Originale – Fälschungen – Kopien / Originali – falsi – copie.

The union between the East Frankish and the Italian Regnum formed since 962 the core of the western Empire. The Regna were governed not only by personal union, but also interleaved by diverse personal connections at the level of social leadership-groups (including meetings of the rulers with members of the northern- and southern-alpine elites in places on both sides of the Alps, ”mixed” staff-structures at the royal court, filling of a vacancies of dioceses in Italy with northern-alpine clergy and sometimes vice versa). For the study of the different degrees of integration of the regional spiritual and secular elites into the internal sphere of imperial and royal rule, the rulers’ deeds (diplomas) represent the most important group of sources. They are legal, political, and exclusive documents, integrated into the usual oral and demonstrative forms of communication between the elite-members and the ruler. In this volume, articles focuses on the comparison of the current relevance and the aftereffect of original diplomas to northern- and southern-alpine addressees. The relations between originals, forgeries, certified copies, and chartularies have not been researched so far. For this purpose, this volume will provide basic principles.