Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. VII, 1951 Diplomatics

Letters Patent

LETTERE PATENTI

Italian original Cite

Also known as: French: lettres patentes; Latin: litterae patentes

LETTERS PATENT. - This name designates, in contrast to the "litterae clausae", those public documents drawn up in a form different from and simpler than privileges (v.), which were sent or delivered to the recipient without any seal.

They are much more numerous than closed letters, which began to come into widespread use only at the end of the 12th century. For the latter, the sealing was effected by means of the seal, which fastened a cord or a strip of parchment wrapped around the document.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: A. Giry, Manuel de diplomatique, Paris 1894, pp. 755-780 and 797-98; H. Bresslau, Handbuch der Urkundenlehre, I, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1912, pp. 65-67; A. de Boijard, Manuel de diplomatique française et pontificale, I, Paris 1920, pp. 55-56.

Alessandro Pratesi

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By Alessandro Pratesi

How we know signed in print

Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII (1951), col. 1215.

More by Alessandro Pratesi: Lindsay, Wallace Martin · Lorsch · La Legname, Giovanni Filippo · Mabillon, Jean · Majuscule, Script

Cite this article

Chicago

Pratesi, Alessandro. “Lettere Patenti.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, col. 1215. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/lettere-patenti.

MLA

Pratesi, Alessandro. “Lettere Patenti.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, col. 1215. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/lettere-patenti.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec7_lettere_patenti,
  author    = {Pratesi, Alessandro},
  title     = {Lettere Patenti},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {VII},
  pages     = {1215},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1951},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/lettere-patenti}
}

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