Editing Primary source (section)

==Forgeries==
Historians must occasionally contend with forged documents that purport to be primary sources. These forgeries have usually been constructed with a fraudulent purpose, such as promulgating legal rights, supporting false pedigrees, or promoting particular interpretations of historic events. The investigation of documents to determine their authenticity is called [[diplomatics]].

For centuries, [[pope]]s used the forged [[Donation of Constantine]] to bolster the Papacy's secular power. Among the earliest forgeries are false [[Anglo-Saxon charters]], a number of 11th- and 12th-century forgeries produced by [[monastery|monasteries]] and [[abbey]]s to support a claim to land where the original document had been lost or never existed. One particularly unusual forgery of a primary source was perpetrated by [[Sir Edward Dering, 1st Baronet|Sir Edward Dering]], who placed false [[monumental brass]]es in a [[parish church]].<ref>Everyone has Roots: An Introduction to English Genealogy by Anthony J. Camp, published by Genealogical Pub. Co., 1978</ref> In 1986, [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]] authenticated the [[Hitler Diaries]], which were later proved to be forgeries. Recently{{when?|date=July 2024}}, forged documents have been placed within the [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)#Forgeries discovered in 2005|UK National Archives]] in the hope of establishing a false [[provenance]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Introduction to record class R4|url= http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16525|publisher=The National Archives|access-date=8 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Leppard| first=David|title=Forgeries revealed in the National Archives – Times Online|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3867853.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517030209/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3867853.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 May 2008|work=The Sunday Times|date=4 May 2008|access-date=4 July 2011}}</ref> However, historians dealing with recent centuries rarely encounter forgeries of any importance.<ref name=Handlin>[[Oscar Handlin]] and [[Arthur Meier Schlesinger]], ''Harvard Guide to American History'' (1954)</ref>{{rp|22–25}}