canum_, with a dissertation concerning ancient charters
and instruments, appeared in 1702, and in 1705 Hickes followed with his
_Linguarum septentrionalium thesaurus_, both accepting the principles
laid down by the learned Benedictine. In Italy, Maffei appeared with
his _Istoria diplomatica_ in 1727, and Muratori, in 1740, introduced
dissertations on diplomatic into his great work, the _Antiquitates
Italicae_. In Germany, the first diplomatic work of importance was that
by Bessel, entitled _Chronicon Gotwicense_ and issued in 1732; and this
was followed closely by similar works of Baring, Eckhard and Heumann.

France, however, had been the cradle of the science, and that country
continued to be the home of its development. Mabillon had not taken
cognizance of documents later than the 13th century. Arising out of a
discussion relative to the origin of the abbey of St Victor en Caux and
the authenticity of its archives, a more comprehensive work than
Mabillon's was compiled by the two Benedictines, Dom Toustain and Dom
Tassin, viz. the _Nouveau Traite de diplomatique_, in six volumes,
1750-1765, which embraced more than diplomatic proper and extended to
all branches of Latin palaeography. With great industry the compilers
gathered together a mass of details; but their arrangement is faulty,
and the text is broken up into such a multitude of divisions and
subdivisions that it is tediously minute. However, its more extended
scope has given the _Nouveau Traite_ an advantage over Mabillon's work,
and modern compilations have drawn largely upon it.

As a result of the Revolution, the archives of the middle ages lost in
France their juridical and legal value; but this rather tended to
enhance their historical importance. The taste for historical literature
revived. The Academie des Inscriptions fostered it. In 1821 the Ecole
des Chartes was founded; and, after a few years of incipient inactivity,
it received a further impetus, in 1829, by the issue of a royal
ordinance re-establishing it. Thenceforth it has been an active centre
for the teaching and for the encouragement of the study of diplomatic
throughout the country, and has produced results which other nations may
envy. Next to France, Germany and Austria are distinguished as countries
where activity has been displayed in the systematic study of diplomatic
archives, more or less with the support of the state. In Italy, too,
diplomatic science has not been neglected. In Eng