Diplomatics
Encyclopedia
Diplomatics or Diplomatic (in British English), is the study that revolves around documentation. It is a study that focuses on the analysis of document creation, its inner constitutions and form, the means of transmitting information, and the relationship documented facts have with their creator. In diplomatic terms, a Document
is information that is transmitted by the rules of representation, themselves the evidences of the intention of conveying information.
The discipline of Diplomatics originally evolved as a tool for studying the charters
and diplomas
issued by royal and papal chanceries
. Over time, however, it was appreciated that many of the same underlying principles could be applied to other types of official document and legal instrument
; to non-official documents such as private letters; and, most recently, to the metadata
of electronic records.
Diplomatics is an auxiliary science of history
.
(1828) defines diplomatics as the "science of diplomas, or of ancient writings, literary and public documents, letters, decrees, charters, codicils, etc., which has for its object to decipher old writings, to ascertain their authenticity, their date, signatures, etc." More recently, Peter Beal has defined the discipline as "the science or study of documents and records, including their forms, language, script and meaning. It involves knowledge of such matters as the established wording and procedures of particular kinds of document, the deciphering of writing, and document analysis and authentication."
Despite the verbal similarity, this science has nothing to do with diplomacy
. Both names are derived, by separate linguistic development, from the word "diploma" which originally refers to a folded piece of writing material - and thus, both to the materials studied by Diplomatics and to accreditation papers carried by diplomats. The word diplomatics was effectively coined by the Benedictine
monk Jean Mabillon
, who in 1681 published his six volume treatise De re diplomatica (Latin
: roughly, "The Study of Documents"). From there, the word entered the French language as diplomatique, and then English as diplomatic or diplomatics.
Diplomatics has been often confused with palaeography
, but the two studies are really quite different. Properly speaking, diplomatics is concerned only with analysing the linguistic elements of a document. It is, however, closely associated with several parallel disciplines, including palaeography
, sigillography
, codicology
, and provenance
studies, all of which are concerned with a document's physical characteristics and history, and which will often be carried out in conjunction with a diplomatic analysis. The term diplomatics is therefore sometimes used in a slightly wider sense, to encompass some of these other areas (as it was in Mabillon's original work, and as is implied in the definitions by Webster and Beal quoted above).
Christopher Brooke, a distinguished teacher of diplomatics, referred to the reputation of the discipline in 1970 as that of "a formidable and dismal science ... a kind of game played by a few scholars, most of them medievalists, harmless so long as it does not dominate or obscure historical enquiry; or, perhaps, most commonly of all, an aid to understanding of considerable use to scholars and research students if only they had time to spare from more serious pursuits".
.
Diplomatics became important during the Reformation
and the Counter-Reformation
. The emergence of diplomatics as a recognisably distinct sub-discipline, however, is generally dated to the publication of Mabillon's
De re diplomatica in 1681. Mabillon began studying old documents with a view towards establishing their authenticity or falsity as a result of his investigations into doubts that had been raised as to the authenticity of Merovingian documents from the Abbey of Saint-Denis by the Jesuit Daniel van Papenbroek. During the Middle Ages
, the production of spurious charter
s and other documents was common, either to provide written documentation of existing rights or to bolster the plausibility of claimed rights. After Mabillon's work, a livelier awareness of the potential for forged or spurious documents became much more important, both for students of history
and of law
.
Although Mabillon is still widely seen as the "father" of diplomatics, a more important milestone in the formation of the techniques which make up the modern science was René-Prosper Tassin
and Charles-François Toustain
's Nouveau traité de diplomatique, published in 6 volumes in 1750–65. The most significant English-language work was Thomas Madox
's Formulare Anglicanum (1702); but in general the subject was always studied more intensively by continental scholars than by those in Britain.
Some famous cases involving diplomatics issues include:
The study of diplomatics is important for history
, to determine whether alleged historical documents are in fact true or forgeries
. For the same reason, diplomatics occasionally comes into play in law
. Diplomatics in intrinsically tied to the medieval period, however, some of the original theories can be adapted and applied to contemporary Archival science
, with some difficulties as Luciana Duranti describes in her article, New Uses for an Old Science.
A diplomatic edition is to be distinguished both from a facsimile
edition, which, in the modern era, normally employs photographic or digital images; and from a type facsimile, which seeks to reproduce the appearance of the original through the use of a special typographic font
.
Document
The term document has multiple meanings in ordinary language and in scholarship. WordNet 3.1. lists four meanings :* document, written document, papers...
is information that is transmitted by the rules of representation, themselves the evidences of the intention of conveying information.
