376 American Archivist / Vol. 52 / Summer 1989

International Scene Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/52/3/376/2747822/aarc_52_3_0700428561660154.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021

Diplomatics and Archives

DON C. SKEMER

Abstract: is an auxiliary science of history created by the French monk Dom Jean Mabillon in 1681 to establish the authenticity of medieval charters. It played a major role in legitimizing archival documentation for historical research and in the education and work of European archivists, many of whom in the twentieth century have come to rec- ognize its potential value for the study of modern and contemporary records. Special diplomatics could be developed to assist American archivists in understanding and working with legal documents, accounting records, and other distinctive forms of record-keeping; the same could be done to aid in the identification of forgeries and the authentication of electronic records.

About the author: C. Skemer is head of Special Collections and Archives at the University at Albany, State University of New York, and was formerly associate executive director of the New Jersey Historical Society. He holds an MLS from Columbia University and a Ph.D in history from Brown University, where he studied paleography and diplomatics with Prof. Bryce D. Lyon. The author wishes to thank Prof. Luciana Duranti of the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia for reading this article in and making useful suggestions. Diplomatics and Archives 377

AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS ARE THE unknow- European auxiliary science of diplomatics ing beneficiaries of diplomatics or diplo- arose, how it has influenced the subsequent matic, recently defined as "the science history of the archival profession, and what dealing with the types and elements of doc- relevance it has for American archivists. 1 uments." The auxiliary science of diplo- Drawing on the pioneering efforts at tex- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/52/3/376/2747822/aarc_52_3_0700428561660154.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 matics was introduced in 1681 by the French tual criticism by Renaissance humanists, Benedictine monk Dom Jean Mabillon men of learning in sixteenth- and seven- (1632-1707) in his masterwork De re dip- teenth-century Europe came to emphasize lomatica libri VI and was focused origi- the critical reading of primary sources de- nally on establishing the authenticity of termined to be authentic as a more reliable charters or diplomas (hence the name) and path to historical knowledge than the un- other early medieval legal documents in ar- critical use of other types of documenta- chives by the study of their form.2 Histo- tion, in particular literary evidence favored riography manuals never fail to honor by earlier writers. French, German, and Mabillon's signal contribution to the de- Italian antiquarians collected, published, and velopment of modern historical methodol- used a wide variety of medieval charters or ogy by the critical evaluation and study of diplomas from the archives and treasuries documents.3 But archivists (including of Europe to chronicle kingdoms, princi- Americans) should also recognize their debt palities, and religious orders. Original doc- to Mabillon and his method to the extent uments were also sought by lawyers and that it legitimized scholarly and adminis- public officials for purposes more public trative use of original records and has pro- and less scholarly, such as establishing royal vided useful techniques for European rights, ancient titles, noble lineage, mon- archivists since the seventeenth century. The astic privileges, constitutional franchises, purpose of this article is to show why the and property rights.4 The users of public archives in early modern Europe felt free to pursue their re- 'Peter Walne, ed., Dictionary of Archival Termi- search without an inordinate fear of en- nology, comp. Frank B. Evans, Fran§ois-J. Himly, and Peter Walne, ICA Handbooks Series, vol. 3 countering spurious documents. Arguments (Munich: K. G. Saur, 1984), 60. It is called diplom- to this effect were made in Baldassare Bon- atique in French and Diplomatik or Urkundenlehre in ifacio's 1632 treatise De archivis and in German. 2 Denis Diderot's Encyclopedic more than a Dom Jean Mabillon, De re diplomatica libri VI, 5 in quibus quidquid ad veterum instrumentorum anti- century later. But the reputed wealth of quitatem, materiam, scripturam et stilum; quidquid ad signila, monogrammala, subscriptiones ne notas chronologicas; quidquid inde ad antiquariam, histo- ricam forensemque disciplinas pertinet, explicatur et ", "Etudes de critique historique: His- illustratur. Accedunt commentarius de antiquis regum toirc de la diplomatique," Revue historique 48 (1892): Francorum palatiis; veterum scriptuarum varia spe- 232-35; Fricdrich Meinecke, Die Enstehung des His- cimina, tabulis et comprehense; nova ducentorum, et torismus (Munich: R. Oldcnbourg Vcrlag, 1959), 37; amplius, monumentorum collectio, opera et studio Arnaldo Momigliano, "Ancient History and the An- domni Johannis Mabillon... (: L. Billainc, 1681). tiquarian," in Studies in Historiography (New York: 3For example, Marc Bloch, Apologie pour I'his- Harper & Row, 1966), 10-15; Herbert Butterfield, toire ou metier d'historien (Paris: Librairie Armand The Origins of History (London: Eyre Methucn, 1981), Colin, 1949), 36. "Cctte annee—la—dans l'histoire 192-93. de l'esprit humain—la critique des documents d'ar- 5Lester K. Born, "Baldassare Bonifacio and His chives fut definitivement fondee." Robert-Henri Ban- Essay De archivis," American Archivist 4 (October tier, "Les Archives," in Charles Samaran, ed., 1941): 236-37. "So great is the respect for archives L'histoire et ses methodes (Paris: Editions Gallimard, that credence is obviously to be given to instruments 1961), 1132. "L'apparition de la diplomatique, dc la produced from a public archives, and they make, as critique methodique des documents avec Mabillon et the jurisconsults say, full faith." "Diplomatique" in les bencdictins, Muratori et Maffei, donne a l'archi- Denis Diderot's Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire rai- vistique la base scicntifiquc qui permct son essor." sonne des sciences, des arts et des metiers, 4 (Paris: 378 American Archivist / Summer 1989

