countries of Europe, where the warmth of the climate renders wax an
undesirable material, leaden _bullae_ have been in ordinary use, not
only in Italy but also in the Peninsula, in southern France, and in
the Latin East (see SEALS).

Formularies.

The necessity of conforming to exact phraseology in diplomas and of
observing regularity in expressing formulas naturally led to the
compilation of formularies. From the early middle ages the art of
composition, not only of charters but also of general correspondence,
was commonly taught in the monasteries. The teacher was the
_dictator_, his method of teaching was described by the verb
_dictare_, and his teaching was _dictamen_ or the _ars dictaminis_.
For the use of these monastic schools, formularies and manuals
comprising formulas and models for the composition of the various acts
and documents soon became indispensable. At a later stage such
formularies developed into the models and treatises for epistolary
style which have had their imitations even in modern times. The
widespread use of the formularies had the advantage of imposing a
certain degree of uniformity on the phrasing of documents of the
western nations of Europe. Those compilations which are of an earlier
period than the 11th century have been systematically examined and are
published; those of more recent date still remain to be thoroughly
edited. The early formularies are of the simpler kind, being
collections of formulas without dissertation. The _Formulae Marculfi_,
compiled by the monk Marculf about the year 650, was the most
important work of this nature of the Merovingian period and became the
official formulary of the time; and it continued in use in a revised
edition in the early Carolingian chancery. Of the same period there
are extant formularies compiled at various centres, such as Angers,
Tours, Bourges, Sens, Reichenau, St Gall, Salzburg, Passau,
Regensburg, Cordova, &c. (see Giry, _Manuel de diplomatique_, pp.
482-488). The _Liber diurnus Romanorum Pontificum_ was compiled in the
7th and 8th centuries, and was employed in the papal chancery to the
end of the 11th century. Of the more developed treatises and manuals
of epistolary rhetoric which succeeded, and which originated in Italy,
the earliest example was the _Breviarium de dictamine_ of the monk
Alberic of Monte Cassino, compiled about the year 1075. Another
w