CARTOULAR (CARTULARY). – By the term c. (chartularium, instrumentarium, liber memorialis, pan-charta, codex diplomaticus) are designated the volumes in which, in systematic or chronological order, whether in simple transcription or in authentic copy, churches, monasteries, cities, lords and other medieval entities collected the documents relating to their rights (contracts, privileges, immunities, etc.); the purpose of the collection was to ensure the preservation of the documents and to facilitate their production in legal proceedings. The oldest surviving examples date from the 9th century; among the most important are the Wanganio Codex of Bishop Federico Wanga of Trent, the Caleffi of Siena, etc. Careful historical criticism is necessary to distinguish within the c. documents that are entirely or partially false.
In recent times the term c. or “diplomatic codices” has been applied to collections of documents of the most varied forms and origins but relating to a single subject, which are published by scholars and societies; a model of this kind is the Chartularium Studii Bononiensis (6 vols., Imola-Bologna 1907–21) of the Commission for the History of the University of Bologna.