On the internet, I see a lot of references to Stephen Langton and how he "brought about" or "collaborated" on the Articles of the Barons. All of these are very vaguely phrased and I'm curious to know if mainstream historians actually believe that Stephen Langton wrote the document himself, or if most modern accounts are circumspect because we just don't know.
Has anyone done any analysis comparing the work and phrasing to other things Stephen Langton wrote? If we don't think he wrote it, do we know who did? Do we perhaps think someone else invented the content and Langton just sort of made notes?
I hope this doesn't count as trying to ask multiple questions in the same post, I guess I'm just trying to find out if we know where the actual content came from.
I was going to summarise this lecture from May but fortunately medievalists.net has it online! The person giving this paper is one of the leads on the AHRC-funded Magna Carta Project, which represents the culmination of several years of study by scholars from the University of Easy Anglia and Kings College London including several notable authorities on thirteenth-century England such as Nick Vincent and David Carpenter.
I think that the first problem would be which Magna Carta--I'm assuming you mean the 1215 one. I just went to see an exhibit at the Alberta Legislature with the Magna Carta from 1300. There was also one in 1297 and the first one 1215. Many replicas were made. If no one knows here, perhaps you could contact the Alberta Legislature since it is finishing up there tomorrow, or you could contact one of the Cathedral's that own a copy: Durham and Salisbury are two that I remember reading.