An illustration of the application of some of these "auxiliary
sciences" to establish the validity of historical claims is found in the
famous case of the so-called "Forged Decretals" or
"Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals." This was a body of documents, beginning
with the Donation of Constantine, including supposed decrees from various
emperors and popes. These formed the basis on which the Roman Catholic papacy
was founded with its claim to leadership of the universal Christian church.
Lorenzo Valla in the fifteenth century exposed these forgeries. By applying the
method of chronology, he proved the Donation of Constantine was a fraud,
since it was dated with a numbering system not yet in use in the fourth
century, when it was supposed to have been written. By the use of epigraphy,
he proved that the form of the letters used betrayed some of the documents to
be of eighth century origin. Using philology, he proved that words and
expressions were used which had not been invented in the fourth century. Using hermeneutics,
he proved interpolations of a period subsequent to the supposed date of the
document. With diplomatique techniques, he showed that the material on
which they were written, the variety of ink used, and the form of the
documents, proved them to be forgeries from centuries later than their supposed.
(T. Edgar Lyon, “Latter-day
Saint Teachers and the Evaluation of Historical Sources,” Improvement
Era [February 1961]: 95)
For more on the
Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals and the Donation of Constantine, see:
Papal Forgeries: A Road to
Schism (FULL)
