Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/272

254 DIPLOMATICS early diplomas by examining the originals, still extant, on papyrus or parchment, which go back in date to the 5th oentury. The oldest come chiefly from Ravenna. They have been commented on by Maffei in his Istoria diplomatica, 1727, and printed in full with facsimiles in the Papiri diplomatic* of the Abbate Marino-Marini, 1805. A considerable number of the original diplomas of the Merovingian and succeeding sovereigns of France have also been preserved, and have been published in facsimile (Letronue, Diplomata et Chartce), and in letterpress. England also can boast of a series of very beautifully written royal charters from the 7th century. The larger number of them are in the British Museum, and are in course of publication in facsimile (Facsimiles of Ancient Charters, parts i. ii. in.). Many original papal bulls, too, of an early date, are still extant, in different repositories. There is a general uniformity in the diplomas of the earlier times. Taking the French series as examples, we find a regularity of formulas in the following order : 1. An invocation, as In nomine domini Dei Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi. 2. The name and style of the sovereign, and the name and title of the person addressed. In the 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries, the style of the French kings was in general N. Francorum rex, vir inluster ; Pepin added Dei Gratia. From the time of Louis le Debonnaire the form was Divina ordinante (or propitiante, annu- ente, or favente) providentia (dementia, or misericord ia). Popes called themselves simply bishop until the end of the lltli century, when, or only rarely before, they used the title Papa. Gregory the Great (590-604) introduced the form servus servorum Dei. They placed their name before or after that of the person addressed indifferently, before the 10th century, when the custom prevailed to give it precedence. 3. A preamble, consisting of a moral or religious reflexion, or a recital of the motives to the grant. In the earlier times the moral sentiment is expressed briefly, a s Memor finis mti, or Pcenas inferni cupiens cjffwjen ; but later on it is often of great length and in inflated language, with admixture of barbarized Greek words. 4. The substance of the act or donation. 5. A protecting clause, in the nature of an imprecation on such as should infringe the privilege granted, or thwart the object of the act. It is first met with in papal bulls of the 6th century, and appears in an exaggerated form in a later time, the bitterest curses being heaped on the hypothetical offender without measure. The papal type is closely followed in French and English diplomas. In the 12th century it took a milder form, as in papal bulls, Nulli ergo hominum liceat, &c. In the 10th and llth centuries the commin- atory clause was often placed after the date, having sometimes been previously introduced into the text. 6. The Merovingian sovereigns authenticated their diplomas by the addition of their signature. Those who were unable to write signed with their monogram. The Carlovingians signed with a monogram, and the same form prevailed from the 9th century in Germany and Italy. It ceased to be used in France in the 14th cen tury.- The clergy adopted the use of the monogram in the llth and 12th centuries. It is not found in the charters of English sovereigns. In the earlier times the monogram was formed of letters of tall cur sive character ; capitals and uncials were afterwards more commonly used. Sometimes the word rex was added. It is possible that the monogram was in some instances entered by the hand of the sove reign, for so much is indicated by the words in which it is introduced, but it was usually added by the chancellor or scribe. It was not used for some kinds of documents, as judgments, decrees, and mandates. In acts of the later Roman emperors, the form of sub scription is simply the word Legi, with a cross prefixed, as in a diploma of Valentinian, printed by Marini, p. 94. The name of the referendary or chancellor, with the expression optulit, was in France, in the earliest time, inserted before, subsequently after, the subscription of the monarch. A paraph of the word sulscripsi, and often tironian notes, accompanied the subscriptions. Some- times in royal diplomas, and commonly in private charters, the names of several witnesses were subscribed, each preceded by the word signum, with a cross, or followed by sulscripsi. The popes, in their bulls, originally used the form of Bene valete, or Dcus te incolumem scrvet, in place of subscription of their name, which they applied only to synodal and other public acts. At the beginning of the 9th century they used their monogram. In the 14th century they signed with their own hand. In the 9th century also began the practice of adding the subscriptions of cardinals, but it was not commonly followed until the middle of the 12th century. Sentences from the Scriptures were used by popes for a signature, instead of their names, in consistorial bulls in the llth century. English kings, before the Conquest, neither signed their name nor used a monogram. They affixed the sign of the cross the scribe adding Signum manus N. regis, or variations of the form. 7. Dating clause. In France, this followed the subscription and attestation. The manner of dating varied at different times, and in different countries. In diplomas of the emperors, the year is not expressed. For example, an act of Valentinian of about 480 A. D. has simply the words, Dat. sexto id us Januarii, Ravennae. + Legi. The Merovingian kings and their successors dated by their regnal years, adding the day of the month, the place, and generally the voi-dfeliciter. Some dated from epochs in their reign, as Louis le Debonnaire from Easter 781, the day of his coronation at Rome ; from September 813, when he was associated in the imperial power ; and from the 28th of January 814, the day of his accession after the death of Charlemagne. The year of the incarnation was seldom used by the French kings before the end of the 9th century. In England it was generally added to royal charters in the times preceding the Conquest, but, subsequently to the death of William the Conqueror, was very rarely used in public or private deeds until the 13th century. The English charters of the early period often added also the regnal year and papal iudiction. In papal bulls the date was given by the names of consuls from 385 to 546 ; by years of the Greek emperors from 550 to 772 ; by years of emperors of the west from 802 to 1047, and in 1111 ; and by years of the pontificate as early as the year 781, but often still by the year of the emperor, or by both together, eventually by the year of the pontificate alone. The year of the incarnation is found in bulls as early as the 7th century, and came into ordinary use in 968. Up to 1088, in the papal dominions, the year was calculated from the 25th of December ; subsequently the Florentine and Pisan years were used, the former beginning three months after the nativity, the other nine months before it. The indiction was also added : from 584 to 1087, that of Constantinople, bsginning on the 1st of September; afterwards the Constantinian, or Csesarean, beginning on the 25th of September, and the Papal, beginning on the 1st of January. These dates were accumulated principally in the bulls ; in the briefs the year is rarely designated from 1086 to 1124, and is always wanting from 1124 to 1187. (See Jaffe , Regesta Pontificum Romanorum.} An additional security was given to diplomas by the seal, the antiquity (going back to remotest ages), the form, colour, substance, and use of which are treated of at great length in works on diplomatics (see SEALS). It was in use by the popes from the earliest time, and under the Merovingian kings and their successors ; but by the great feudatories only from the 10th century. In England it is not found during the Saxon period, saving in a few in stances in the reign of Edward the Confessor. The use of it came in with the Conquest and became general. The popes seals were of lead, or in rare instances of gold, and suspended to the document. The precious material was introduced by Charlemagne, and was freely employed by the emperors of Constantinople, who with their prin cipal officers used metal seals. In France, under the Merovingians, and elsewhere at the same period, the seal was of white wax, fixed " en placard," or to the surface of the document. From the 10th century, it was suspended, first by a parchment label, afterwards by cords of silk or other substances. The colour of the cords by which papal bullce were attached varies under different pontiffs. White wax, but of various qualities, was in use to the 13th century, in which and subsequently it was coloured chiefly yellow, red, or green. The quality of the wax, the shape, the legend or inscription, the character of the charge or device which was sometimes the impression of an antique gem all these change -with the progress of time and

become evidence of age.