Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English),
is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of
document
A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ''Documentum'', which denotes a "teaching" or ...
s: especially,
historical document
Historical documents are original documents that contain important historical information about a person, place, or event and can thus serve as primary sources as important ingredients of the historical methodology.
Significant historical documen ...
s. It focuses on the conventions, protocols and formulae that have been used by document creators, and uses these to increase understanding of the processes of document creation, of information transmission, and of the relationships between the facts which the documents purport to record and reality.
The discipline originally evolved as a tool for studying and determining the authenticity of the official
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. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
s and
diploma
A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...
s issued by royal and papal
chanceries. It was subsequently appreciated that many of the same underlying principles could be applied to other types of official document and
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 ...
, to non-official documents such as private
letters
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
, and, most recently, to the
metadata
Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including:
* Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...
of electronic records.
Diplomatics is one of the
auxiliary sciences of history
Auxiliary (or ancillary) sciences of history are scholarly disciplines which help evaluate and use historical sources and are seen as auxiliary for historical research. Many of these areas of study, classification and analysis were originally deve ...
. It should not be confused with its sister-discipline of
palaeography
Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...
.
In fact, its techniques have more in common with those of the literary disciplines of
textual criticism
Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in ...
and
historical criticism
Historical criticism, also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". While often discussed in terms of ...
.
Etymology
![De re diplomatica 17765](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/De_re_diplomatica_17765.jpg)
Despite the verbal similarity, the discipline has nothing to do with
diplomacy
Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...
. Both terms are derived, by separate linguistic development, from the word ''diploma'', which originally referred to a folded piece of writing material—and thus both to the materials which are the focus of study in diplomatics, and to accreditation papers carried by diplomats.
The word ''diplomatics'' was effectively coined by the
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
monk
Jean Mabillon
Dom Jean Mabillon, O.S.B., (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics.
Early life
Mabil ...
, who in 1681 published his treatise, ''De re diplomatica'' (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
: roughly, "The Study of Documents"). From there, the word entered the French language as ''diplomatique'', and then English as ''diplomatic'' or ''diplomatics''.
Definitions
''
Webster's Dictionary
''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...
'' (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."
Giorgio Cencetti (1908–1970) defined the discipline as "the study of the ''Wesen''
eingand ''Werden''
ecomingof documentation, the analysis of genesis, inner constitution and transmission of documents, and of their relationship with the facts represented in them and with their creators".
The
Commission International de Diplomatique
Commission or commissioning may refer to:
Business and contracting
* Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered
** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of another ...
has defined diplomatics as "the science which studies the tradition, the form and the issuing of written documents".
More pragmatically, Peter Beal defines diplomatics 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".
Theo Kölzer defines diplomatics as "the teaching and the study of charters". He treats the terms "charter", "diploma", and "document" as broadly synonymous, and refers to the German scholar
Harry Bresslau
Harry Bresslau (22 March 1848 – 27 October 1926) was a German historian and scholar of state papers and of historical and literary muniments (historical Diplomas). He was born in Dannenberg/Elbe and died in Heidelberg. He is the father of Ernst ...
's definition of "documents" as "written declarations recorded in compliance with certain forms alternating according to the difference in person, place, time, and matter, which are meant to serve as a testimony of proceedings of a legal nature".
Properly speaking, and as usually understood by present-day scholars, diplomatics is concerned essentially with the analysis and interpretation of the linguistic and textual elements of a document. It is, however, closely associated with several parallel disciplines, including
palaeography
Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...
,
sigillography
Sigillography, also known by its Greek-derived name, sphragistics, is the scholarly discipline that studies the wax, lead, clay, and other seals used to authenticate archival documents. It investigates not only aspects of the artistic design and ...
,
codicology
Codicology (; from French ''codicologie;'' from Latin , genitive , "notebook, book" and Greek , '' -logia'') is the study of codices or manuscript books. It is often referred to as "the archaeology of the book," a term coined by François Masai. ...
, and
provenance
Provenance (from the French ''provenir'', 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art but is now used in similar senses i ...
