How does textual criticism help test whether a copied document is genuine?

In the context of diplomatics—the study of official and private documents—textual criticism serves as a vital tool for evaluating the authenticity of a document, particularly when it purports to be a copy of a genuine original.12

When a document is suspected of being a forgery, textual criticism helps test its genuineness through the following methods:

• Identifying Anachronisms: Critics examine the language, terminology, and style of the text to ensure they align with the period in which the document claims to have been written. The presence of legal phrases, vocabulary, or stylistic conventions that emerged only in later generations serves as evidence of a forgery.13
• Detecting Factual Inconsistencies: The text is scrutinized for statements that conflict with known historical authorities or established facts, such as references to bishops of nonexistent sees or historical figures who could not have been involved in the events described.13
• Comparative Analysis: By comparing the language and style of the document against authentic works from the same author or era, critics can determine if the writing is consistent with the purported source. A famous example is Richard Bentley’s proof that certain letters attributed to a 6th-century BCE tyrant were actually the work of a 2nd-century CE Greek sophist.1

While paleography focuses on the physical script and materials, textual criticism focuses on the content, ensuring that the intellectual and historical substance of the document is consistent with its stated origin.14