Signum manus (transl.sign of the hand, sometimes also known asChrismon) refers to themedieval European practice ofsigning a document or charter with a special type ofmonogram orroyal cypher. The practice is documented from at least theMerovingian period (ca. 5th century) until the14th century in theFrankish Empire and its successors.

The termChrismon was introduced inNeo-Latin specifically as a term for theChi Rho monogram. As this symbol was used in Merovingian documents at the starting point of what would diversify into the tradition of "cross-signatures", German scholarship of the 18th century extended use of the termChrismon to the entire field.^[1] In medievalistpaleography andDiplomatik (ars diplomaticae, i.e. the study ofdocuments or charters), the study of these signatures or sigils was known asChrismologia orChrismenlehre, while the study ofcross variants was known asStaurologia.^[2]

Chrismon in this context may refer to theMerovingian period abbreviationI. C. N. forin Christi nomine, later (in theCarolingian period) alsoI. C. forin Christo, and still later (in the high medieval period) justC. forChristus.^[3]

A cross symbol was often drawn as an invocation at the beginning of documents in the early medieval West. At the end of documents, commissioners or witnesses would sign with asignum manus, often also in the form of a simple cross. This practice is widespread in Merovingian documents of the 7th and 8th centuries.^[4] A related development is the widespread use of the cross symbol on the obverse side of early medieval coins, interpreted as thesignum manus of the moneyer.^[5]

The tradition of minting coins with the monogram of the ruling monarch on the obverse side originates in the 5th century, both in Byzantium and in Rome. This tradition was continued in the 6th century by Germanic kings, including the Merovingians. These early designs werebox monograms. The firstcruciform monogram was used byJustinian I in the 560s.Tiberius III used a cruciform monogram with the lettersR, M for Rome andT, B for Tiberius;Pope Gregory III used the lettersG, R, E, O.^[6]

The earliest surviving Merovingian royal charters, dating to the 7th century, have the box monograms ofChlothar II andClovis II.^[7] Later in the 7th century, the use of royal monograms was abandoned entirely by the Merovingian kings; instead, royal wax seals were first attached to the documents, and the kings would sign their name in full.

Thesignum manus in the form of a modified cross symbol first appears in charters of both Frankish Gaul and Anglo-Saxon England in the late 7th and early 8th century.Charlemagne first used his cruciform monogram, likely inspired by the earlier papal monograms, in 769, and he would continue to use it for the rest of his reign. The monogram spellsKAROLVS, with the consonantsK, R, L, S at the ends of the cross-arms, and the vowelsA, O, V displayed in ligature at the center.^[8]Louis the Pious abandoned the cross monogram, using again a H-type or box monogram.^[9]

• 
  Cross-signature "KAROLVS" ofCharlemagne (circa 782).
• 
  Cross-signature "ARNVLFVS" ofArnulf of Carinthia (890).
• 
  Signum manus ofOtto I (circa 970).
• 
  Signum manus ofHenry III (1049).

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSignum manus.

• Christogram
• Rota (papal signature)
• Royal cypher
• Tughra

• Ildar H. Garipzanov, Chapter 4 inThe Symbolic Language of Royal Authority in the Carolingian World (c.751-877) (2008),157–202.
• Erschet al., Volume 1, Issue 29 ofAllgemeine Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste, 1837,303–307.
• Johann Christoph Gatterer,Elementa artis diplomaticae universalis (1765),145–149 ( Abriß der Diplomatik 1798,64–67).
• Karl Friedrich Stumpf-Brentano,Die Wirzburger Immunitaet-Urkunden des X und XI Jahrhunderts vol. 1 (1874),13–17.

• Signature
• Monograms
• Cross symbols
• Merovingian art
• Carolingian art

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Commons category link from Wikidata