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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 since.
The authenticity of papal bulls, alongside royal charters and other legal instruments, became a matter of concern in the Middle Ages. The Papal Chancery oversaw control of documents and precautions taken against forgery. Pope Gregory VII refrained even from attaching the usual leaden seal to a bull for fear it should fall into unscrupulous hands and be used for fraudulent purposes, [1] while Pope Innocent III issued instructions with a view to the detection of forgeries. [2] An ecclesiastic of the standing of Lanfranc has been seriously accused of conniving at the fabrication of bulls, [3] and so the need of some system of tests became obvious.
But the medieval criticism of documents was not very satisfactory even in the hands of a jurist like Pope Alexander III. [4] Though Laurentius Valla, the humanist, was right in denouncing the Donation of Constantine, and though the Magdeburg Centuriator, Matthias Flacius, was right in attacking the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, their methods, in themselves, were often crude and inconclusive. The modern discipline of diplomatics really dates only from the time of the Benedictine Jean Mabillon (1632–1707), whose fundamental work, De Re Diplomatica (Paris, 1681), was written to correct the principles advocated in the criticism of ancient documents by the Bollandist, Daniel Papebroch.
Scholars including Barthélemy Germon (1663–1718) and Jean Hardouin in France, and, to a lesser degree, George Hickes in England, rejected Mabillon's criteria; but all that has been done since Mabillon's time has been to develop his methods and occasionally to modify his judgements upon some point of detail. After the issue of a Supplement in 1704, a second, enlarged and improved edition of the De Re Diplomatica was prepared by Mabillon himself and published in 1709, after his death, by his pupil Thierry Ruinart. This pioneer work had not extended to any documents later than the thirteenth century and had taken no account of certain classes of papers, such as the ordinary letters of the popes and privileges of a more private character. Two other Maurists, Charles-François Toustain and René-Prosper Tassin, compiled a work in six large quarto volumes, with many facsimiles etc., known as the Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique (Paris, 1750–1765). It was a small advance on Mabillon's own treatise, but was widely used; and was presented in a more summary form by François Jean de Vaines, and others.
With the exception of some useful works directed at particular countries, [5] as also the treatise of Luigi Gaetano Marini on papyrus documents, [6] no great advance was made in the science for a century and a half after Mabillon's death. The Dictionnaire raisonné de diplomatique chrétienne by Maximilien Quantin, which forms part of Migne's Encyclopedia, is a digest of older works; and the sumptuous Eléments de paléographie of de Wailly (2 vols, 1838) has little independent merit.
In the second half of the 19th century the field was active, with the names of Léopold Delisle, the chief librarian of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, M. de Mas-Latrie, professor at the Ecole de Chartres, and Julius von Pflugk-Harttung, the editor of a series of facsimiles of papal bulls. A calendar of early papal bulls began appearing from 1902, the results of researches of P. Kehr, A. Brackmann, and W. Wiederhold, in Nachrichten der Göttingen Gesellsehaft der Wissenschaften. Papal regesta were published, especially by members of the Ecole Française de Rome.
Officials concerned with the preparation of the documents collectively formed the Chancery. The constitution of the Chancery, which in the case of the Holy See seems to date back to a schola notariorum , with a primicerius at its head, first recorded during the tenure of Pope Julius I (337–352), varied from period to period, and the part played by the different officials composing it necessarily varied also. Besides the Holy See, each bishop also had some sort of chancery for the issue of his own episcopal acts.
The procedure of the Chancery is only a study preparatory to the examination of the text of the document itself. As the position of the Holy See became more fully recognized, the business of the Chancery increased, and there arose a marked tendency to adhere strictly to the forms prescribed by traditional usage. Various collections of these formulae, of which the Liber Diurnus is one of the most ancient, were compiled at an early date. Many others will be found in the Recueil général des formules of Eugène de Rozière (Paris, 1861–1871), though these, like the series published by Zeumer, [7] are mainly secular in character.
After the text of the document, which of course varies according to its nature, and in which not merely the wording but also the rhythm (the so-called cursus) has often to be considered, attention must be paid:
All these matters fall within the scope of diplomatics, and all offer different tests for the authenticity of any given document. There are other details which often need to be considered, for example the Tironian notes (or shorthand), which are of not infrequent occurrence in primitive Urkunden , both papal and imperial. [8] A special section in any comprehensive study of diplomatics is also likely to be devoted to spurious documents: the number is surprisingly great.
