The Chancellery. – It is the office in which “the acts of public authorities are drafted” (C. Paoli) and the operations connected with this function are carried out.
The name is not earlier than the 9th century, when for the first time we find the dignity of the cancellarius (see CANCELLIERE) elevated to the direction of this office, but the structure of the medieval chancellery is directly linked, without interruption, to that of the Eastern Roman Empire, which in turn was modeled on the chancellery of the Roman court. The first emperors had to rely simply on a secretary and some scribes of servile status: Augustus, who for a time attended to the handling of both private and official correspondence himself, sought to have Horace in his retinue to assist him “in epistulis scribendis,” but was refused (Suetonius, Vita Horat.). In the age of Hadrian, however, we find a chancellery already constituted, presided over by various praefecti drawn from the equestrian order. With the subsequent equalization of the two orders, equestrian and senatorial, under Diocletian and Constantine, the duties of the chancellery passed to persons of senatorial rank, as shown by the title of clarissimi attributed to them: these functions were under the jurisdiction of the magister officiorum (Notitia dignitatum, Occid. IX, 15, ed. Secc. p. 145 = ed. Böcking, p. 43). At the court of Byzantium the chancellery is found to consist of four sections (scrinia), three presided over by a magister (ab epistolis; a libellis; memoriae), and one by a comes (dispositionum), all under the magister officiorum (Notitia dignit., Orient. XI, 13-16, ed. Secc. p. 32 = ed. Böcking, p. 38) and later under the quaestor sacri palatii, who represented the imperial authority directly. Each section had a college of notarii principis (cf. Cod. Justini, XII, tit. 7) of various grades, and from the 5th century a college of referendarii (relators of petitions to the emperor, keepers of the seal, signatories of acts).
The organization of the Byzantine imperial chancellery was adopted by the Romano-barbarian rulers: notarii and referendarii appear, with roughly the same duties, among the Ostrogoths, the Lombards (though the referendarii are rarely found there and their precise functions cannot be determined), and the Merovingians. With the latter, the maior domus acquired a preeminent function, so much so that it was one of these officials, Pippin, who displaced the royal power and initiated the Carolingian dynasty (752). Pippin the Short, and even more so Charlemagne, brought an important transformation to the chancellery by drawing its personnel exclusively from the ecclesiastical estate and dividing it into two categories: the notarii, charged with composing or dictating the document, and the scriptores, who attended to the physical compilation of the acts. It was in this period that the office came to be headed by the cancellarius, who signed the document.
The Imperial Chancellery. – With the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire, an imperial chancellery was also reconstituted in the West, retaining the organization of that of the Carolingian kings. The title of the person presiding over this office does not appear to have been consistent: in documents it is sometimes given as notarius,
Now the title of protonotary, now that of chancellor, and sometimes even that of master. It also happens that a different denomination is found in the text and in the subscription of the same act. However, the office of notary is distinct from that of chancellor, and is subordinate to the latter. With Louis II, son of Lothar I, the title of archchancellor first appears, referring to the subdeacon Drucetarius (851–61), already a notary in the court of Lothar: an element of great importance because the archchancellorship gradually transforms into a court function. No less innovative was the action of Louis II the German, son of Louis II and king of Germany from 843 to 876, who in 854 nominally placed the archchancellor at the head of the court, the first being G. Gallo. This precedent, which was later widely followed, while on the one hand contributed further to transforming the directing office of the court into a court function, on the other brought about a certain change in the internal structure of the court itself. For although the relations between the chapel and the court had already been close beforehand (the chaplains were, moreover, custodians of the royal archives), and although the archchancellors never interfered deeply in the running of the court, it is natural that particular dispositions, issued by the same person for both offices, tended to standardize their structure, modifying one by exemplifying it on the other.
With Otto I the practice began of dividing the court according to the various regions of the empire: in 962, alongside a court for Germany, a court for Italy was created, and in the 11th century, under Henry III, another for Burgundy was added. Sometimes a single archchancellorship, which is also archchaplain, oversees two courts; more often the offices are distinct and entrusted to various bishops of the empire. Over time, however, they tend to become linked to a particular see, and from the time of Lothair of Supplinburg the archchancellorship of Germany is entrusted to the archbishop of Mainz, that of Italy to the archbishop of Cologne. With Henry VI, the archchancellorship of Burgundy is also linked to the bishopric of Vienne, and from 1257 it passes to that of Trier, with the title of archchancellor for the regnum Arelatense (Arles) and thus for Gaul. The growing political influence of these dignitaries induced Henry VII to a new reform: from then on, the archchancellors appoint a single chancellor for the entire empire, who exercises his office in the three courts in the name of the sovereign, though remaining bound for his appointment to the aforementioned bishops.
With Frederick I Barbarossa the title of protonotary first appears, referring to an official whose duties overlap with those of the chancellor, whose voice he fully assumes in his absence. The distinction between the employees as notaries and scribes, however, continues along the lines of the Carolingian court.
