Papyrus Fragment Revealed as Papal Charter

Researchers from the Lower Saxony Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Göttingen have made surprising discoveries regarding a fragment held in the collections of the Diplomatic Apparatus. They have succeeded in identifying the two papyrus fragments mounted on textile backing with the shelf mark App. dipl. 8 E as part of a papal charter. This constitutes the concluding section of the only surviving papal papyrus charter north of the Alps. The main part of the document is held in the State Archives of North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster. The charter was issued in 891 by Pope Stephen V for the canonesses’ convent of Neuenheerse near Paderborn. As reported by the "Niedersächische Akademie für Wissenschaften", the Göttingen fragment contains Greek script elements, which is unique in this form. From 21 September 2024 until the end of the year, both the Göttingen fragment and the main section of the document from Münster will be on display in the exhibition "Corvey und das Erbe der Antike" at the Diocesan Museum in Paderborn. The exhibition includes around 120 additional loans from European museums, libraries, and archives, complemented by insights into current research work.