Cartulary

CARTULARY. - The name c. (chartularium, instrumentarium, liber memorialis, pancharta, codex diplomaticus) designates the volumes in which, in systematic or chronological order, in simple transcription or in authenticated copy, churches, monasteries, cities, lords and institutions in general of the Middle Ages collected the documents relating to their rights (contracts, privileges, immunities, etc.); the collection had the purpose of guaranteeing the preservation of the documents and of facilitating their production in court. The oldest ones that have come down to us date back to the 9th century; among the most important are remembered the Codex Wangianus of Bishop Federico Wanga of Trent, the Caletti of Siena, etc. Careful historical criticism is necessary in order to sift out in the c. the documents that are wholly or partly false.

Recently the custom has prevailed of calling c. or "diplomatic codes" the collections of documents of the most varied forms and origins, but pertaining to one and the same subject, which are published by scholars and by societies; the model of the genre is the Chartularium studii Bononiensis (6 vols., Imola-Bologna 1907-21) of the Commission for the History of the University of Bologna.

Carmelo Trasselli