The History of European Archives and the Development of the Archival Profession in Europe
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14 American Archivist / Vol. 55 / Winter 1992 European Archives in an E\ Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/55/1/14/2748349/aarc_55_1_k17n44g856577888.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 The History of European Archives and the Development of the Archival Profession in Europe MICHEL DUCHEIN About the author: Michel Duchein is a former Inspector General of the Archives de France. For an expanded introduction see the Gallery of Contributors at the end of the issue. Abstracts in English, French, German, and Spanish follow the article. As ANYONE WITH EVEN a superficial notion monize European archival legislation and of European history would easily recognize, practices if not to unify them. Many inter- to speak of the history of "European" ar- national symposia, study sessions, and task chives and of the "European" archival forces have focused on specific problems profession is little more than an illusion and including the professional training of ar- little less than an absurdity. Despite the fact chivists and the conditions for public ac- that Europe (or at least a part of it) has often cess to archives. Despite these efforts, we achieved some kind of cultural homogeneity are still very far from any kind of archival since the Middle Ages, there has never been European Community, even within the EC. any political or legal unity, even to the small- This article will try to shed some light on est degree, between countries whose lan- the genesis and history of the evolution of guage, religion, and other cultural factors have archival theory and practice in the main Eu- much in common. ropean countries. It will also suggest some For this reason, each European country directions towards a certain degree of har- has followed its own path of archival de- monization which can be expected (or at least velopment, linked narrowly to its govern- hoped for) in the not too distant future. mental and bureaucratic system. Due to recent increases in international coopera- The Origins of Archival Practices in tion and awareness of basic similarities in Europe archival problems shared by all countries, there has been a tendency at least to har- As has occurred in all human civiliza- tions, the practice of archival administra- History of European Archives 15 tion grew in Europe as a natural, "organic" had its first archivist, Pierre d'Etampes, in phenomenon as soon as the practice of 1307. The archives of the kingdom of Ar- writing on perishable materials was in- agon were created in 1346. Nearly all the vented. Ancient Greece had archival re- Italian and Flemish towns organized the positories. So did the Roman Empire, which conservation and management of their ar- is the starting point for every study of Eu- chives within the framework of their mu- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/55/1/14/2748349/aarc_55_1_k17n44g856577888.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 ropean legal, political, and cultural his- nicipal institutions. Archival repositories tory.1 These archives were all destroyed such as these were defined as loci publici during the Great Invasions of the fifth, sixth, in quibus instrumenta deponuntur, i.e. and seventh centuries A.D., however. Only "public places where legal documents are a vague tradition of records-keeping sur- kept."2 This definition demonstrates that vived in the more advanced, or less back- the legal aspect of records-keeping was then ward, of the new kingdoms born on the prevalent. To give just one example from ruins of the Empire. many, private contracts between citizens in These archives were in turn practically Flanders (such as commercial contracts, annihilated later, so that only a very few marriage deeds, last wills, etc.) were kept documents prior to 1000 A.D. survive in in coffers in the town hall. The very fact Europe. Even the Carolingian Empire, which that they were there gave them legal force. purported to be a Christian revival of the For the same reason, public archival re- Roman Empire, disappeared without leav- positories in Hungary were called loci ing any significant number of archives, due credibiles, which could be interpreted as to its economic and political collapse in the "places which give legal credibility to the tenth century. documents kept within them." European archives began to revive only Such a notion had long-lasting conse- in the eleventh and twelfth centuries when quences in many European countries. As a new political and religious organization late as 1937, Hilary Jenkinson stated in his of the continent gradually emerged from famous Manual of Archive Administration the chaos. From that point onward, it is no that a character of authenticity was inherent longer possible to speak of "European" ar- to documents kept in the Public Record Of- chives except in a purely geographical sense. fice, and for that reason a guarantee of un- All the new monarchies (German, French, interrupted transmission was essential for a English, and later Spanish), the great feu- document to be recognized as part of a pub- dal powers, the Church, and the towns or- lic record office.3 However, such a notion ganized their own records-keeping never existed in many other countries, in- independently so that little by little local or cluding France, where the fact of its being national traditions and methods were cre- preserved in a public archival repository does ated, giving birth in modern times to the not give a document any guarantee of au- various archival systems which now exist. thenticity. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centu- Since the beginning, the most common ries, local and national administrations be- kinds of documents in archival repositories gan to emerge out of feudal practices, and were titles of land property and other doc- with them archival repositories began to uments of economic interest. The monas- function. The French Tresor des Chartes 2L. Sandri, "La Storia degli Archivi," Archivum a 18 (1968): 108. See for example Ernst Posner, Archives in the An- 'Hilary Jenkinson, Manual of Archive Administra- cient World (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard tion, 2nd. ed. (London: P. Lund, Humphries, 1937), University Press, 1972). 12. 16 American Archivist / Winter 1992 teries, which until the sixteenth centuiy were rope. As the local and central administra- the greatest landowners in Europe, had well- tions multiplied and became more kept archiva or munimenta, now a first- specialized, their production of records grew class source on European medieval eco- in importance. It became necessary to evolve nomic history. Other well-kept archives were systems for the conservation, arrangement, those of royal chanceries, civil or eccle- description, and general management of Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/55/1/14/2748349/aarc_55_1_k17n44g856577888.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 siastical courts, and municipalities, all of those huge, new masses of parchments and which had a clearly evident character of papers. Gradually, the profession of the ar- utility for their owners. chivist came to be recognized as a distinct activity, requiring a specialized savoir-faire. The Creation of the First Great Archival Repositories The Birth of an Archival Science A decisive step was taken in the six- Despite all these developments, an "ar- teenth century when progress in royal chival science" did not emerge until the administration led to the concentration of seventeenth century. In that era an interest archives in central repositories with spe- in history as a science began to grow out cialized archivists and other staff to help. of the Renaissance "science of the di- The classic example of this prefiguration ploms." (The De Re Diplomatica of the of the modern "national archives" was the French Benedictine monk Dom Mabillon, creation in 1542 of the Archivo de Siman- first published in 1681, was a famous mile- cas in Spain, where little by little all of the stone of that earlier period). After the work records of the councils, courts, chanceries, of Baldassare Bonifacio, who in 1632 wrote secretaries, treasuries, etc. of the Castilian the first known treatise on the management Crown came together until they were con- of archives, several treatises and manuals centrated there by 1567. The 1588 internal appeared on the subject in Italy, France, regulation of Simancas, "Instruccion para Germany, and Spain.5 Already conflicting el Gobierno del Archivo de Simancas," is theories existed about the best methods for perhaps the first known document of its the arrangement and description of ar- kind.4 chives. In France, for example, J. Gode- Another significant date is 1610, when froy and J. de Chevrieres recommended a James I of England appointed Levinus Monk chronological order while archivists else- and Thomas Wilson as "Keepers and Reg- where preferred a methodical arrangement isters of Papers and Records," thus creat- of documents either by place names or ac- ing the famous series of State Papers which cording to the juridical nature of the doc- is now the core of the Public Record Of- uments.6 fice. That same year brought the creation At the end of the eighteenth century, the of the Vatican Archives in their modern whole field of archival theory and practice form. in Europe was being completely renovated. All these creations corresponded to the With the exceptions of Great Britain and political phenomenon known as the birth Russia, the French Revolution and the Na- of the "administrative monarchies" in Eu- poleonic conquests had provoked a com- plete upheaval of all governmental, Alnstrucci6n para el Gobierno del Archivo de Si- mancas, ed. Jos6 Luis Rodriguez de Diego (Madrid: Ministerio de Culture, 1989). See also R.H. Bautier, 5B. Bonifacio, De Archivis Liber Singularis (Ve- "La Phase Cruciale de l'Histoire des Archives: la nezia, [n.p.] 1632).