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 of both Webster and Beal quoted above). The recent development of the science in non-English Europe is expanding its scope to a cultural history of documentation including aspects of
pragmatic literacy
Pragmatism is a philosophical movement.
Pragmatism or pragmatic may also refer to:
*Pragmaticism, Charles Sanders Peirce's post-1905 branch of philosophy
*Pragmatics, a subfield of linguistics and semiotics
*''Pragmatics'', an academic journal in ...
or
symbolic communication Symbolic communication is the exchange of messages that change ''a priori'' expectation of events. Examples of this are modern communication technology and the exchange of information amongst animals.
By referring to objects and ideas not present at ...
.
Christopher Brooke
Christopher Brooke (died 1628) was an English poet, lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons between 1604 and 1626.
Life
He was the son of Robert Brooke (16th century MP), Robert Brooke, a rich merchan ...
, a distinguished teacher of diplomatics, referred to the discipline's reputation 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
Title page of Volume 4 of Tassin and
Toustain's ''Nouveau traité de diplomatique'' (1759)
In the
ancient
Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...
and
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
periods, the authenticity of a document was considered to derive from the document's place of preservation and storage, in, for example, temples, public offices, and archives. As a result, those with nefarious motives were able to give
forged documents a spurious authenticity by depositing them in places of authority. Diplomatics grew from a need to establish new standards of authenticity through the critical analysis of the textual and physical forms of documents.
The first notable application of diplomatics was by
Nicolas of Cusa
Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic cardinal, philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Renai ...
, in 1433, and
Lorenzo Valla
Lorenzo Valla (; also Latinized as Laurentius; 14071 August 1457) was an Italian Renaissance humanist, rhetorician, educator, scholar, and Catholic priest. He is best known for his historical-critical textual analysis that proved that the ''Don ...
, in 1440, who determined, independently, that the
Donation of Constantine
The ''Donation of Constantine'' ( ) is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the 4th-century emperor Constantine the Great supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope. Composed probably in t ...
, which had been used for centuries to legitimize papal temporal authority, was a forgery. Diplomatic techniques were further developed as part of a wider battery of
antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
skills during the
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
and
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...
eras. 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 had begun studying old documents with a view towards establishing their authenticity as a result of the doubts raised by the
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
Daniel van Papenbroek
Daniel Papebroch, S.J., (17 March 1628 – 28 June 1714) was a Flemish Jesuit hagiographer, one of the Bollandists. He was a leading revisionist figure, bringing historical criticism to bear on traditions of saints of the Catholic Church.
Life ...
over supposed
Merovingian
The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...
documents from the
Abbey of Saint-Denis
The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...
. During the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, the production of spurious
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. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
s and other documents had been common, either to provide written documentation of existing rights or to bolster the plausibility of claimed rights. Mabillon's work engendered a far livelier awareness of the potential presence of forged or spurious documents, in the fields of both
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
and
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
.
Although Mabillon is still widely seen as the "father" of diplomatics, a more important milestone in the formation of the battery of practical techniques which make up the modern discipline was the publication of
René-Prosper Tassin
Title page of Volume 4 of Tassin and Toustain's ''Nouveau traité de diplomatique'' (1759)
René-Prosper Tassin (17 November 1697 – 10 September 1777) was a French historian, belonging to the Benedictine Congregation of Saint-Maur.
Tassin was b ...
and
Charles-François Toustain
Charles-François Toustain (13 October 1700 – 1 July 1754) was a French historian and a member of the Benedictine Congregation of Saint Maur. He is remembered for his scholarly work carried out withwith his fellow-Maurist, Dom René-Prosper Tas ...
's ''Nouveau traité de diplomatique'', which appeared in six volumes in 1750–65.
The most significant work in English was
Thomas Madox
Thomas Madox (1666 – 13 January 1727) 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 record ...
's ''Formulare Anglicanum'', published in 1702. In general, however, the discipline was always studied more intensively by continental scholars than by those in Britain.
Diplomatics is often associated with the study of documents of the medieval period. However, scholars such as
Luciana Duranti
Luciana Duranti is an archival theorist and professor of archival science and diplomatics at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She is a noted expert on diplomatics and e ...
have argued that many of its theories and principles can be adapted and applied to contemporary
archival science
Archival science, or archival studies, is the study and theory of building and curating archives, which are collections of documents, recordings and data storage devices.
