Auxiliary sciences of history

Auxiliary sciences of history are disciplines that help historians interpret sources, establish facts, and reconstruct the past through specialized methods and evidence.

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Paleography: The study of historical handwriting and writing systems, including the dating and interpretation of manuscripts. It identifies scripts and helps date or read documentary sources.
Genealogy: The study of family relationships and descent, often reconstructed from records and oral histories. Genealogical methods connect individuals across generations and clarify kinship claims.
Jean Mabillon: A French Benedictine monk whose 1681 treatise established influential methods for evaluating medieval documents. His work helped establish document criticism as a systematic historical discipline.
Historiography: The study of how history has been written and interpreted across time. It examines historical writing itself, while auxiliary sciences focus on specialized evidence and methods.
Diplomatics: The critical study of documents, especially their form, authenticity, origin, and transmission. It tests whether documentary records are genuine and interprets how they were produced.
Heraldry: The study and use of coats of arms and other systems of hereditary insignia. Arms can help identify families, institutions, and individuals represented in historical sources.
De re diplomatica: Jean Mabillon’s 1681 treatise on the authenticity and analysis of medieval documents. It demonstrated how comparisons of scripts, seals, and document forms could assess authenticity.
Source criticism: The evaluation of a source’s origin, reliability, meaning, and relationship to other evidence. It integrates specialist findings into judgments about what a source can establish.
Numismatics: The study of coins, medals, and currency as material objects and historical evidence. Coins provide evidence about rulers, economies, political claims, and chronology.
Onomastics: The study of proper names, including their origins, forms, and historical use. Names in records can reveal identities, migrations, languages, and social relationships.