The discipline of Diplomatics originally evolved as a tool for studying the charters
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
and diplomas
Diploma
A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...
issued by royal and papal chanceries
Chancery (medieval office)
Chancery is a general term for a medieval writing office, responsible for the production of official documents. The title of chancellor, for the head of the office, came to be held by important ministers in a number of states, and remains the title of the heads of government in modern Germany,...
. Over time, however, it was appreciated that many of the same underlying principles could be applied to other types of official document and legal instrument
Legal instrument
Legal instrument is a legal term of art that is used for any formally executed written document that can be formally attributed to its author, records and formally expresses a legally enforceable act, process, or contractual duty, obligation, or right, and therefore evidences that act, process, or...
; to non-official documents such as private letters; and, most recently, to the metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
of electronic records.
Diplomatics is an auxiliary science of history
Auxiliary sciences of history
Auxiliary sciences of history are scholarly disciplines which help evaluate and use historical sources and are seen as auxiliary for historical research...
.
Definitions
Webster's DictionaryWebster's Dictionary
Webster's Dictionary refers to the line of dictionaries first developed by Noah Webster in the early 19th century, and also to numerous unrelated dictionaries that added Webster's name just to share his prestige. The term is a genericized trademark in the U.S.A...
(1828) defines diplomatics as the "science of diplomas, or of ancient writings, literary and public documents, letters, decrees, charters, codicils, etc., which has for its object to decipher old writings, to ascertain their authenticity, their date, signatures, etc." More recently, Peter Beal has defined the discipline as "the science or study of documents and records, including their forms, language, script and meaning. It involves knowledge of such matters as the established wording and procedures of particular kinds of document, the deciphering of writing, and document analysis and authentication."
Despite the verbal similarity, this science has nothing to do with diplomacy
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
. Both names are derived, by separate linguistic development, from the word "diploma" which originally refers to a folded piece of writing material - and thus, both to the materials studied by Diplomatics and to accreditation papers carried by diplomats. The word diplomatics was effectively coined by the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monk Jean Mabillon
Jean Mabillon
Jean Mabillon was a French Benedictine monk and scholar, considered the founder of palaeography and diplomatics.-Early career:...
, who in 1681 published his six volume treatise De re diplomatica (Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
: roughly, "The Study of Documents"). From there, the word entered the French language as diplomatique, and then English as diplomatic or diplomatics.
Diplomatics has been often confused with palaeography
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
, but the two studies are really quite different. Properly speaking, diplomatics is concerned only with analysing the linguistic elements of a document. It is, however, closely associated with several parallel disciplines, including palaeography
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
, sigillography
Sigillography
Sigillography is one of the auxiliary sciences of history. It refers to the study of seals attached to documents as a source of historical information. It concentrates on the legal and social meaning of seals, as well as the evolution of their design...
, codicology
Codicology
Codicology is the study of books as physical objects, especially manuscripts written on parchment in codex form...
, and provenance
Provenance
Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...
studies, all of which are concerned with a document's physical characteristics and history, and which will often be carried out in conjunction with a diplomatic analysis. The term diplomatics is therefore sometimes used in a slightly wider sense, to encompass some of these other areas (as it was in Mabillon's original work, and as is implied in the definitions by Webster and Beal quoted above).
Christopher Brooke, a distinguished teacher of diplomatics, referred to the reputation of the discipline in 1970 as that of "a formidable and dismal science ... a kind of game played by a few scholars, most of them medievalists, harmless so long as it does not dominate or obscure historical enquiry; or, perhaps, most commonly of all, an aid to understanding of considerable use to scholars and research students if only they had time to spare from more serious pursuits".
History of diplomatics
During the Medieval period, the authenticity of a document was not intrinsically tied to the creation of it. It was thought that authenticity was derived from its place of preservation and storage, such as in temples, public offices, archives, etc. Certain people discovered this loophole and began benefitting from it. They would create forgeries and give them to places of authority, thereby establishing authenticity on a counterfeit. Therefore, Diplomatics came about from a need to critically analyze forgeriesForgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
.
Diplomatics became important during the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
and the Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
. The emergence of diplomatics as a recognisably distinct sub-discipline, however, is generally dated to the publication of Mabillon's
Jean Mabillon
Jean Mabillon was a French Benedictine monk and scholar, considered the founder of palaeography and diplomatics.-Early career:...
