Plica (sigillography)
fold which reinforces the lower edge of a charter or deed
Plica (from Latin plica, meaning fold) is a term used in sigillography and related archival contexts for a reinforcement of the lower edge of a charter or deed, produced by folding up the bottom of the sheet of parchment to achieve a double thickness.
The purpose of the fold is to provide a more secure anchorage for the seal, and to guard against the parchment being torn. Slots were normally cut in the double thickness of parchment, a cord or tag of parchment threaded through them, and the seal attached to that.
References
Hlaváček, Ivan; Kašpar, Jaroslav; Nový, Rostislav (1994). Vademecum pomocných věd historických (in Czech). Jinočany: H&H. p. 181.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Plica (sigillography)” is fold which reinforces the lower edge of a charter or deed. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Plica, sigillography and fold, not as a finished interpretation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 25, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2099485. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1994.
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This entry incorporates text from “Plica (sigillography)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.