Pope Alexander II, born Anselm of Baggio, was the head of the Roman Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1061 to his death in 1073. Born in Milan, Anselm was deeply involved in the Pataria reform movement. Elected according to the terms of his predecessor's bull, In nomine Domini, Anselm's was the first election by the cardinals without the participation of the people and minor clergy of Rome. He also authorized the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.
Pope Sylvester III, born John in Rome, was Bishop of Rome and hence ruler of the Papal States from 20 January to March 1045.
Diplomatics, or diplomatic, is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents: especially, historical documents. 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.
Liber diurnus Romanorum pontificum is the name given to a miscellaneous collection of ecclesiastical formulae used in the Papal chancery until about the 11th century. It fell into disuse through the changed circumstances of the times and was soon forgotten and lost.
Bullarium is a term commonly applied to a collection of papal bulls and other analogous documents, whether the scope of the collection be general in character, or limited to the bulls connected to any particular order, or institution, or locality.
Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters.
Formularies are medieval collections of models for the execution of documents (acta), public or private; a space being left for the insertion of names, dates, and circumstances peculiar to each case. Their modern equivalent are forms.
The Apostolic Chancery was a dicastery of the Roman Curia at the service of the Pope. The principal and presiding official was the chancellor of the Holy Roman Church who was always the cardinal-priest of the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Damaso. The principal function of the office was to collect money to maintain the Papal army and to produce documents and correspondence for the Pope. Pope Pius VII reformed the office when Emperor Napoleon I of France obviated the need for Papal armies. In the early 20th century the office collected money for missionary work. Pope Paul VI abolished the Apostolic Chancellary on 27 February 1973, transferring its functions to the Secretariat of State.
Albinus was an Italian Cardinal of the late twelfth century. A native of Milan, or perhaps of Gaeta, he became an Augustinian regular canon.
Papal regesta are the copies, generally entered in special registry volumes, of the papal letters and official documents that are kept in the papal archives. The name is also used to indicate subsequent publications containing such documents, in chronological order, with summaries of their essential contents, for which English diplomatics usually use the term "calendar".
Roman Historical Institutes are collegiate bodies established at Rome, for the purpose of historical research, mostly in the Vatican archives. These have been set both by ecclesiastical authority, and by national governments.
The December 1187 papal election was convoked after the death of Pope Gregory VIII. It resulted in the election of Cardinal Paolo Scolari, who took the name of Clement III.
The 1181 papal election followed the death of Pope Alexander III and resulted in the election of Pope Lucius III. This was the first papal election celebrated in accordance with the decree Licet de evitanda discordia, promulgated in the Third Lateran Council in 1179, which established that the pope is elected by a majority of two thirds votes.
Laborans de Pontormo was an Italian cardinal. His name in Italian is Laborante. He was a native of Pontormo, a suburb of the city of Florence on the left bank of the Arno River. He was a distinguished jurist and influential writer on canon law.
Radulfus Nigellus was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a native of Pisa, or perhaps of France.
Rolandus was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a native of Pisa, not Siena or Brittany. He was elected archbishop of Dol, but was not consecrated for five years, due to the opposition his metropolitan, the archbishop of Tours. Before he became a cardinal, he was sent by Pope Lucius III as his representative to Scotland to attempt to resolve a dispute over episcopal elections, involving the king.
Bobo was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a native of Rome, and a member of the Bobone family, later called the Orsini.
Graziano da Pisa was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a native of Pisa, and the nephew of Pope Eugenius III (1145-1153). He had studied law in Bologna, and held the rank of Magister. He was a prominent official in the papal chancery, and an accomplished papal diplomat.
Ardicio de Rivoltela was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a native of Piadena (Platina), in the diocese of Cremona in Lombardy. The appellation "de Rivoltela" is mentioned only once, and its significance is unclear.
Pietro de Bono was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a native of Verona in Lombardy, signing his name at least once as D. Petri de Verona. He was not from Pisa, nor was he from Bologna. He belonged to the Canons Regular of S. Maria di Reno in Bologna.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Papal Diplomatics". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites: | Jurisdiction |
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