The testing of certain portions of historical material requires the aid of several highly specialized branches of learning. Palæography and diplomatics with the closely related subjects chronology and sigillography are the chief auxiliary sciences upon which external criticism must depend. It may not be necessary for every investigator to be an expert, but he should be acquainted with the elementary processes by which historical data are clarified and established. The principles of these sciences follow here in brief outline, not as a substitute for a course of study, but for the purpose of showing the nature of the reasoning by which their conclusions are attained.

Mediæval
Writing.

CHAPTER IV

PALEOGRAPHY

FOR the investigation of history previous to the fifteenth century a knowledge of the forms of writing employed during that part of the Christian era is absolutely essential. After the invention of printing palæography is of diminishing importance, yet commands attention for several centuries more in the field of documents and official records. The period of the Renaissance was a witness of two phenomena of great intellectual interest. First, the written alphabets of Western Europe finally attained the general forms which now exist, and, second, literature past and present was placed in the keeping of movable type, a still more inflexible medium of communication. Both in the printed and the written alphabet the changes which have since occurred affected non-essential features.

Palæography consequently is for the most part a study of medieval forms of writing. Ancient history may have been recorded and documented by contemporaries, but their works have come down to us with slight exception in the handwriting of the Christian centuries. Ancient inscriptions come within the domain of archæology because of the medium through which they are transmitted. Likewise the papyrus manuscripts of ancient Egypt and the terra

cotta tablets of Babylon are so peculiar in their character that each has been constituted a separate branch of knowledge. This has happened because of the intense specialization of archæological pursuits, not because the subjects are unrelated, for in the comparative study of alphabetical forms the interesting fact has been discovered that our vocal symbols are descended from Egyptian hieroglyphs; that the Greeks obtained from the Phoenicians their letters as well as their weights and measures; and that, in short, the alphabets of the nations of the Mediterranean basin were all derived from a common stock of signs. The profound significance of this remote relationship for the interpretation of early history can be seen at a glance. Furthermore, in the study of the psychological history of vocal signs the primitive beginnings must be taken into account, yet the practical science of palæography resolves itself into a study of Greek and Latin writing, and for Western Europe it is still further confined to the Latin and its derivative languages. Since Latin was so completely the language of learning and diplomacy the Teutonic and English handwriting was also visibly affected by the Roman alphabet.

It might be debated whether language itself were more fundamental than the writing which expressed it, for the words must be deciphered before the meaning can be discussed, but this essential importance of the subject does not necessarily imply that every student of early modern history should become a palæographer. In the division of historical labor it is given to some to establish and print the text and

Writing
Materials.

to others to combine and interpret, but it is important that all should understand the process by which the materials have been purged and set in order. In the last resort in difficult cases the investigator may be obliged to depend on the opinions of the experts, but he should be able to follow with understanding the argumentation by which the specialist reaches his conclusions.

To the historical student palæography is an auxiliary branch of knowledge for two very practical reasons. First, it assists in the primary tests of materials for proof of genuineness. On that account it is necessary to know the characteristics of writing in the various periods of its development and the peculiarities of any given time. Included in this field of study is the classification of the materials upon which writings were made. For example, papyrus was used for documents well into the Merovingian period, hence a deed written on that material and alleged to be of that period will have presumption in its favor. An undated papyrus offered as a charter of the tenth century would at once be suspected as a forgery. The beginning of the use of paper in Western Europe has been diligently studied, being known to the Arabs in the eighth century and coming into considerable use among Christians in the eleventh. Consequently a paper document assuming to come from the fifth century would have no chance of acceptance, and its true origin would be sought in the water-marks and texture of the material. Parchment does not in itself afford a clue to dates, for its use was common

in antiquity as well as in the middle ages, and specimens have survived from various early points in the Christian era. In fact, materials give only presumptive indication of a large period, for usages overlapped one another with gradual transitions, and the aid of handwriting and language is likely to be required to produce conviction.

The handwriting itself as a means of identifica- Palæography as an Auxilition owes its usefulness to the vast amount of study devoted to it for the past century and more. Not ary Science. only the interests of philology and literature have drawn attention to chirography, but the modern study of diplomatics has also organized and classified the materials for purposes of its own. Consequently the attempt has been made to fix as nearly as possible the chronological limits within which the various stages of writing prevailed. Let it be said at once that styles of writing like styles of material do not fix the day of the month, or even the year, but they do indicate with a measure of safety the large period within which a manuscript belongs. Within the larger divisions of style the peculiarities of individual writers have in many cases been identified and these have served to prove and explain unmarked manuscripts, particularly documents. Books were usually written in a studied hand which offered less opportunities for personal identification of the writer, but on the other hand the copyist very often appended his name and year in a colophon at the end of the work. Writing, therefore, assists materially as corroborative proof of the age and authenticity of historical materials, purely through external appear