Chancery and Royal Power in the European West during the Long Twelfth Century (SP)

Abstract

In the long twelfth century, most kingdoms in Western Europe extended their territories and enhanced their means of exercising power. This paper aims to explain the link between this process and the development of royal writing offices. As these kingdoms expanded, there was an increase in the need for larger numbers of charters to be issued: transmitting the king’s will and keeping an account of his revenues depended upon such writs. That is why the title of Chancellor would eventually disappear and be replaced by the activity of increasingly hierarchized notaries and anonymous clerks. Those chanceries were responsible for the issuing and validation of royal charters in the period. The growing importance of seals as signs of authenticity attests an interest in conferring public value to charters. The rise in the number of registers in royal chanceries reveals a generalised intent to preserve the memory of royal actions.