To build and curate an archive, one must acquire and evaluate recorded m ...
.
Uses
The study of diplomatics is a valuable tool for
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
s, enabling them to determine whether alleged
historical document
Historical documents are original documents that contain important historical information about a person, place, or event and can thus serve as primary sources as important ingredients of the historical methodology.
Significant historical documen ...
s and
archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
s are in fact genuine or
forgeries
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...
. Its techniques may also be used to help date undated documents.
Diplomatics has many similar applications in the field of
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
.
Some famous cases in which the principles of diplomatics have been employed have included:
*
Lorenzo Valla
Lorenzo Valla (; also Latinized as Laurentius; 14071 August 1457) was an Italian Renaissance humanist, rhetorician, educator, scholar, and Catholic priest. He is best known for his historical-critical textual analysis that proved that the ''Don ...
's proof of the forgery of the
Donation of Constantine
The ''Donation of Constantine'' ( ) is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the 4th-century emperor Constantine the Great supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope. Composed probably in t ...
. Valla's work preceded Mabillon by roughly two centuries, and was the first application of the principles of modern, scientific diplomatics.
* The
Hitler diaries
The Hitler Diaries (german: Hitler-Tagebücher) were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler, but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for 9.3 million Deutsche ...
hoax
A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...
(1983).
* The
National Archives forgeries (the Martin Allen forgeries, or
Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
forged documents) (2005).
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 thus distinguished from a ''normalized edition'', in which the editor, while not altering the original wording of the text, renders it using normal (modern)
orthography
An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.
Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...
.
A diplomatic edition is also to be distinguished both from a ''
facsimile
A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, Old master print, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from ...
edition'', which, in the modern era, normally employs photographic or digital images; and from a ''type facsimile'' (such as
Abraham Farley Abraham Farley (?1712–1791) was an English chamberlain who was custodian of the Domesday Book. He was appointed Deputy Chamberlain of the Exchequer in 1736 and became responsible for the public records at the Chapter House of Westminster Abbe ...
's
edition of ''Domesday Book''), which seeks to reproduce the appearance of the original through the use of a
special typeface or
digital font.
See also
*
False document
A false document is a technique by which an author aims to increase verisimilitude in a work of fiction by inventing and inserting or mentioning documents that appear to be factual. The goal of a false document is to convince an audience that what ...
*
Forensic science
Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal ...
*
Palaeography
Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...
*
Papal diplomatics
Papal diplomatics is the scholarly and critical study (diplomatics) of the authentic documents of the papacy, largely to distinguish them from spurious documents. The study emerges in the Middle Ages and has been further refined in the centuries s ...
*
Questioned document examination
In forensic science, questioned document examination (QDE) is the examination of documents potentially disputed in a court of law. Its primary purpose is to provide evidence about a suspicious or questionable document using scientific processes a ...
(for document forensics related to criminal activity)
*
Sigillography
Sigillography, also known by its Greek-derived name, sphragistics, is the scholarly discipline that studies the wax, lead, clay, and other seals used to authenticate archival documents. It investigates not only aspects of the artistic design and ...
*
Textual scholarship
Textual scholarship (or textual studies) is an umbrella term for disciplines that deal with describing, transcribing, editing or annotating texts and physical documents.
Overview
Textual research is mainly historically oriented. Textual scholars s ...
References
External links
Virtual Library Historical Auxiliary Sciences - Diplomaticsmonasterium.netlargest online database of charters
Online-Database LBA onlineprovided by the
Lichtbildarchiv älterer Originalurkunden at
Marburg University
The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...
(Germany, state of Hesse)
Vocabulaire international de la diplomatique, ed. Maria Milagros Cárcel Ortí, 2. ed., València 1997 (Col·lecció Oberta), online versionCommission internationale de DiplomatiqueThe International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES)
{{Authority control
Historiography
Archival science
Writing
Document forgery
Forensic disciplines
Textual criticism
Textual scholarship