Manuscript Studies
Medieval and Early Modern

II. Topics in Diplomatics

Father Leonard Boyle's essay on "Diplomatics" in Medieval Studies: An Introduction is a good place to begin. He offers something of a history of the seventeenth-century debate between Mabillon and Daniel Van Papenbroeck, and from there traces later developments and debates about what "diplomatics" is to include. Father Boyle resists the attempts of some to limit strictly "diplomatics" to the study of legal documents, but sides with those who see the discipline as being the application of the principles of literary criticism and interpretation to all documents of historical interest. Thus diplomatics is the study of every kind of "historical" document in the broadest sense, including but not limited to deeds of real property, judicial records, accounts, inventories, record keeping of any sort, contracts, transfers of rights, deeds of manumission, settling of boundaries, or registers of letters issued from any office.

The bulk of Father Boyle's essay suggests an approach to the study of any historical document by applying the Ciceronian "topoi." In studying a document, the scholar must establish the who, what, when, where, and why. In terms of "who," one must attempt to identify as far as possible all the persons involved in the document, whether as principals or seconds: the "actor," the "destinarius," the witnesses, the notaries, the scribes. In the search for such information, guides to the names of holders of particular offices at particular times may be useful, as well as standard dictionaries of biography. The "what" of a document includes a consideration of its quality (its authenticity and reliability), its features, and physical makeup; a full and accurate transcription is a "sine qua non," and this will require paleographical skill, linguistic expertise, and especially a knowledge of the conventions and formulae of expression in the particular kind of document with which one is faced (there are different worlds of vocabulary, usage, and convention between one kind of document and another, with which one needs to be familiar before attempting an interpretation). One should also study the erasures, in an attempt to determine what changes have been made; comparison with other copies (such as in the register of the "actor") may help one in determining whether erasures were done before or after the document was issued. And one should not forget to examine the dorse (reverse side) of a document for marks indicating the date of receipt, notarial commentary, summaries, and so forth. The "when" and "where," the dating and localizing of the document, will be key factors in determining its significance and effect; questions of "where" may require consulting dictionaries of antique or Latin placenames, and questions of when can be aided by such tools as Cheney's Handbook of Dates, which lists regnal years for English kings, festivals, and saints' days, which are often used in the dating of ancient documents. And all of these contribute to one's conclusions about the "why" of the document: what purpose did it serve? what action does it perform?

The term "diplomatics," then, is a broad one, covering the range of skills and methods required in the study and interpretation of the historical significance of documents.