Thirty-five years after the CID Technical Colloquium held in Porto and Coimbra devoted to the Typology of Royal Acts, it is time to return to the documentary production and to the concrete spaces that constituted the chanceries of sovereigns. Beyond the essential assessment of what has been produced since then, it is increasingly important to broaden the reflections advanced by traditional comparative Diplomatics, and to consider not only the characteristics of the various documents and their composition, but also their drafters and the conditions under which they were produced.

It is necessary to deepen several approaches to the subject. First and foremost, to understand at what point the chancery of a king, queen, or princeps emerged as a structured institution and when it can, in fact, be properly designated as such. It is equally relevant to analyze the tasks carried out within these spaces, as well as the forms and uses of writing within these institutions.

Another fundamental axis of research concerns the internal organization of the chanceries of kings, queens, and princes, understood as the result of the progressive increase in documentary production, seeking to identify systematic continuities and changes over time. In this context, particular importance is attached to the study of the control of property and persons exercised through chancery letters, as instruments of power and administration. Furthermore, this includes the analysis of documents produced by the royal chancery and intended for central and local administration, as well as those originating from those same administrative levels.

Although this is a topic that has, in fact, never ceased to be present in diplomatic research, this scientific meeting, held under the patronage of the Commission Internationale de Diplomatique, is intended above all to offer young researchers working in Diplomatics a space for dialogue and debate. At the same time, the more experienced members of the CID, who are also expected to participate in the Colloquium, will help build bridges between the substantial body of existing research and new diplomatic approaches and conceptual frameworks.