III International Conference of Palaeography and Diplomatics

Throughout human history, writing has held indisputable importance. It is a constant presence in our daily lives, not static, but changeable. Its form, its medium and the crafts linked to it have undergone various transformations, according to the time and the circumstances in which they were found.

Interpretation of documentary sources, with their textual richness, is fundamental for historical knowledge. Sciences such as paleography and diplomatics, sigillography, heraldry, linguistics and codicology, among others, constitute a decisive element in a historian's work. They often, however, end up being relegated to the background and continue to be seen as "auxiliaries" in history. Nevertheless (and despite the work by several researchers), the questions that still arise, the hypotheses that they open and the challenges that they pose to historiographic work constitute a fertile field for advancing the study of them.

In the first conference on palaeography and diplomatics held by CIDEHUS in 2021, our aim was to raise awareness of the development which these sciences have undergone, especially regarding the digital world. Knowledge was gained of palaeographic transcription software, methods for preserving documents and stamps and techniques for collecting sigillographic images, in addition to other valuable knowledge for the practical work of historians.

In the second edition of the conference, in 2022, we intend to pose questions and debate hypotheses for work beyond, but also including, the digital humanities in history.

Now, for 2023 congress, we will focus once again on the future of archival science, codicology and sigillography as sciences, upstream and downstream of written texts, while also maintaining the focus on palaeography and diplomatics. Among other aims, the intention is to reflect on the new challenges facing the future of these sciences and on new working methods and how they relate to the past.

We are therefore pleased to invite all students, technicians and researchers to present their work and bring these or other issues to the debate.