Diplomatics: New Uses for an Old Science

Diplomatics and diplomacy have only their etymology in common, both deriving from the Greek “Diploma”, a pair of folded tablets, often used for Roman official documents. Diplomatics may be defined as the critical analysis of the form and structure of archival documents: it has to be distinguished from palaeography which studies their language and script. As the author explains, both sciences developed during the Renaissance, as methods of distinguishing genuine documents from forgeries, a matter of vital importance where legal claims depended on documentary evidence. In the most famous instance, it was proved that the supposed Roman document which was...