Basic diplomatic and paleography researches

The aim of the project is to study legal and document management and all forms of official records that originated in Carniola in the time between the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 15th centuries. The project is not limited to only Carniolian documents. It also takes into consideration documentary evidence of the neighbouring historical lands and other sources, for example medieval statutes.

Primarily the attention is focused on deeds as the most numerous and most important type of written sources in the Middle Ages. In consideration are analyses and comparisons of material, writing, seals, size, diplomatic formulas, legal administration, cultural particularities and customs with circumstances elsewhere in Europe. The analysis of approximately 1000 collected documents and other notes enables evaluation of reliability of contents of the documents and offers answers on wider cultural-historical problems, for example on involvement of the Slovene society in various legal-cultural circles. The methodology serves the standards of diplomatic and palaeographic research, for which acquaintance with the Late Medieval public institutions, administration, legal and economic circumstances that had influence on legal dealings and on the image of a deed and its contents, is needed. A special problem is unravelling definite forms of deeds concerning one’s individual role in forming the written records. In the concluding phase all the partial results will be merged into a synthetic representation.