What is Diplomatics?
'''Diplomatics''' is a [[discipline (study)|discipline]] which is concerned with the analysis of historical [[document|documents]]. The word goes back to ''diploma'', which literally means folded (document). Using the term diplomatics for this science is probably due to a work called ''De re diplomatica'', by [[Jean Mabilon]] (1632-1707). Note also, that the term is unrelated to [[diplomacy]]. The discipline originally evolved as a tool for studying and determining the [[wikt:authenticity|authenticity]] of the official [[charter]]s and [[diploma]]s issued by royal and papal [[Chancery (medieval office)|chanceries]]. It was later found that many of the same underlying principles could be applied to other types of official document and [[legal instrument]], to non-official documents such as private [[Letter (message)|letters]], and, most recently, to the [[metadata]] of electronic records. Diplomatics is one of the [[auxiliary sciences of history]]. It should not be confused (as it often is) with its sister-discipline of [[palaeography]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Duranti |first=Luciana |title=Diplomatics: New uses for an Old Science |journal=Archivaria |volume=28 |year=1989 |page=12 }}</ref> In fact, its techniques have more in common with those of the literary disciplines of [[textual criticism]] and [[historical criticism]]. ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:History]] [[Category:Documents]] {{history-stub}}