forged medieval charters in religious ar- survey the contents of its monastic archives chives tended to undermine the value of in preparation for writing a history of the archival documentation generally for re- Benedictine order. To answer Papen- searchers in the second half of the seven- broek's charges, Mabillon devoted six years

teenth century, particularly for those to the study of the early medieval charters Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/52/3/376/2747822/aarc_52_3_0700428561660154.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 influenced by the fashionable skepticism of at Saint-Denis as well as masses of pre- Rene Descartes, Pierre Bayle, and other thirteenth-century documents in Ben- contemporary philosophers. A European edictine archives and libraries across France movement that came to be known as his- until he had compared enough documents torical Pyrrhonism cast doubt on traditional to complete De re diplomatica libri VI in historical and religious beliefs, including 1681. The stated purpose of his treatise was both the literary and documentary evidence to facilitate the unhesitating scholarly and upon which they were predicated. In 1675 administrative use of medieval charters the Jesuit Bollandist scholar Daniel van Pa- found in archives. "Not only ecclesiastical penbroek (or Papebroche), an editor of the and civil history," argued Mabillon, "but Ada sanctorum or Lives of the Saints, tried particularly the circumstances and posi- in vain to determine rules to distinguish tions of private individuals and churches genuine documents from false ones. As a depend on documents of this sort." Ma- result of his labors, Papenbroek was able billon saw himself performing an important to prepare a treatise (Propyleum antiquar- public service by establishing rules to dis- ium circa veri ac falsi discrimen in vetustis tinguish authentic charters from forgeries membranis) in a volume of Ada sancto- or suspect documents.7 Mabillon was able rum, in which he contested the authenticity to do this by careful analysis of external of ancient documents in monastic archives, and internal evidence—that is, handwriting including some forty Frankish (Merovin- styles, language and punctuation, formu- gian and Carolingian) charters preserved in laic expressions, signatures and mono- the archives of the French Abbey of Saint- grams, materials (parchment, ink, and seals), Denis, to the grave consternation of its Be- and chronology. Special attention was paid nedictine monks.6 to variations in record-keeping practices over time and by place and to the historical and The Benedictine order's response came cultural context in which the documents were from the learned pen of Dom Jean Mabil- prepared. After Mabillon's treatise was lon. As a member of the scholarly and re- published, Papenbroek was convinced and formist Congregation of Saint-Maur, he had openly praised the work.8 But the Jesuits for some time been guardian of the ancient objects and documents in the treasury of Saint-Denis before being called to the Ab- bey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres in Paris to 'Mabillon, De re diplomatica, 1. "Quanta sit istius artis utilitas ac necessitas, nemo non videt: cum non solum ecclesiastica & civilis historia, sed maxime pri- vatorum hominum, ecclesiarumque fortunae pluri- mum pcndeant ex ejusmodi monumentis. Quam ob Le Breton, 1754), 1023-24. "Lc meme inconvenient rem magnopere interest ad antiquariam forensemque ne se rencontre pas dans les archives des princes, dcs disciplinam haec tractatio: magnamquc a re publica cours superieures & des villes: outre le soin scrupu- gratiam inierit, quisquis certas & accuratas tradiderit leux que Ton a de n'y laisser rien entrer qui ne soit conditiones ac regulas, quibus instrumenta legitima a dans l'exacte vcrite, a peine se trouveroit-il dans le spuriis, certa & genuina ab incertis ac suspectis se- royaume un homme assez hardi pour hasarder en fa- cernantur. Verum ad id argumentum pro dignitate veur du prince, ce qu'il hasardcroit pour une com- tractandum opus esset in primis eruditione non vul- munaute religicusc, quoique peu rcconaissante." gari, turn multo veterum chartarum atque archivorum 6Giry, "Etudes," 236-42; Wilhelm Wattenbach, Das usu, quibus summa etiam moderatio & aequitas ac- Schriftwesen im Mittelalter (Graz: Akademische Druck- cedat." und Verlagsanstalt, 1958), 11-20. "The most recent studies of Jean Mabillon and the Diplomatics and Archives 379

