Transliteration for names of people and places in editing of the late-medieval papal sources

With few exceptions, the only Polish words in medieval papal documents (13th-15th centuries) are names of people and places. The scientific instructions recommend publishers of medieval sources special solicitude in transliteration of names. In fact, the requirement of accurate transliteration is very often impossible to fulfill. According to the principles of medieval Latin paleography, single letters or group of letters in the text written in gothic or renaissance italics may be read in various ways. Furthermore papal sources are known mainly from the copies, which are in the registers of Apostolic Chancery (and other Curial offices). Papal notaries did not know Polish language and this fact caused extensive distortions of Slavic names and specific mistakes during copying. Nowadays it is only possible to read the Polish name correctly once it has been previously identified. Inevitably, reading the medieval text is therefore an interpretation of the original notation. That is why, when issuing papal sources, it is advisable to be less strict in transliteration of Slavic names than in the case of medieval sources written in Poland