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RR 99/300 Diplomatics: New Uses for an Old Science Luciana Duranti Scarecrow Press Lanham, MD and London 1998 x + 186 pp. ISBN 0 8108 3528 2 L42.75 UK distribution by Shelwing Ltd, Folkestone Keywords Archives, Documents, Validation
Diplomatics and diplomacy have only their etymology in common, both deriving from the Greek "Diploma", a pair of folded tablets, often used for Roman official documents. Diplomatics may be defined as the critical analysis of the form and structure of archival documents: it has to be distinguished from palaeography which studies their language and script. As the author explains, both sciences developed during the Renaissance, as methods of distinguishing genuine documents from forgeries, a matter of vital importance where legal claims depended on documentary evidence. In the most famous instance, it was proved that the supposed Roman document which was the...