remained critical, forcing Mabillon to re- archival history and administration, and spond definitively in 1704 to the new ar- Romance philology, and they learned how guments they adduced.9 to exploit both the formulaic and original Generations of scholars embraced the parts of archival documents to write history

critical method and could venture into the and prepare documentary editions. Called Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/52/3/376/2747822/aarc_52_3_0700428561660154.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 archives of Europe for historical research archivist-paleographers, the graduates of the or documentary publication with a confi- Ecole des Chartes received a legal monop- dence not previously possible. In the two oly on posts in national and provincial ar- centuries following Mabillon's death, dip- chives by the middle of the nineteenth lomatics was expanded geographically and century and came to exert a major influence chronologically to include documents of on European and indirectly American his- private and urban origin as well as the cus- toriography. tomary imperial, royal, and papal charters. Influenced by the Ecole des Chartes' em- Most important, it became an important phasis on the auxiliary sciences and medi- pedagogical tool in the training of Euro- eval history, schools for historians and pean historians and archivists. The Histo- archivists were founded across Europe, be- risches Institut created at the University of ginning in in 1842.10 In Great Gottingen by Johann Christoph Gatterer in Britain the study of diplomatics developed 1762 gave impetus to the development of slowly but continues to have a role in ar- "scientific history" by emphasizing the chival education.11 Most significant, train- auxiliary sciences and non-literary evi- ing in diplomatics and related disciplines dence. The traditions of Mabillon and the has long allowed professional archivists to have lived on most vigorously understand and interpret the documents in in Paris at the ficole des Chartes, founded their repositories in a way not possible for in 1821 and attached to the Sorbonne in mere records custodians, unlearned in its 1897 to teach historical methods with ref- principles. erence to French medieval history and to While the study of diplomatics remains train both archivists and librarians. Stu- part of the education of European archivists dents studied diplomatics and other auxil- today, one could question its relevance to iary sciences, public and private law, the needs of North American archivists, hard-pressed to cope with the ever-increas- ing volume of contemporary records. The early development of diplomatics are Blandine Barret- serious study of a discipline designed orig- Kriegel, Jean Mabillon, Les historiens et la monar- chic, 1 (Paris: Presses univcrsitaires de France, 1988), 299 pp.; and Blandine Barret-Kriegel, La defaite de I'erudition, Les historiens et la monarchie, 2 (Paris: 10Giry, "Etudes," 242-56; Thompson, Historical Presses universitaires de France, 1988), 177-217. Older Writing, 2:406-7; Ernst Bernheim, Lehrbuch derHis- overviews include James Westfall Thompson, A His- torischen Methods und der Geschichtsphilosophie... tory of Historical Writing, 2 vols. (New York: (Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1908; reprint, New MacMillan, 1942), 2: 11-32; and Georges Tessier, York: Burt Franklin, n.d.), 300-304; Ernst Posner, "Diplomatique," in Samaran, L'histoire et ses me'th- "European Experiences in Training Archivists," in odes, 639-42; Antoine Claude Pasquin Valery, ed., Archives and the Public Interest: Selected Essays by Correspondance inedite de Mabillon et de Montfau- Ernst Posner, ed. Ken Munden (Washington, D.C.: con avec I'ltalie..., 3 vols. (Paris: Jules Labitte, 1846), Public Affairs Press, 1967), 45-57; Maurice Prou, 1: xiii-xv, 4, 8, 26. In 1680-81 Mabillon occasionally "L'Ecole des Chartes," Revue des deux mondes 37 corresponded with Antonio Magliabechi (1633-1714) (January-February 1927): 372-96; Dorothy M. Quynn, about his trips to archives and libraries. "The Ecole des Chartes," American Archivist 13 (July 9Dom Jean Mabillon, Librorum de re diplomatica 1950): 271-83. supplementum in quo archetypa in his libris pro re- "Hubert Hall, Studies in English Official Historical gulis proposita, ipsaeque regulae denuo confirman- Documents (New York: Burt Franklin, 1969), 158- tur, novisque speciminibus & argumentis afferentur 61; Michael Roper, "Archival Education in Britain," & illustrantur (Paris: Charles Robustel, 1704). American Archivist 50 (Fall 1987): 587. 380 American Archivist / Summer 1989

