The Rev. Nick Papadopoulos, dean of the Early English Gothic cathedral, told the BBC that “a man entered the Chapter House, and he was armed with a hammer, and he attacked the glass case that houses the Magna Carta.”

“He then left the Chapter House, and he was detained not far from here in the cathedral works yard,” Papadopoulos said. "No one was hurt, and the Magna Carta itself is undamaged. We’ve removed it for safe-keeping while the case is refurbished.”

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“Magna Carta” translates from Latin to “Great Charter.” The centuries-old outline of legal rights determined that the king was not above the law, and described basic, universal human rights, such as the right to a fair trial. The document, which was signed in 1215, later inspired sections of the U.S. Constitution.

There are four original copies of the charter — two others are housed at the British Library and one at the Lincoln Cathedral.

What motivated the 45-year-old suspect in the case remains unclear, but the hammer attack apparently triggered an alarm system that led to the evacuation of the cathedral. The incident occurred around 5 p.m. Thursday in front of a number of other people, the Guardian newspaper reported. He was arrested shortly after smashing the glass.

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Social media users then had fun recommending that anyone offered a black-market version of the Magna Carta should probably turn it down.

Others mocked the Russian television interview with the two suspects in the nerve agent attack, suggesting that a better explanation for why they were in Salisbury would have been that they were trying to steal the Magna Carta.