From memory or formulary

how were medieval documentary formulae reproduced?

Authors

• Timo Korkiakangas Helsingin yliopisto https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7841-2978

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54334/mirator.v22i1.119760

Keywords:

charters, diplomatics, Latin, Early Middle Ages, documentary formulae, memory, copying

Abstract

This paper seeks to review the state of the art concerning how documentary formulae were reproduced in early medieval private charters written in Latin. I shall estimate which kind of theoretical considerations and empirical evidence there are to support one or the other of the two main hypotheses, i.e., that i) charter scribes copied the formulae from models or ii) they had memorized the formulae and reproduced them from memory each time they wrote a new charter. I shall propose that the memorization hypothesis is more robust, but I shall also recognize intermediate positions.