1297 Magna Carta Gets Face-Lift

Ten-Month Conservation Project Ends With 1297 Magna Carta On Display at National Archives

• By Emma Dumain
• Roll Call Staff
• Feb. 6, 2012, Midnight

In 1297, King Edward I’s war against Scotland was not going so well. To assuage his dissatisfied nobles and persuade them to finance the battle against William Wallace (of “Braveheart” fame), the English king known as Longshanks reaffirmed the nobility’s rights and the limits on his power that were enshrined 82 years earlier in the Magna Carta.