Legal Definitions - diplomatics

Diplomatics is the study of ancient writings to decipher and authenticate them. It was largely developed by Dom Mabillon, a Benedictine, in his 1681 work called De re diplomatica.

The term "diplomatics" was originally used by the Romans to refer to letters of license to use public conveyances and public grants. Later, it was used as a general term for ancient imperial and ecclesiastical acts and grants, public treaties, deeds of conveyance, letters, wills, and similar instruments.

With the revival of literature, the importance of such documents in verifying facts and establishing public and private rights led to their being brought together from historical works and monastic registers where they had been copied, or from public and ecclesiastical archives where the originals were still preserved.

Questions of authenticity arose, and doubts of the so-called originals. Treatises were written on the whole subject of these diplomas to establish principles for distinguishing the genuine from the forged.

For example, a historian may use diplomatics to authenticate a medieval manuscript by analyzing the handwriting, ink, and paper used to determine its age and origin.