Diplomacy in the Middle Ages, including elements of chronology, sigillography and heraldry

Teacher(s)

Bertrand Paul;

Language

French

Prerequisites

Knowledge of Latin.

Main themes

The course should foster the primary objectives of the discipline. That being to class by category acts and related documents. Analyse their tradition, from the rough draft to the original and the various forms of copy. Scrutinize their constitutive parts and their arrangement. Interpret their formulae and their specific vocabulary. Explain their elaboration and, therefore, the organization of chancellories for public acts, ways of drawing up covenants for private acts and procedures for sending them. Determine, finally, the conditions for their validity and seriate the types of anomalies denouncing falsifications. It is obvious that one need progress in knowledge of sigillography, because seals authenticate so many medieval acts, and in knowledge of technical chronology, because dating techniques diverge from modern practices. Along the way, the course can widen perspectives. Study, for example, the system of evidence in medieval society. Penetrating motivations and gauging the skill of forgers. Uncover elements of ideology and factors of mentality buried in preambles, comminatory clauses and even the formulae of acts. Decode the manifold language of seals, where writing and imagery come together.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

By the end of this course, students should be able to determine the validity of acts that seal or attest to covenants, laws or obligations; to scrutinize their constitutive parts or their arrangement; interpet their formulae and specific vocabulary and explain their elaboration. He will be able to date acts whose dating techniques diverged from modern practices. He will have made a first approach to decoding seals and coats of arms.

Content

This diplomatic course is designed to train students in archival documentation: normative, practical (charters and deeds), administrative and management, mainly for the Middle Ages, but not exclusively. A history of writing practices will also be included. The approach will be typological and technical, and practical exercises will be carried out in archives. Notions of sigillography will be taught, as well as critical diplomatic editing.

Evaluation methods

The assessment will consist of a written typological, historical and diplomatic description (or critical edition) of a document chosen in agreement with the lecturer, whether or not it relates to the subject of the Master's thesis, for the Middle Ages as well as for the modern and contemporary periods. Its quality will be assessed according to the depth of its analysis in relation to the lessons taught.
The assessment could be also done by other forms of continuous assessment or by oral exam.. Each student will choose a type of assessment with the agreement of the teacher

Online resources

Course documentation and information will be available on Moodle.

Faculty or entity

> EHAC