ng formulae:
superscription, address, salutation, &c., at the beginning, and date,
formulae of execution, &c., at the end, of the deed. The latter
portion of the protocol is sometimes styled the eschatocol (Gr.
[Greek: eschatos], last, and [Greek: kollan], to glue). While the text
followed certain formulae which had become fixed by common usage, the
protocol was always special and varied with the practices of the
several chanceries, changing in a sovereign chancery with each
successive reign.

The Invocation.

The Superscription.

The Address.

The Salutation.

The different sections of a full deed, taking them in order under the
heads of Initial Protocol, Text and Final Protocol or Eschatocol, are
as follows:--The initial protocol consists of the Invocation, the
Superscription, the Address and the Salutation. 1. The INVOCATION,
lending a character of sanctity to the proceedings, might be either
verbal or symbolic. The verbal invocation consisted usually of some
pious ejaculation, such as _In nomine Dei, In nomine domini nostri
Jesu Christi_; from the 8th century, _In nomine Sanctae et individuae
Trinitatis_; and later, _In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus
Sancti_. The symbolic form was usually the _chrismon_, or monogram
composed of the Greek initials [Chi][Rho] of the name of Christ. In
the course of the 10th and 11th centuries this symbol came to be so
scrawled that it had probably lost all meaning with the scribes. From
the 9th century the letter C (initial of _Christus_) came gradually
into use, and in German imperial diplomas it superseded the
_chrismon_. Stenographic signs of the system known as Tironian notes
were also sometimes added to this symbol down to the end of the 10th
century, expressing such a phrase as _Ante omnia Christus_, or
_Christus_, or _Amen_. From the Merovingian period, too, a cross was
often used. The symbol gradually died out after the 12th century for
general use, surviving only in notarial instruments and wills. 2. The
SUPERSCRIPTION (_superscriptio, intitulatio_) expressed the name and
titles of the grantor or person issuing the deed. 3. The ADDRESS. As
diplomas were originally in epistolary form the address was then a
necessity. While in Merovingian deeds the old pattern was adhered to,
in the Carolingian period the address was sometimes omitted. From the
8th century it was not considered ne