Alongside royal charters, papal documents have always been an important field of research in medieval diplomatics. Its significance is not only due to the thousands of original papal documents in European archives, but above all to the importance of the papacy as a central power in medieval Europe with probably the most efficient chancery of its time. After centuries of diplomatic research, it might seem reasonable to assume that most has been said on such a central topic as papal charters; however, Sabine Fees's dissertation, which was submitted in Marburg in 2017, proves that even in this well-researched field, a thorough study of the sources can still contribute new and important insights.

In her book, Fees focuses on the external characteristics of the papal documents. She defines this as the overall visual image of a document (p. 11) and draws comparisons to the concept of ‘corporate design’ applied by modern business companies. In doing so, she poses the question of how the papal chancery managed to create documents of a largely standardised or uniform appearance from the twelfth century onwards and which role written rules or formulary books played in this. The source basis is appropriate for this question: it is not the documents themselves that are analysed, but instead various normative texts that cannot be assigned to a specific genre but were in use or originated in the environment of the papal chancery. According to Fees, such texts with reference to the external characteristics of the papal documents begin in the late twelfth century and, with a few exceptions, were conceived until the end of the fourteenth century. This explains the time-span she investigates.

The study itself is divided into five chapters. A concise introduction (pp. 11–19) is followed in a second part by a brief but exemplary presentation of the various documents expedited by the papal chancery (pp. 22–6), an overview of an idealised ‘Geschäftsgang’ through the chancery in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (pp. 26–30) and a description of the personnel (pp. 30–8). The first thematic chapter deals with sources that are not related to the curia, in particular the various works of the Ars dictandi of the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries (pp. 39–54). The fourth chapter (pp. 55–323) forms the central part of the study. Divided into seven sections, it begins chronologically with the forgery constitutions of Innocent iii, which deal primarily with the papal leaden seal, the bulla and corrections through erasures. Attention is then focused on the papal seal and its design in the thirteenth century. The study then switches from a chronological to a more systematic description, which now deals with the three main types of papal letters: the litterae, the privileges and the bulls. On the basis of selected treatises, the rules for writing material, layout, protocol, text typeface, abbreviations, proper names, date, chancery notes and sealing are worked out chronologically and comparatively, and are mostly also checked against the surviving documents. At the end of the chapter, the chronological thread is picked up again, and more general rules from the fifteenth century are discussed. A convincing conclusion rounds off the publication, which unfortunately includes an index of persons and places only, not one of of subjects, after the usual list of sources and literature.

In terms of content, Fees is thus able to identify chronological phases in the development of tracts with reference to the external characteristics. These begin at the end of the twelfth century, after the papal documents had assumed an important role as rational evidence in Roman-canonical procedural law (pp. 72–5). Accordingly, even among the authors of the Ars dictandi, it was primarily the graphic symbols (rota, benevalete, chrismon) of the privileges that were now also described by the decretists as criteria of authenticity, supplemented by the bulla. As the importance of privileges diminished in the course of the thirteenth century (see table at pp. 204f.), the regulations on external characteristics focused increasingly on the genre of litterae, which now made up the majority of papal documents. However, the author clearly shows that the later works with references to the external characteristics, such as the Durrieu manuscript, were primarily produced during periods of upheaval in the Roman Curia. These include, for example, the long vacancies of the Apostolic See from 1241 to 1243 (pp. 110f.), 1268 to 1271 (pp. 120f.) and 1314 to 1316, the transfer of the curia to France after the election of Clement v in 1305 and the associated reorganisation of the chancery (pp. 128f.), the changed situation after the establishment in Avignon under John xxii (p. 222) as well as the return of the papacy to Rome in 1376/77 and the beginning of the Great Western Schism in 1378 (p. 145). As convincing as the author's argumentation is, especially with regard to the crisis situations, there is a great danger of introducing narratives, such as that of the ignorant scribe who urgently needs written instructions (pp. 200, 295 and 323).

However, the author must be criticised for focusing primarily on the situation of the Curia when developing her argument, while the influence of individual petitioners on the content and form of papal documents, which has been known for some time, is largely neglected. To give an example: according to Fees, it was the cardinals themselves who, during the time of the papacy in Avignon, wanted to represent their de facto participation in papal church rule by reviving the genre of privileges due to a ‘conflict smouldering in the background about the position of cardinals’ (p. 233). Instead of accusing the Vice-Chancellor Pierre des Prés of actively strengthening the power of the cardinals by recording the external characteristics of the privileges, it would be much more appropriate to ask whether it was not the petitioners who were now increasingly demanding this traditional type of document and therefore made necessary a new preoccupation with this topic at the chancery. If there had not been some constant demand from the christianitas, the papal privileges would have disappeared despite the efforts of the curia.

However, this remark in no way detracts from the author's achievement. Without question, the study under review is an important contribution to papal diplomatics and to the functioning of the papal chancery, the breadth and depth of which can only be hinted at here. This dissertation deserves to be used in the future alongside other important handbooks on diplomatics. By once again demonstrating the importance of formula books and sets of rules, it is to be hoped that these will be made accessible to researchers through editions – maybe even by Sabine Fees herself. In addition, one can hope that the numerous desiderata mentioned in the book will encourage further research on particular open questions.