inally to establish the authenticity of pre- "authenticated" legal instruments found 1500 legal records may seem at best an individually or in series in archival repos- academic indulgence in an age of abundant itories.13 Hilary Jenkinson, the distin- records. Not surprisingly, American archi- guished British archivist and scholar, argued

val literature acknowledges diplomatics in in 1947 that diplomatics "in the hands of Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/52/3/376/2747822/aarc_52_3_0700428561660154.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 passing as a European auxiliary science of its best-known professors has been too rig- little relevance to the modern archivist. "If idly confined to one category of forms— an archivist is dealing with a medieval doc- those of the Medieval letter, whose pecul- ument," wrote Theodore R. Schellenberg iarities it first investigated." Jenkinson saw with a clearly limited understanding of this the potential value of developing special archival tool, "he may discover its source diplomatics for accounting records, private by analyzing its style, which may require conveyances, later royal letters, and other a knowledge of medieval modes of writing types of documents regardless of their type (paleography and diplomatics) and seals or date. Jenkinson felt that this expanded (spragistics or sigillography), or by analyz- science of diplomatics, supplemented by the ing its content, which may require a knowl- study of administrative history, would be a edge of medieval languages (linguistics), valuable archival tool offering many op- place names (toponymies), dates (chronol- portunities for research and publication by ogy), etc." Schellenberg later added that the professional archivist.14 though diplomatics and other auxiliary sci- Similar arguments have been made in ences continued to be studied in Europe in France and . In 1942 Jacques de Dam- order for archivists to be able to interpret pierre suggested that the Ecole des Chartes ancient and medieval documents, "the deal with modern, printed government doc- training given in continental Europe has lit- uments (publications officielles) with the tle applicability to the work of an American same critical principles and careful atten- 12 archivist." tion to form, integrity, and administrative For almost a century, however, diplo- context it reserved for medieval docu- matics has been seen by European archi- ments.15 In the 1960s Georges Tessier em- vists as having wider utility than simply as phasized the value of diplomatics to a technique for interpreting medieval doc- demonstrate the mechanism of the creation uments. In the landmark 1898 manual by of nineteenth- and twentieth-century doc- the Dutch archivists Muller, Feith, and Fruin, diplomatics is treated as having value for pre-1800 formal documents (porkonden "Samuel Muller, Johan Adriaan Feith, and Robert Fruin, Manual for the Arrangement and Description in Dutch), including charters and other of Archives, trans, of 2d ed. by Arthur H. Leavitt (New York: The H. W. Wilson Co., 1969), 35, 116- 17, 163-76, 178-80, 206-13. "Hilary Jenkinson, "The English Archivist: A New 12Theodore R. Schellenberg, The Management of Profession," in Selected Writings of Hilary Jenkinson Archives (New York: Columbia University Press, (Gloucester: Alan Sutton, 1980), 249. He presented 1965), 86; T. R. Schellenberg, "Archival Training in some of the same arguments in his 1957 study "Ar- Library Schools," American Archivist 31 (1968): 155. chives and the Science and Study of Diplomatic" (ibid., The German-American archivist Ernst Posner empha- 43-48) and the 1960 address "Roots" (ibid., 368-80). sized the value of diplomatics for all sorts of ancient See also Hilary Jenkinson, "Archives," in Encyclo- documents (Archives in the Ancient World [Cam- paedia of the Social Sciences, ed. Edwin R. A. Se- bridge: Harvard University Press, 1972], 10, 15-16), ligman (New York: Macmillan, 1937), 1:176-77; and but he minimized its value for modern records, saying A Manual of Archive Administration (London: Percy that the "study of and instruction in the history of Lund, Humphries & Co., 1965), 204. recordmaking and record administration are as nec- "Jacques de Dampierre, Lespublications officielles essary for the archivist of our times as was diplomatics des pouvoirs publics: etude critique et administrative for our predecessors" ("European Experiences," in (Paris: Editions A. Picard et fils, 1942), 8-9, 25-36, Archives and the Public Interest, 56). 378-84. Diplomatics and Archives 381

