diplomatics

Diplomatics is 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." ^[1] Despite the verbal similarity, this science has nothing to do with diplomacy. The word "diploma" itself refers to a folded piece of writing material.

One aspect of diplomatics is the attempt to validate or disprove the alleged origin and authenticity of handwritten documents by studying:

• the penmanship and alphabets or other scripts used in them (palaeography);
• the materials upon which they were written;
• the language and style of language they were written in, including their vocabulary, usage, and literary style; and
• the provenance of the document.

The word diplomatics was coined by the Benedictine monk Jean Mabillon, who in 1681 published his six volume treatise De re diplomatica (Latin: roughly, "The Study of Documents"). 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 charters 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.

The study of diplomatics is important for history, to determine whether alleged historical documents are in fact true or forgeries.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.

Some famous cases involving diplomatics issues include:

• Lorenzo Valla's proof of the forgery of the Donation of Constantine. Valla's work preceded Mabillon by roughly two centuries, and was the first instance of modern, scientific diplomatics.
• The Hitler diaries hoax.

A diplomatic edition is one produced as an exact copy of the original. (The term semi-diplomatic is also used for a partial transcription/partial emendation.) Diplomatic transcription is a method of transcription used in the production of a diplomatic edition (distinct from a type facsimile) that attempts to represent by means of a system of editorial signs the physical state of an individual manifestation of the text of a work, reproducing original spellings, punctuation, and capitalization and showing all additions, suppressions, or substitutions made to the text at the time of and subsequent to its creation.^[2]

See also

• False document
• Questioned document examination (for document forensics related to criminal activity)
• Sigillography
• Papal diplomatics

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)

References