What does chartulary mean?
A chartulary is a register or collection of charters, deeds, and other official documents, particularly those associated with medieval religious houses, royal administrations, and landholding institutions. Its modern use is mainly historical or scholarly: researchers consult chartularies to trace ownership, privileges, grants, and institutional history. In older sources, the word can also refer to the official responsible for maintaining the register, although this sense is now rare. A charter is an individual legal document, while a chartulary is the authoritative book or collection in which such documents were recorded and preserved. The term is closely related to the more frequently encountered variant “cartulary.” Chartularies are important historical sources because they can preserve information that appears nowhere else, including the names of rulers, religious figures, tenants, witnesses, estates, and witnesses to long-forgotten transactions.
nounA chartulary is a register or collection of charters, deeds, and related official records. In older usage, it can also denote the official responsible for keeping such a register.
- A register, book, or collection containing charters, deeds, and related official documents.
- Rarely and historically, an official charged with keeping a register of charters or deeds.
"The abbey chartulary preserves copies of several grants made to the monastery during the medieval period."
"The scholar consulted the monastery chartulary to verify the terms of an ancient grant."
"As the kingdom's chief chartulary, he was responsible for maintaining the royal register of feudal conveyances."
The standard plural adds -ies to form “chartularies.”
"Several monastic chartularies preserve copies of the grant."
A chartulary was a medieval institution's master ledger of grants and deeds—essentially its legal archive before filing cabinets and spreadsheets.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does chartulary come from?
The word entered English in the early 17th century from Late Latin chartularius, originally a keeper of a register. Latin chartula, the source of that term, was a diminutive of charta, a sheet of paper or written document and the ancestor of words such as charter, chart, cartel, and cartography. English chartulary ultimately came to denote the register itself, rather than merely the official who maintained it.
How chartulary is actually used
This is a specialized historical and legal term, encountered chiefly in scholarship concerning medieval records, monasteries, feudal tenure, and diplomatics. The more common modern variant is "cartulary."
Easily confused with chartulary
A charter is an individual grant, agreement, or privilege, whereas a chartulary is the register or collection in which such documents are recorded.