**The Papal Chancery.** — The origins of the papal chancery are rather obscure, given the scarcity of documents on the subject. It is certain that Christian communities soon had notaries, modeled on pagan institutions; to them seems to be traced the origin of the papal chancery, which by the 5th century undoubtedly had a defined organization and its own school: the presence of a fixed formulary and the use of certain rhythmic clauses in papal letters preserved for us in collections offer a sure indication of this (cf. F. Di Capua, *Il ritmo prosaico nelle lettere dei Papi e nei documenti della cancelleria romana dal IV al XIV sec.*, I, Rome 1937, p. 201). Toward the end of the 6th century, at which time, with the pontificate of Gregory the Great, the first secure elements date, the officials of the chancery are found with the title of *notarius et scriniiarius*, which, according to the most widely held opinion, indicates that they also performed the office of archivists. They were gathered into a corporation (*schola*), which had its seat at the Lateran, headed by a *primicerius* and, in a subordinate position, a *secundicerius*; a prominent position among them was held by the *notarii regionarii*, that is, of the seven ecclesiastical districts of Rome.
From the 8th century, and more precisely from the pontificate of Hadrian I (772–95), the officials, who begin to subscribe documents, are divided into the two traditional categories of "daters" and "writers," and within their ranks, as is evident from the titles that accompany their names in subscriptions, have particular duties: notary, *scriniiarius*, nomenclator, *sacellarius*, *bibliothecarius*. This last office gradually absorbs the duties of the *primicerius*, and soon the *bibliothecarius* is found at the head of the chancery: from the pontificate of Gelasius II (1118–19) we see this office entrusted always to persons of cardinal rank. At the same time, however, under the influence of the imperial chancery, the office of chancellor also rises to great power, so that with Leo IX (1049–54), who made substantial changes both with regard to the document itself and the personnel of the chancery, we find, as in the imperial chancery, the archchancellor, a title conferred on the archbishop of Cologne, which for a time is combined with that of *bibliothecarius*, but with Lucius II (1144–45) becomes entirely independent and represents by itself the highest authority of the chancery, remaining linked to the dignity of cardinal.
With Innocent III (1198–1216) another period opens in the history of the papal chancery: the new organization, which remains unchanged in its broad outlines until the pontificate of Leo XIII, finds ample documentation in the continuous series of "Registers," which begins precisely in 1198. Beside the chancery are the "secretaries," from whom are issued the *litterae secretae*, of a private character and without the formalities of the *litterae de curia*; then the office of vice-chancellor, which previously had a temporary character, becomes permanent and with defined functions, until in 1213 it leads to the suppression of the dignity of chancellor. The direction of the office remaining with the vice-chancellor, it is no longer entrusted to a cardinal; but in the 14th century, with John XXII (1316–34), the vice-chancellor also rises to that dignity. To the same century also dates the institution of the "regent," elected by Gregory XI in 1377 to replace the vice-chancellor who remained in the see of Avignon, and which then became a permanent office. In this period, which is perhaps the time of greatest activity of the papal chancery, it presents itself as constituted thus: a cardinal vice-chancellor, head of the office; a regent; several protonotaries (corresponding to the ancient notaries) and various minor officials, divided into four categories, corresponding to four different sections: the *breviatores*, who attend to the drafting of drafts, the *grossatores*, who transcribe the document in fair copy (*in grossam litteram*), the *registratores*, who perform the registration operations, and the *bullatores*, who affix the seal. There is also a *corrector* who attends exclusively to the formal revision of the acts.
In the following century, with the general adoption of a new type of document, the apostolic *breve* (q.v.), which presents extrinsic and intrinsic features that totally differentiate it from the "bulls," the need is felt to establish a new office, the Secretariat of Briefs, which absorbs many of the competencies of the chancery. The *breviatores* (or abbreviators [q.v.]) while partly assuming the functions of the protonotaries, also acquire new duties of a jurisdictional nature that fall outside the scope of the chancery. Subsequently, the minor offices disappear, definitively suppressed by Leo XIII in 1901.
The current organization of the papal, or "apostolic," chancery is regulated by the constitution *Sapienti consilio* of Pius X, who reduced its size according to new needs, restoring for its head the ancient title of chancellor and linking it to the cardinalatial title of St. Lawrence in Damaso.
Canon 260 of the *Codex Iuris Canonici* establishes the following regarding the Apostolic Chancery: "The proper office of the Apostolic Chancery, presided over by the Cardinal Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, is this: to dispatch apostolic letters or bulls for the provision of benefices and offices of the consistory, for the erection of new provinces, dioceses or chapters, and to execute other major business of the Church."
These letters or bulls are dispatched only upon mandate of the Congregations: Consistorial, for the Eastern Church, of Propaganda Fide, etc., or of the Supreme Pontiff; observing in individual cases the terms of the mandate itself.
At the head of the chancery is the Cardinal Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, assisted by the regent and a few officials.
The rules of the papal chancery often served as a model for episcopal chancelleries, which even replicated the extrinsic features of its acts: a typical example is provided by the archiepiscopal diplomas of Benevento.