[4] Though Laurentius Valla, the humanist, was right in denouncing the Donation of Constantine, and though the Magdeburg Centuriator, Matthias Flacius, was right in attacking the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, their methods, in themselves, were often crude and inconclusive.
The modern discipline of diplomatics really dates only from the time of the Benedictine Jean Mabillon (1632–1707), whose fundamental work, De Re Diplomatica (Paris, 1681), was written to correct the principles advocated in the criticism of ancient documents by the Bollandist, Daniel Papebroch.
Two other Maurists, Charles-François Toustain and René-Prosper Tassin, compiled a work in six large quarto volumes, with many facsimiles etc., known as the Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique (Paris, 1750–1765).
With the exception of some useful works directed at particular countries,[5] as also the treatise of Luigi Gaetano Marini on papyrus documents,[6] no great advance was made in the science for a century and a half after Mabillon's death.
As the position of the Holy See became more fully recognized, the business of the Chancery increased, and there arose a marked tendency to adhere strictly to the forms prescribed by traditional usage.