uments of all sorts and to develop a more presidential address to the Society of critical understanding of the forms of mod- American Archivists, William L. Joyce un- ern documentation.16 Recently, Paola Car- derscored the value of traditional historical ucci and other Italian archivists have worked methodology in archival education, noting

to develop special diplomatics dealing with how rare courses in paleography and dip- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/52/3/376/2747822/aarc_52_3_0700428561660154.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 contemporary documents. Luciana Dur- lomatics have become. "Perhaps by reem- anti, in particular, has studied diplomatics phasizing the theoretical importance of the at the Special School for Archivists and Li- attributes of the record in its fullest histor- brarians of the University of Rome and ical context," Joyce suggested, "we might taught the diplomatic criticism of archival redirect interest toward understanding the materials at the School of Library, Archival sources themselves."19 and Information Studies of the University American archivists could benefit in the of British Columbia; she argues that the study of legal documents, accounting rec- establishment of records management and ords, and other distinctive forms of record- forms control in the mid-twentieth century keeping. A special diplomatics is needed has made diplomatics useful for the iden- to explain how the form and function of tification and description of contemporary particular types of American documents have records, including the Canadian public rec- evolved over time. Such documents, extant ords that she and her students are study- in enormous volume in archives and his- 17 ing. torical repositories and remarkably under- Clearly, the literature advocating the value utilized, would, if analyzed as thoroughly of diplomatics for modern and contempo- as the records of science and technology rary records is chiefly European in origin have been in recent years, benefit the ar- and focuses on formal documents. But would chival profession not only by better-in- an appreciation of form not be as much a formed appraisal decisions but by more boon to the study of American documents effective understanding, promotion, and use as it is for European documents? Scant at- of collections.20 If archivists are to be the tention has been paid in American archival agents of "cultural transfer," as Maynard literature to formal documents or to the his- Brichford has argued, they must be able to torical evolution of record-keeping. This gap understand critically and interpret accu- has been recognized by American docu- rately all forms of documentation in their mentary editors, who, in their need to eval- custody.21 uate and transcribe original source texts, have had ample reason to recognize the value of diplomatics as a key to understanding 18 89. "Unfortunately, there are few secondary sources record-keeping methods. In his 1987 to which an editor can refer. In European medieval studies, there is the recognized academic discipline of diplomatic, which offers systematic studies of record- keeping of important groups of clerks or administra- 16Georges Tessier, La diplomatique, 3d ed. (Paris: tors. There are no such formal courses from which to Presses universitaires de France, 1966), 14-15; "Dip- learn how the secretary of the American Continental lomatique" in Samaran, L'histoire et ses methodes, Congress maintained his records in 1785 or how el- 667-68. ementary students were taught to standardize the forms 17Paola Carucci, // documento contemporaneo: di- of personal correspondence in 1830." plomatica et criteri di edizione (Rome: La Nuova Italia 19William L. Joyce, "Archival Education: Two Fa- Scientifica, 1987); Luciana Duranti, Letters to the au- bles," American Archivist 51 (Winter/Spring 1988), thor, 2 May, 16 September 1988. She conducted a 21. diplomatics workshop at the 1988 SAA Annual Meet- 2"Joan K. Haas, Helen Willa Samuels, and Barbara ing in Atlanta and is writing a series of articles on the Trippel Simmons, Appraising the Records of Modern subject for Archivaria. Science and Technology: A Guide (Chicago: Society 18Mary-Jo Kline, A Guide to Documentary Editing of American Archivists, 1985). (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987), 21Maynard Brichford, "Academic Archives: Uber- 382 American Archivist / Summer 1989

