Initulatio

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The initulatio is a formula that has an important place in the protocol of a medieval and early modern document form. It specifies the issuer of the document and provides information about its position and function. As a self-statement by the exhibitor, it is of particular importance for recognizing the understanding of office.

It comes after the invocatio , if the respective type of document provides for it, otherwise it introduces the document if it is a papal document or a secular ruler's document, which has generally dispensed with an invocatio in simpler models since the 13th century. The intitulatio is followed by the address ( inscriptio ) and the greeting ( salutatio ). The formula begins with the name, sometimes with the name seal of the exhibitor, followed by a legitimation formula (formerly known as the devotion formula ) and the actual title elements, the function or rank, and since the 12th century also the territory of competence. It is also possible to use the personal pronouns Ego or Nos , which is also used accordingly in vernacular documents. Depending on the era and type of document, the intitulation can be written entirely or partially in distinctive font.

Only the popes do without a legitimation formula in their title episcopus servus servorum Dei (bishop, servant of the servants of God), which has been fixed since Gregory the great . For Adalbertus Samaritanus this is the alternative to the title of Ecumenical Patriarch , which John IV Nesteutes claimed against the opposition of the Pope, for Thomas of Capua a sign of the imitation of Christ: quia imitator est humilis Christi . In the initiation of the papal document, the ordinal number that is used in other types of documents is missing in the case of several officials with the same name. Only in the Breven is the initiation shortened and the term papa (Pope) used as a title: Eugenius papa IV . In the Rota , which is also part of the ceremonial privileges, and in the date line of the privileges when specifying the pontificate years, the title papa is used in the usual abbreviated spelling pp , as is the case on the lead bulls .

The Pope's signature on the solemn privileges follows the scheme Ego N. catholice ecclesie episcopus ss. (I, N., Bishop of the Catholic Church, have signed). Three different versions of the papal title are used side by side on these documents.

The legitimation formula with the longest post-history is the phrase Dei gratia - by God's grace, which, according to the consistent teaching of the Ars dictandi , was reserved for clergy and particularly high-ranking secular people such as emperors, kings or dukes and margraves.

In the case of a collective certificate with several exhibitors, all are listed with their respective qualifications. Anonymized expressions such as Nos, scabini et cives civitatis N. are also possible.

If the date of the document shows government years, the title is also given, but in this case as a statement by the law firm, as a "third-party statement". Variations in the formulation of the intitulation can occur, especially through the addition of domini nostri or praising predicates. The same applies to the naming of the ruler in other " private certificates ". The chancellery-appropriate title is not always received.

literature

  • Walter Koch : Initulation . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 5, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8905-0 , column 471 f.
  • Herwig Wolfram : Latin titles of king and prince until the end of the 8th century . Böhlau, Vienna a. a. 1967, ( Intitulatio 1), ( Communications from the Institute for Austrian Historical Research, Supplementary Volume 21, ZDB -ID 206069-3 ).
  • Jack Autrey Dabbs: "Dei gratia" in royal titles . Mouton, The Hague et al. 1971, ( Studies in European history 22), (controversial).
  • Heinrich Fichtenau : On the history of invocations and "devotion formulas" . In: Heinrich Fichtenau: Contributions to Medieval Studies. Selected essays . Second volume: Document research . Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-7772-7701-0 , pp. 37-61.
  • Bernd Schneidmüller : Ruler of the country or the people? The Capetian title of ruler in the time of Philip II August and his successors (1180) - 1270 . In: Herwig Wolfram, Anton Scharrer (Hrsg.): Latin titles and titles of rulers from the 7th to the 13th century . Böhlau, Vienna a. a. 1988, ISBN 3-205-05108-4 , ( Intitulatio  3), ( Communications of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research, Supplementary Volume 29), pp. 131–164.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ For southern Italy cf. Horst Enzensberger , On the titulatures in private documents in southern Italy under Normans and Staufers , in Nea Rhome. Rivista di ricerche bizantinistiche 4, 2007, pp. 239–265 (= Ampelokepion. Studi di amici e colleghi in onore di Vera von Falkenhausen , vol. IV)