Practice question · Put in order
Put the parts of a formal medieval document in order.
- Final clauses: penalties, guarantees
- Eschatocol: date, witnesses, subscription, seal
- Preamble stating the general principle
- Disposition: the actual grant or decision
- Protocol: invocation, address, greeting
Hints
- Formal documents follow a fixed sequence of parts.
- Forgers get the conventions subtly wrong.
Show the answer
- Protocol: invocation, address, greeting
- Preamble stating the general principle
- Disposition: the actual grant or decision
- Final clauses: penalties, guarantees
- Eschatocol: date, witnesses, subscription, seal
Why
Chanceries were formulaic, which is a gift: an authentic document follows the convention exactly, and forgers get the conventions subtly wrong. Mabillon founded diplomatics in 1681 on precisely that regularity.
Practise Diplomatics and Forgery Detection
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More questions on Diplomatics and Forgery Detection
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