GROSSATORES. - From the terms «grossa», luculentior scriptura, and «grossare», in mundum redigere seu luculentius nitidiusque scribere, the g. of the papal Chancery derived their name.
In the organization of the Chancery under Innocent III they belonged to the second office, which, having received the drafts from the first, prepared the documents in the form in which they were to be dispatched. In the organization of Boniface VIII, under the name of scriptores litterarum apostolicarum, they were appointed by the vice-chancellor and were dependent upon a rescribendarius and a distributor notarum grossandarum, elected every six months from among the apostolic notaries; their work was supervised by a corrector. In the course of time the name g. disappeared, but its function naturally remained in the scriptores.