We must not forget, finally, that in its ered, others can succeed with impunity un- attention to form and record-keeping, dip- der cover of paper glut and advanced record- lomatics is ultimately concerned with the keeping technology. The current interest of authenticity of documents. The zealous lawyers, regulators, and others in the ad-

medieval monks who fabricated charters to missibility of optically stored records as Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/52/3/376/2747822/aarc_52_3_0700428561660154.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 protect the "ancient" rights and privileges evidence underscores the persistence of an of their orders have on more than one oc- age-old problem. A special diplomatics to casion been replaced by modern records deal with automated records should not be manipulators who for monetary gain or po- beyond the realm of possibility. litical advantage do not hesitate to erase Diplomatics has had an immense influ- tapes, alter automated records, and hide ence on the history of archives over the past textual alterations in new formats (micro- three centuries and on the honored place of film or photocopy). The forged Hitler dia- original records and in histor- ries and Mark Hofman/Mormon historical ical research. Archivists today universally manuscripts, along with other, perhaps less accept the historicist imperative, made pos- notorious examples, serve as vivid re- sible by diplomatics, that historical writing minders of this fact. There have been oc- must be documented with authentic archi- casional articles on the authentification and val evidence. In all aspects of archives certification of documents, the admissibil- administration there is the tacit assumption ity of documents as evidence, document that without archives there would be no his- identification and dating, and forgeries of tory, even that archivists can control the 22 historical documents. These have, how- past. But this was not always the case, and ever, generally been written without ref- without the legitimation of archival docu- erence to diplomatics, for in the present age mentation in the seventeenth century, mod- of abundant records, the authenticity of ar- ern archival repositories would have a chival materials and manuscripts is tacitly markedly different character. It is surpris- assumed and very rarely questioned. But ing then that diplomatics is barely known office automation has facilitated equally the in North America outside the confines of legal and illegal manipulation of the rec- history departments. Beyond appreciating ords of contemporary society. For every its historical role, American archivists could unauthorized records manipulator discov- develop varieties of special diplomatics for eighteenth-century legal records, nine- teenth-century business records, or con- liefenmgsbildung," American Archivist 43 (Fall 1980): temporary automated records, to cite a few 449-60. examples. The result would be a valuable 22Frank B. Evans, Modern Archives and Manu- method in archival education and a useful scripts: A Select Bibliography (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1975), 63-64. See, for example, curatorial tool for the keepers of modern Herman Kahn, "A Note on the Authentification of archives, focusing the attention of archi- Documents," American Archivist 12 (October 1949): vists on forms of documentation old and 361-65; Cyrus B. King, "The Archivist and 'Ancient Documents' as Evidence," American Archivist 26 new as comprehensible sources and usable (October 1963): 487-91; and Gary M. Peterson and evidence rather than as the sometimes Trudy Huskamp Peterson, Archives and Manuscripts: amorphous, always bulky contents of rec- Law, Basic Manual Series (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1985), 89-90. ords shelving and storage boxes.