should be on hand to provide a cure for those in in need of a medieval tonic, but – appropriately enough – the Royal College of Physicians. Owners of a truly impressive array of medieval charters, seals and documents, currently on show in the exhibition ‘Power and Beauty’, the RCP has brought together two of the most renowned experts in the field 800 years, 5 months and one day after the signing of Magna Carta to mark the occasion with a very special event.

Professor David Carpenter of King’s College London is translator of, and author of the introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of the Magna Carta. In ‘Magna Carta, then and now’ he will examine the document’s importance in its own time and what it means to us today.
Head of the Arts and Humanities Research Council ‘Magna Carta Project’, Professor Nicholas Vincent of the University of East Anglia looks at the great charter in the context of other legal texts of its era in his talk ‘From title deeds to Magna Carta: how medieval charters changed the world’.

An evening to sustain even the most committed enthusiast of the English constitution, or indeed anyone with an interest in how our nation was formed, and human rights developed.

All for just £10, hardly a king’s ransom, especially with a glass of wine (not medieval) or soft drink thrown in.

Advance booking required.