and the same word may be shortened in various ways, as tempore may be found in te, tempe, or tpe. Martin's Record Interpreter devotes more than one hundred and fifty pages to a list of Latin abbreviations found in British manuscripts and records alone. These naturally accord in general with medieval practice on the continent, but the collection serves to show at the same time the intricacy of the subject.

To this must be added a system of shorthand, Roman Shortoriginating also in classical Roman times and ascribed hand. to Tiro the freedman secretary of Cicero. These peculiar abbreviations are formed out of characteristic strokes in each letter, a part standing for the whole. They continued to be used in connection with other writing, both in books and in charters, through the medieval period. In documents the acknowledgment of the responsible official is frequently repeated in the Tironian shorthand, perhaps by way of added protection. Some of the signs were used in the regular abbreviations because compact and having a known meaning. Hence the peculiar marks which sometimes appear to be purely arbitrary signs.

On the whole the difficulty of abbreviations is not Abbreviations so formidable as it might seem from the outside. In Print. There was sufficient consistency in the signs to make readable a language like the Latin where the case endings and syntax were well established. With the help of the context the meaning is not beyond reach, yet upon the interpretation of these marks there has been plenty of opportunity for division of

opinion, particularly when the manuscript was not carefully written. As a subject of study abbrevia tions command great respect and any attempts to further classify and set them in order are to be welcomed. The matter cannot be left entirely to the palæographers, for many of the medieval texts have been printed without extending the contrac tions, as may be seen in parts of the Rotuli Parlia mentorum. To take a later example, the Valor Ecclesiasticus, authorized by Henry VIII in 1534, has in modern times been printed according to the original text and consequently many of the sections are presented in what appears to be cryptogramic form.1 With a little knowledge of Latin abbrevia tions the matter is easily read. In any case it is well to be aware of the difficulties under which the interpreter of mediæval documents is placed and in case of dispute to be in position to follow the reasoning of the explanation.

1Extract from the records of the Curia Regis 9 Richard I A. D., 1197-8. Fines, p. 10 (Record Commission). A judg ment of court establishing title to land in Bedfordshire Printed with the abbreviations of the manuscript.

HEC; final concord fča in cur dñi Reg apd Bedeford in die Sci Math anno regni Reg Rič ix1o. corā G. fil Peti Steph de Tornehā Sim de Pateshill Joh de Gestliges Jacob de Polne justič t aliis baronibzt fidelib3 dni Reg tc ibi psentibz In? Gregor fil

Willi petentēt Sim fił Adele tenentē de j. acr tre cu ptiñ i Middelton Un recgnic de morte añcessoris sūmōita fuit it eos i Pfat cur scit qd pdes Sim recgnov tota pdcam fra cu ptiñ ẽẽ jus t heditate pdci Gregor tenend de se t hedibz suis sibi t ħedibz suis īppetuū p libum ŝvič ij. deñ p annū p omi Ivič redd ad duos ?minos anni scił ad festu Sci Mich j. den t ad Pasch j. deñ.

Bedef.

CHAPTER V

DIPLOMATICS

ALTHOUGH one may never devote himself to a period in which Latin documents are the rule, with the expectation of becoming an expert diplomatist, it is nevertheless essential that one should be familiar with the evidence and method by which conclusions are reached. Even for the reader who depends upon the printed copies it is necessary to know the construction of documents and the practices of chanceries, so that he may distinguish between what is formal and what is freshly communicated. For even if it is left to the palæographers to determine whether a document is genuine or not, there are certain parts of the paper which are historically more valuable than others, and the student should be able to decide what are merely notarial repetitions and what are expressions of will, or relations of fact. As in the case of the writing, each period had its peculiarities of expression, varying slightly from its predecessors. These have been so carefully studied that documents may be identified and dates established in large measure by the evidence of form. The office practice of every reign in the mediæval empire has been classified by modern scholars, and by the combined application of palæography and diplomatics the

Chanceries.

world has been put into possession of a mass of sifted materials which were inaccessible to the earlier historians.

At the foundation of any study of diplomatics there must be a comprehension of the nature of the offices in which documents were customarily prepared. The chancery of the medieval German empire had a historical development which is interesting enough as a branch of administration, and which at the same time is of decided importance in explaining the character of documents from period to period. For example, under the Merovingians the chancery was a body of copyists who signed papers as witnesses indiscriminately. Under Charlemagne the inner organization became more strict. A chief of the office appeared, for whom the others sign as "vice." This official became in time the most influential about the court, and as the empire grew archchancellors were required for Germany, Italy, and Burgundy. These offices were sought and claimed by the greatest ecclesiastics in the realm. At the same time the actual preparation of imperial documents was carried out in the office of the cancellarius, or Kanzler, of the immediate court of the king. The names of the great archbishops may be signed to the documents, but only as a formality. In fact, the chancellor's signature ceases to be an autograph and the instrument rests upon the inspection of an office, rather than a person, just as it was with the stamping of the seal. Nevertheless it is most important for the investigator to note which of these high officials records his signature, for if the

name of the archchancellor of Italy appears at a certain time, the king must have been for the moment in that territory. So likewise for Germany and Burgundy. These and other similar data affect both the legality and the historical inferences to be drawn, and show that both for the external criticism of the document and for an understanding of its contents a knowledge of the rights, duties and practices of the chanceries is essential.

The kings of France and England each had officials of a similar character, but the practices and position of the office were just enough different to make it unsafe to draw inferences one from the other. Without going further into the history of the matter, the evidence is clear that the official source of an instrument is a preliminary of vital importance. For English history the groundwork is admirably prepared by Mr. Hubert Hall in his "Studies in English Official Historical Documents," in which the system of record-keeping and the nature of the documents issued from all of the great departments of the medieval state are classified "and described.

The word document, like the German "Urkunde," Document, is used so frequently for anything that serves for Definition. testimony that the term must be more narrowly defined. For the purposes of diplomatics a document is a paper written in regular form which testifies to a legal transaction. This excludes many smaller communications like letters, announcements, or other memoranda which in a general way are popularly called documents. Yet the legal instru