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Division II · Diplomatics and archival studies Abteilung II — Diplomatik und Archivkunde
The division carries on the work for which the Institute was founded in 1897: to read a charter, to set down what matters in it, and to say when it was written. The card index KI-1 and its supplements, on which every division depends, are kept by this one. Four people are in post, in rooms 1.07 and 1.08, and the division also runs the Institute's own archive in room 0.04. It shares the seal impression archive (SG-1) with Division I and the dating of undated charters with Division VI.
1. What the division works on
- Formularies
- A charter is broken down into its formal parts — notification, narrative, disposition, penalties, witnesses, subscriptions, date — and the wording and order of those parts are compared across issuers. The division's table of formulary types in the ducal chancery, first printed in 1972, is the standard reference for cataloguing charters in this region.
- Issue and authentication
- Place of issue, issuer and the hand that actually wrote the document are distinguished, and the manner of sealing is examined, whether impressed, pendant or across a fold, together with the order in which seal and subscription were applied. Charters carrying both a signature and a seal are of particular interest: they are uncommon in the region's material and they are where opinions differ most.
- Dating undated charters
- Five groups of evidence are used — script, ink, paper, seal, and the persons or events named. The result is a range, entered as "about" a year or "between" two years, with the grounds set out item by item. Where the evidence conflicts, the conflict is recorded rather than resolved.
- Archival history and old signatures
- The division follows a charter from its making to its shelf: old shelfmarks, numbers, the way it was tied, the title written on a wrapper. A wrapper often says more about how a charter was used than the charter does.
2. Holdings and output
| Item | Number | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Cards in KI-1 and its supplements | 88,412 | Includes what survives of Overbeck's 4,120 cards of 1901, of which about a quarter was burnt in 1943; the survivors are duplicates. |
| Charters held | 5,812 | 3,420 belong to the Institute; 2,340 are on long loan from partner institutions and remain their property. |
| Images of charters | 92,760 | 61,400 at 1200 dpi; 30,900 captured earlier at 600 dpi. |
| Seal impressions in SG-1 | 2,380 | Established 1938, saved in 1943 by being kept in two places; impressions added after 1945 are marked as such. |
| Old signatures and wrappers | 1,940 | Any wrapper or tie bearing writing is kept, in a separate cabinet. None is discarded. |
| Transcripts | 44,300 pages | Handwritten and typed before 1996, electronic since; the two are kept side by side and the older ones have not been converted. |
| New descriptions in 2025 | 142 | And 58 in the first eight months of 2026. The second batch of the review of undated charters is shelved; the first was closed in March 2025. |
3. Projects in hand
| Reference | Subject | Direction | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| WI-2018-03 | Formulary types of the ducal chancery, revised edition | J. Peters | Running. 1,100 charters checked, six types added, three merged; to press in 2026. |
| WI-2020-04 | Review of the dates of undated charters, first batch of 210 | B. Ahrendt, with Division VI | Running. 148 done; thirty-one ranges narrowed, three earlier conclusions withdrawn and the cards corrected. |
| WI-2022-06 | Parish archives near Hildesheim, three parishes | B. Ahrendt and T. Lenz | Running. Second parish listed, 640 items, now being cleaned and catalogued. |
| WI-2023-07 | A vocabulary of old signatures, fifteenth to eighteenth century | J. Peters and A. Witte | Running. 780 entries arranged in twelve classes. |
| WI-2024-30 | Condition survey of the seal impression archive | B. Ahrendt and L. Vogel | From May 2024. 1,120 impressions recorded; seventy-four need new impressions made; to finish in spring 2025. |
4. The five groups of evidence
The procedure has been used since 1998. It does not aim at a single year but at a range and a list of grounds; it was printed in Mitteilungen no. 51 (2012), pp. 22–31. The table below is the working summary.
| Group | Evidence | Material used | Weight, and its limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Script | Hand, abbreviations, ligatures of the charter | The strongest single group; usually narrows the date to within half a century. Its limit is that several scripts run side by side, and that a copy is written later than the document it copies. |
| 2 | Ink and paper | Colour and penetration of the ink; laid lines and substance of the paper | Can narrow a range to a few decades. To be used with Division VI's measurements; taken alone it is easily misled by repair and by dirt. |
| 3 | Seal | Diameter, devices, manner of attachment | Decisive where a matrix can be dated from a sequence. Its limit is that one matrix may serve for decades and is rarely dated itself. |
| 4 | Persons and events | Office-holders, places and disputes named in the text | Gives a terminus a quo or ante quem. Its limit is that a copy may retain the names of the original. |
| 5 | Old signatures | Archive numbers, wrapper titles, the way it was tied | Shows when the charter was filed, which bounds the date from above. Its limit is that a signature may itself have been added later. |
The range is the intersection of the five. Where there is no intersection the division does not split the difference: the conflict goes on the attached card and the card is stamped range undetermined in the top right corner, to wait for fresh evidence. As at 31 August 2026, 268 cards in KI-1 carry that stamp.
5. Publications
| Year | Title | Author | Where published |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Dating undated charters from five groups of evidence: procedure and examples | B. Ahrendt and J. Peters | Mitteilungen no. 51, pp. 22–31 |
| 2015 | Formulary types of the ducal chancery, 3rd edition | J. Peters | Series, vol. 29 |
| 2016 | The seal impression archive SG-1, its history and condition, 1938–2005 | J. Peters | Mitteilungen no. 45, pp. 8–17 |
| 2019 | Old signatures in twelve classes: a trial classification | J. Peters and A. Witte | Series, vol. 32 |
| 2022 | Notes on the arrangement of parish archives | B. Ahrendt | Printed internally; obtainable on application |
| 2024 | Index of chancery formulae, part 1: notification and disposition | J. Peters and T. Lenz | Source booklets, no. 8 |
| 2026 | Formulary types of the ducal chancery, revised edition | J. Peters | Series, in preparation |
Volume numbers and issue numbers agree with the series and annual reports pages. Before 1989 results were printed as offprints from the Mitteilungen and did not enter the series.
6. Enquiries
| Enquiry | Answer |
|---|---|
| I have an old document at home. Can you date it? | A preliminary opinion can be given. Send clear images — face, back, seal, and the surface in raking light — or bring the document by appointment. The division does not authenticate and does not value; a written opinion states the evidence relied on and where it is uncertain. |
| Do you hold charters from a particular parish and year? | The card index will be searched and you will be told whether the Institute has a description, and in which institution the document itself is kept. The Institute does not apply to that institution on your behalf. |
| Can you read the old signature on a charter? | Send a photograph or a careful copy. The division will decipher it and explain which archive system it belongs to. Where dialect and abbreviation are mixed the answer may take longer. |
| May I have a copy of a seal impression? | Yes, under section 4.4 of the rules of use, stating the purpose. The impression itself is never lent. |
Compiled by Division II. Questions about description, dating or the arrangement of archives should be put to the head of division, Dr Peters, extension 24.
Page WI-ABT-02 · compiled by J. Peters · edited by the academic office · last modified 18 September 2026