De re diplomatica in 1681. Mabillon began studying old documents with a view towards establishing their authenticity or falsity as a result of his investigations into doubts that had been raised as to the authenticity of Merovingian documents from the Abbey of Saint-Denis by the Jesuit Daniel van Papenbroek. During the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, the production of spurious charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
s and other documents was common, either to provide written documentation of existing rights or to bolster the plausibility of claimed rights. After Mabillon's work, a livelier awareness of the potential for forged or spurious documents became much more important, both for students of history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and of law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
.
Although Mabillon is still widely seen as the "father" of diplomatics, a more important milestone in the formation of the techniques which make up the modern science was René-Prosper Tassin
René-Prosper Tassin
René-Prosper Tassin was a French historian, belonging to the Benedictine Congregation of Saint-Maur.He was professed at the Abbey of Jumièges in 1718...
and Charles-François Toustain
Charles-François Toustain
Charles-François Toustain was a French historian and Benedictine, member of the Congregation of St-Maur....
's Nouveau traité de diplomatique, published in 6 volumes in 1750–65. The most significant English-language work was Thomas Madox
Thomas Madox
Thomas Madox was a legal antiquary and historian, known for his publication and discussion of medieval records and charters; and in particular for his History of the Exchequer, tracing the administration and records of that branch of the state from the Norman Conquest to the time of Edward II...
's Formulare Anglicanum (1702); but in general the subject was always studied more intensively by continental scholars than by those in Britain.
Some famous cases involving diplomatics issues include:
- Lorenzo VallaLorenzo VallaLorenzo Valla was an Italian humanist, rhetorician, and educator. His family was from Piacenza; his father, Luciave della Valla, was a lawyer....
's proof of the forgery of the Donation of ConstantineDonation of ConstantineThe Donation of Constantine is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the emperor Constantine I supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the pope. During the Middle Ages, the document was often cited in support of the Roman Church's claims to...
. Valla's work preceded Mabillon by roughly two centuries, and was the first instance of modern, scientific diplomatics. - The Hitler diariesHitler DiariesIn April 1983, the West German news magazine Stern published excerpts from what purported to be the diaries of Adolf Hitler, known as the Hitler Diaries , which were subsequently revealed to be forgeries...
hoaxHoaxA hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
.
The study of diplomatics is important for history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, to determine whether alleged historical documents are in fact true or forgeries
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
. For the same reason, diplomatics occasionally comes into play in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
. Diplomatics in intrinsically tied to the medieval period, however, some of the original theories can be adapted and applied to contemporary Archival science
Archival science
Archival science is the theory and study of storing, cataloguing, and retrieving documents and items. Archival science evolved from mankind's need to classify the world around them...
, with some difficulties as Luciana Duranti describes in her article, New Uses for an Old Science.
Diplomatic editions and transcription
A diplomatic edition is an edition (in print or online) of an historic manuscript text that seeks to reproduce as accurately as possible in typography all significant features of the manuscript original, including spelling and punctuation, abbreviations, deletions, insertions, and other alterations. Similarly, diplomatic transcription attempts to represent by means of a system of editorial signs all features of a manuscript original. The term semi-diplomatic is used for an edition or transcription that seeks to reproduce only some of these features of the original.A diplomatic edition is to be distinguished both from a facsimile
Facsimile
A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction by attempting to replicate the source as accurately as possible in terms of scale,...
edition, which, in the modern era, normally employs photographic or digital images; and from a type facsimile, which seeks to reproduce the appearance of the original through the use of a special typographic font
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
.
See also
- False documentFalse documentA false document is a literary technique employed to create verisimilitude in a work of fiction. By inventing and inserting documents that appear to be factual, an author tries to create a sense of authenticity beyond the normal and expected suspension of disbelief for a work of art...
- Questioned document examinationQuestioned document examinationQuestioned document examination is the forensic science discipline pertaining to documents that are in dispute in a court of law...
(for document forensics related to criminal activity) - SigillographySigillographySigillography is one of the auxiliary sciences of history. It refers to the study of seals attached to documents as a source of historical information. It concentrates on the legal and social meaning of seals, as well as the evolution of their design...
- Papal diplomaticsPapal diplomatics-History:The authenticity of papal Bulls, alongside royal charters, and other legal instruments, was already a live issue in the Middle Ages. The papal Chancery saw control of documents and precautions taken against forgery...
External links
- Virtual Library Historical Auxiliary Sciences - Diplomatics
- Online-Database LBA online provided by the Lichtbildarchiv älterer Originalurkunden at Marburg University (Germany, state of Hesse)
- The International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES)