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History vocabulary · Sources and Archives

Diplomatics

Meaning in history, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In history, diplomatics means: The study of documents' forms, production and transmission to assess their character and authenticity.

In Turkish: diplomatik, belge bilimi

How it is used

Do not confuse diplomatics with diplomacy; an authentic document may still contain false claims.

Example sentences

  1. Diplomatics revealed that the charter's formula belonged to a later period.

    Formal conventions help test a document's claimed origin.

  2. The workshop applied diplomatics to the office's routine correspondence.

    The method studies document-making practices beyond famous forgeries.

Common collocations

  • apply diplomatics
  • diplomatic analysis of documents
  • source criticismThe careful evaluation of a historical source to judge where it came from, who made it and why, and how reliable and useful it is for a particular question.
  • manuscriptA book or document written by hand, especially one produced before printing became common; also an author's text before it is published.

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